Which Came First? The Plot, or the Characters?

This is a perennial question authors get asked, and it’s just as unanswerable as the chicken and egg conundrum. Look, let’s be brutally honest here. Authors as a whole live in a half-unreal world with their heads feeling cloudy ALL THE TIME. Fictional people fill our brains with ghostly conversations. Interesting, exciting scenes play out behind our closed eyelids. Fantasy worlds and concepts capture our imagination. Reality is pretty much optional, okay. In the midst of all this noise, pinpointing…

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An Incendiary Inciting Incident for Your Author Toolbox

This is an Author Toolbox post. The toolbox is a free, monthly, open sharing of information between authors here on the Wild Wild Interwebs. Topics cover everything from writing basics to editing, querying, marketing, and publishing. There are over forty of us now, blogging away like helpful little bees. Come join in! After months and months of agonizing and writing and editing and changing and freaking out and writing some more, my newest book is done. Finished. FIN. Clocking in…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group and Getting Out of The Zone

This is an Insecure Writer’s Support Group post. Once a month, authors from all over come together and post in a hop where it’s safe to admit that this writing job has its bad days. There will be listicles, support, and digital shoulders to lean on. To sign up for the hop yourself go here. The awesome co-hosts for the May 6 posting of the IWSG are Feather Stone, Beverly Stowe McClure, Mary Aalgaard, Kim Lajevardi, and Chemist Ken! The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is also on…

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What I Thought Author Life Would Be Like vs. What it’s Actually Like

What I thought it would be like: Writing retreats full of discourse, stimulating discussions, plotting, and lots of other authors. What it’s actually like: What I thought it would be like: Ideas lining up, falling neatly into their places, everything is flowing and glorious and ticking along like pure, perfect, writing clockwork. What it’s actually like: EVER HEARD OF SLEEPING, Ideas? Yeah, I didn’t think so. What I thought it would be like: Editing, DONE. Polishing? This baby is shining.…

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Throw Away Your Crutches: Author Toolbox

The author toolbox is the creation of Raimey Gallant, all about sharing resources, discoveries, and expertise. If you’re a writer looking for a diverse range of help in many different areas, this is your hop. Come join! What do you mean by writing crutch, SE? I mean something like those words we overuse (that, suddenly, like) but in the realm of scene setting and action beats your characters go through. Here are some examples of common writing crutches/habits/aids. Dramatic sighs.…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is Traditional

Happy Insecure Writer’s Group day! It’s a very good day to rest gently in the support of your fellow writers cause, believe me, it’s a hard landing everywhere else. It’s March and I’m querying, so there’s two strikes against a good mood right there. Liberal application of walks in the sunshine (when the sun deigns to favor us with an appearance), rampant cussing (mostly under my breath), and the support of a good group are getting me through. My very…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Gets Artistic (While I Crash Into a Reef)

Welcome to another Insecure Writer’s Support Group day! To sign up for the Group yourself, join in on the fun and receive all the wonderful support, go here. The awesome co-hosts for the February 5 posting of the IWSG are Lee Lowery, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Jennifer Hawes, Cathrina Constantine, and Tyrean Martinson! Stop by their blogs and offer a thank-you for today. The optional question for today was: has a single photo or work of art ever inspired a story? What was it and did…

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No Filter in Your Author Toolbox

This old post has been brushed up for this month’s Author Toolbox Blog Hop, hosted and moderated by author Raimey Gallant. Authors at all stages of their writing/publishing journey are welcome to hop in and bring new ideas and tools. Did you know there are such things as “filter words” when writing? I did not as a smol writer but now, thanks to the Tunnel of Everlasting Rejection which was 2017, I do. In the course of a) submitting my…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Celebrates a Bootleg of a Year

To sign up for the group yourself, click on over here. The IWSG is also on Twitter @TheIWSG and Instagram, as well as under the hashtag #IWSG It’s time for the first Insecure Writer’s Post of the new year. So happy 2020 to you! And can we all admit right now that the complete absence of automatic glitter, tacky gilt ornaments, alcohol, and Charleston step instructions falling gently from the sky at midnight was a huge disappointment? I mean…all we got…

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Author Toolbox: Creating Wonderful Characters

This is an author toolbox hop post. Author toolbox is the creation of author Raimey Gallant  ,a box with an emphasis on sharing tips, tricks, and advice with other authors as we all try to navigate together. Characters make or break a story. Yes, there’s plot as well, but I think the characters end up being equally as important. After all, the action loses impact when we don’t really care about the people it’s happening to. They are so important they…

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