My Favorite Plot Twists I love a good twisty moment in a book but I will admit I don’t go out actively seeking them. This is because I tend to be a pretty oblivious person at the best of times and small details fly far, far over my head while I hum along, blissfully ignorant below. Hi, I’m Dory. As a character trait, it makes things like walking down a hallway without banging my elbows on doorknobs something of an…
As always we are guided in this quest by awesome co-hosts who volunteer their time to make sure the solace spring flows. This month they are Janet Alcorn, Pat Garcia, Natalie Aguirre, and Shannon Lawrence! Visit their links, leave a comment, and keep the conversation going. This group is all about connection. The question for March 2 is: Have you ever been conflicted about writing a story or adding a scene to a story? How did you decide to write it or not? This one…
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Inquiring authors want to know: What’s harder for you to come up with, book titles or character names? (It’s me. I’m inquiring authors.) My answer: Titles. Titles are the hardest thing ever. Titles are horrible, nasty, no good, very bad, brain-killing beasts. Compared to titles, naming my characters is a breeze. And not like, a fourteen-kilometer-per-hour windstorm breeze, one of those gentle zephyr kind. So many options, all of them easy breezy. I can use names I like the sound…
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…
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.…
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…
There are some generally accepted Golden Rules for authors (which, okay, change from century to century, genre to genre, and are not so much rules as guidelines?) One of them is DEATH to All Adverbs, which I am personally fighting against because I love me a good adverb. Another is Conflict is King. Too bad no one can really decide on the definitive definition of “conflict” for any given novel since it’s pretty much subjective and changes depending on what…
You know what’s the hardest part of writing a book? Besides the writing and the outlining and the scene construction and editing and . . . okay . . . every other part. This bit is really the most intimidating, I promise. The hardest part is making yourself start. Prevailing advice, endless online articles, and the image of the latest huge seller, hang over your head like a constant cloud. And the cloud isn’t merely decorative. As your mind goes…
Friday Favorites is a blog hop hosted and created by the wonderful somethingofthebook.com March 29 My Favorite Plot Twists I love a good twisty moment in a book but I don’t go out actively seeking them. I tend to be a pretty oblivious person at the best of times and small details fly far, far over my head while I hum along, blissfully ignorant below. Hi, I’m Dory. This makes things like walking down a hallway without banging my elbows on doorknobs…