Tagged: Catharine Bramkamp

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Writing Tips

Have More Fun With Your Social Media: Pinterest by Catharine Bramkamp

Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. For an author the very first social media channel for your book is Facebook. The second best way to be found (both you and your book) is through Twitter, but Twitter can be overwhelming as well as time consuming. The next best social media channel for authors is Pinterest.

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Writing Tips

Life Has Been Created! by Catharine Bramkamp

Passive sentences gained popularity in the mid- 18th century with new scientific research. The agreement between the scientists and the publishers of journals and newspapers was that the scientist (a new term and a new field of study) were to write up their ideas and findings passively.

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Writing Tips

Anthologies by Catharine Bramkamp

Anthologies are often the first place a brand newbie writer can get published. Which is why many colleges and writing clubs collect and print anthologies. Inclusion in an anthology increases the value of group membership and lifts all boats – or in this case, author’s street cred.

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Writing Tips

Loving Those Who Do What You Love by Catharine Bramkamp

In my early years of writing I believe that in order to be successful, I needed to follow the paths of more successful writers. Did my mentor meditate? I’ll mediate, it will make my work better. Did my mentor move to Taos? I’ll move to Taos, it will help me be more inspired and creative. Did my mentor write for ten minutes straight? I’ll write for ten minutes straight.

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Writing Tips

Ten Minute Trick Pony by Catharine Bramkamp

Many authors and students have difficulty starting their projects. For students, often the problem is they aren’t terribly inspired by the topic. I don’t blame them for feeling stuck. It’s difficult find motivation in broad topics like, say, global warming. Once you’ve created a slide showing that poor polar bear swimming in the melted waters of the Arctic, there isn’t much else to say.

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Writing Tips

Fiction Physics (remember, the F in Physics is for fun!) by Catharine Bramkamp

I work with an engineer on the show – someone devoted to reality as much as he’s devoted to fantasy. Interestingly my son is a Geo-Physicist and is equally passionate about fantasy and science fiction. Which should be a lesson to writers: even brilliant people read to be transported to far away lands. Remember that you are writing for brilliant readers, some even more brilliant than you.

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Writing Tips

How to Be Funny Without Hurting Yourself by Catharine Bramkamp

When you try really, really hard to be funny, it inevitably won’t work. Like when my mother tells a joke. She always forgets some critical piece in the set up that, if forgotten, renders the punch line unintelligible. Which, as she backtracks and says, Oh, I forgot to tell you about the bath tub, is funny, but not the way she intended.

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Writing Tips

Urban Legends and the Joy of Mis-information by Catharine Bramkamp

Urban Legends are the sturdy children of ancient myths and legends. We love to believe the story about the hook on the car door, or the dog drying in the microwave, or the car following a driver in the middle of the night and honking because there was a killer in the back seat. We love these stories, we believe these stories because we heard it from a friend who heard it from their aunt who swore she knew the victim, or at least heard of the victim. No names are ever exchanged. But even so, the story must be true. Preposterous, but deliciously true.

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Writing Tips

The 12 Step Program for Writers Addicted To Writing by Catharine Bramkamp

You are a real writer, that’s why you stopped at this title. You persist. Real writers write despite nagging questions about the mortgage, food and what to do with the children this weekend. And you still write. So where is our international support group? Not a critique group – not a writers reading group, we already belong to those. What I would like to see is a more sensible group, based on the real challenges and essential character of a writer.

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