A famous author once said that every book should contain a love story. Now, that author might not have thought that the love story needed a sex scene, but many novelists writing in every genre do include sex scenes in their books. And there’s a problem with that.
Halloween is on its way; time to get out Boney, our life-size skeleton decoration. He’s been around for several years now. His skull fell off his neck, but we repaired him and now he’s sitting in a fold-out chair on our porch, waving at passers-by, his skeleton hand high in the air.
It seems that the only time we look up is when our phone is held up arm’s length to capture another selfie. With us always in the foreground, the background has become increasingly unimportant.
I don’t know if you’re like me, but watching all the disasters taking place recently has left me feeling forlorn for the loss of life and property, and less than positive about the future.
I wrote one blog on the tools one can use for productivity before at and all of those tools still stand. They’re all great. What I found was that I used too many at once and that didn’t end up working well for me as I spent more time inputting and checking off than was necessary.
Over the summer I’ve been reading a lot (haven’t we all?) and I’ve realised that my reading has changed a little as I’ve started to write more and with the hindsight of what I’ve learned along the way.
We’ve all heard the first commandment for writers: never open your book with backstory. And the second commandment? No infodumps. And the third? Sprinkle that backstory throughout your book.
I save flyers and emails touting to only the benefits but the transformative magic of this writing workshop or that retreat. Many workshops and retreats seem to take place in exotic locations either so you have an excuse to go, or because the workshop leader has always wanted to travel there be it Taos or Paris. And who doesn’t want to travel to Taos and Paris?
Novels, J.D. Salinger wrote, grow in the dark. By that, he meant that true creativity comes from the subconscious mind, from allowing ideas time to percolate below our conscious awareness.
Summer is still with us but “back to school” is just around the corner (or already here in some places) and I’ve started to assess what I’ve been up to for the past few weeks and figure out what will be my focus as fall approaches.
Some ‘old school’ authors may cling to the old adage, ‘let the writing speak for itself,’ but nowadays, it is pretty much universally accepted that authors need to maintain an internet presence to be noticed.
I was cleaning off all my emails the other day when I was suddenly struck with the number of emails I receive from my favorite writing gurus and educators. I subscribed to a variety of them and the glut of email messages they send me on any given day is overwhelming.
I’m a great believer in accountability. In my role as a coach, I spend a lot of time encouraging clients to be committed to their future. In doing so, it is vital that they appreciate that there is no one coming to their rescue (except me, perhaps – more of that later*.)
Do protagonists have to be likeable? Of course, because how else can a reader bond with your hero? Of course not, because some of the most fascinating protagonists in literature are unlikeable, or indeed, hateful.
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