So you’ve queried agents and one has emailed you asking for a phone call! This is amazing. Time to celebrate! Now, you’re probably thinking about and worrying about what to talk about on the call. For my calls the first part was amazing. The agents talking about how much they loved my manuscript and how… Continue reading Questions to ask Agents on The Call
We here at Writer’s Block Party loooooove talking about process. (If that wasn’t obvious by now, you probably haven’t been here that long!) Whenever one of us is stuck or just thinking about a certain aspect of writing, we always turn to each other for tips, advice, and strategies. For instance, right now I’m starting… Continue reading Craft Book Recommendations
Literature and Latte, the developers behind everyone’s favorite novel writing software Scrivener, got everyone in a tizzy last fall when they announced they would be releasing a new major version of Scrivener. As longtime Scrivener devotees, Akshaya and I were very excited to get a look at the promised new features and improved functionality. Unlike… Continue reading Is Scrivener 3 Worth It?
Note: This post is done in a roundtable style where members of Writer’s Block Party discuss a topic together. Moderator: Katy Rose Pool Editor: Mara Fitzgerald QUESTION ONE: What do we mean by “brainstorming?” AMANDA: As a plotter, for me, brainstorming means coming up with the components of nearly every facet of my story. Basically,… Continue reading Roundtable #10: How We Brainstorm
UPDATE: See ALL of our CP Match Ups HERE! Hi all! We asked on Twitter if people would be interested in a CP match up post for y’all to find critique partners and it was a resounding yes. So, here you go! As you might know we all met up through various CP match-up posts like… Continue reading WBP’s Critique Partner Match Up!
Mara: Hey everyone! I’m Mara, you might know me from the #chillwritingtips series (1, 2, 3). Meg: And hi, I’m Meg! I wrote that weird how to be a CP post about a slug. Welcome to a new post by Writer’s Block Party. Mara: (We’re like Mel and Sue from THE GREAT BRITISH BAKING SHOW!)… Continue reading To Joke Or Not To Joke: Writing Humor
Recently, I’ve encountered a few writer friends having small panic attacks because they’ve received notes from their editors that contain copyediting markup. You know, the weird symbols that editors scrawl in pen or pencil above your nice typed lines, or in the margins. As it happens, these are not arcane symbols, or their version of… Continue reading Deciphering Copyediting Markup
As readers, we often say we’ll follow an interesting character anywhere. But in a book with multiple points of view, you have to make sure your readers are ready to follow not one, but several different characters. That’s a big ask, so each character really needs to prove that they’re worth following. And that all… Continue reading Crafting First Chapters For Books With Multiple POVs
In our “Reading Recs for…” series we’ll recommend reads for certain topics that we run into often. Family dynamics is something most readers can relate to. And complicated family dynamics is often a wonderful tool to understand our characters through their relationships with those closest to them. So, for this “Reading Recs” post we’re giving… Continue reading Reading Recs for Family Dynamics
So. Somehow on a blog called Writer’s Block Party, we haven’t really talked all that much about Writer’s Block. Writer’s Block means something different to everyone, and I’m not going to sit here and debate with you whether it’s real or not. Everyone’s process is different, and everyone’s struggles are different, too. My version… Continue reading The Pit of Despair
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