Unsolicited advice from your local opinionated writer.
In my last post, I talked about the thrilling but uncanny experience of having someone else read your story for the first time. But what happens after that? When the dust has settled and your draft is back in your hands with hundreds of comments attached to it… what do you do with them all?… Continue reading So you got some feedback… now what?
Hey there, it’s been a while! This post is my attempt to get myself slowly back into blogging after another extremely long hiatus, but this time I bring with me exciting news: the thing is happening! I’m gonna actually publish a book! For the last several months I have been receiving and processing feedback on… Continue reading The magic and terror of sharing your writing
If you’re an author of any kind of speculative fiction, you’ve probably heard of Sanderson’s Laws of Magic. These are three cardinal rules for developing magic systems in fantasy stories, developed by the author Brandon Sanderson (on his website, he very humbly says that these are just guidelines you should feel free to break if… Continue reading A sci-fi author’s guide to Sanderson’s Laws
Recently I did a post on my method of doing character profiles, and it was… kind of a lot. Or it might be for some people. I’m one of those writers that prefers to go into a new story knowing a lot about my characters, even if I’m pantsing absolutely everything else. But you might… Continue reading Character design, and how to make it up as you go
Well, hey there – it’s been a while! Due to life circumstances, I just took an extended and entirely unplanned hiatus from blogging and social media. I’m ready to start dipping a toe back in, and thought a good way to do that would be a couple posts on one of my favorite, favorite parts… Continue reading How to write a character profile that actually helps
Music is a huge part of my writing process. As the daughter of two professional musicians, I grew up in a household where music was everywhere, and to this day someone is almost always tuning, practicing, or making some other kind of musical noise in our house. I learned early on what a powerful tool… Continue reading 5 Awesome Ambient Music Recommendations For Writers
I realized recently that most of the advice on this blog is geared towards people who’ve been writing for a while. I didn’t start to seek out advice like this until I had been immersed in this hobby for many years, so in my mind that tracks. But today I want to do something a… Continue reading How to start writing for the very first time
I’ve wanted to do a post for a while about my outlining method, but I keep running into a problem. Outlining is a squishy process for me, and it changes basically every time I write a book. Every set of ideas I’ve ever come up with needs something different in the planning process in order… Continue reading How to outline a novel, however you want
Happy Preptober! It’s officially Nanowrimo Prep season, and I’ve got some fun stuff planned this month as we approach what I fondly think of as the writerly holiday season. This year is going to be a fun milestone for me: I’ll be writing the first draft of the final book in a series I’ve been… Continue reading How to write a sequel (without getting overwhelmed)
Do you ever write a draft and then look back at it and realize that you did not in fact write a draft – you wrote two thirds of a draft? Are your manuscripts bloated with comments and notes to self that say things like “you forgot to foreshadow this” or “insert that one scene… Continue reading Underwriting vs. Overwriting: How to make it through a novel when your brain only wants to write half
