Atmosphere: what is it really? It sounds ethereal, hard to describe and even harder to define in your own writing. Atmosphere is another word for mood; it’s the feeling a writer wants their readers to experience, like suspense or foreboding, longing or joy. Individual scenes can have a particular mood, while the overall novel has… Continue reading How to Create Atmosphere in Your Writing
My favorite part of writing is creating conflict. Well, my true favorite part of writing is angst but really good angst stems from really good conflict. So what is conflict exactly? Conflict is basically what keeps a character from getting something that they want. Without it, the character would just go on living their life… Continue reading Thoughts on Creating Conflict
When I first approached the topic of this post, I was deeply intimidated. There is no facet of creative writing that could render me more self-conscious, that I devote half so much mental and emotional energy to, than prose. Every writer, published or not, has started reading a book and immediately thought “Oh no. This… Continue reading How to develop your personal prose style
The End. Small words, three letters each. But when you put them together, wow are they big. The conclusion, the finale, the denouement. Powerful, shocking, bittersweet, heartwarming. An ending can be so many things. I’m not going to say the ending is the absolute most important part of a story; beginnings are important, too, because… Continue reading Why I Love Endings (And Also Hate Them)
As a mostly pantser who desperately wanted to be a plotter, outlines have long been my nemesis. I was so envious of people who would just know a whole story upfront without going through the trouble of writing the whole thing wrong multiple times. But after nearly 5 years of warring with outlines, I finally… Continue reading Outlines Are Lighthouses, Not Destinations
In the grand tradition of Writer’s Block Party, this week’s post is about a topic that I’m in the midst of trying to master for myself. And what better way to think through a writing concept than to write about it? We have talked a lot about plotting before–what is plot, how we structure it,… Continue reading Writing Subplots
Beginnings are hard because there are so many elements to introduce. You have to consider character dynamics, point of view, pacing, world building, voice, narrative flow–and it’s incredibly hard to figure out how to balance all those aspects in a cohesive, clear, and engaging manner. While there’s no easy formula to crafting the perfect beginning,… Continue reading 3 Questions To Ask Yourself For A Stronger First Chapter
For this week’s post, I wanted to talk a little bit about everyone’s favorite feel-good show–Queer Eye. Specifically, I wanted to dig into why Queer Eye is so successful, and what that can teach us about the art of storytelling. If you haven’t seen the show, the basic premise is this: every episode, the “Fab… Continue reading What Queer Eye Teaches Us About Storytelling
We did it, we survived 2020! So, let’s try to start 2021 with some positivity, new connections, and writing! The best way to be a good writer is to…well it’s to write. Second best way (that we know of) is to make new connections/writer friends! We all met up through various Critique Partner (CP) match-up posts like the one… Continue reading Critique Partner Match Up 2021!
Sometimes a book will sell on proposal. This means the book sells to a publisher before it is fully written. This often happens in very specific instances, the most common are packaged books (IP) or an author that is already established. Most newer authors will first experience this with their “option book” for their original… Continue reading Book Proposals (for fiction)
