Tagged: writer

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Writing Tips

A Year To Publication: Avoiding a Saggy Middle in Your Novel by Jennifer Snow

‘Yay, no saggy middle issue’, the words every author hopes to hear from their editors upon receiving revision notes. But how do we avoid it when we have three hundred pages to fill? Believe me, I feel the pain of that middle section of every book I write, just like everyone else…I’ve just learned a few techniques to ‘get around it’. At every writing conference I attend, I always choose to sit in on the workshops that tackle this issue and the following are various tips I’ve found to be the most helpful.

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Writing Tips

Having Your Say by Nevada McPherson

Do you ever shy away from certain topics in your writing for fear of what people will say or think? As a writer and/or artist you have power and the ability to influence others through what you create. Why not use that power to challenge assumptions and to try and get closer to the truth? Is it because the truth can set you free, but can also get you fired, killed, or at the very least into arguments and trouble with your friends, family and associates?

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Guest Columnists

Blood in the Water – Guest Post by Tash McAdam

Warp Weavers is set in alterna-London, so my friends and I have dubbed it story ‘low fantasy’—using the world we know and live in, but with twists of magic. Think Harry Potter, or Buffy. My editor tells me that this is actually called urban fantasy, but I like my version better. So what’s it all about?

Denis Ledoux 0

Q&A / Writing Tips

Featured Q&A With Denis Ledoux

Please welcome Author Denis Ledoux, to our Featured Q&A at Writer’s Fun Zone. *** If you’d like to be considered for an interview, check out our guidelines here. ***     On to our...

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Q&A / Writing Tips

Q&A with Dave M. Strom

I, Dave M. Strom, am a technical writer, comic book geek, and budding novelist and short story writer. So far, I specialize in bringing to life Holly Hansson, the Super(wo)man who’d rather be Clark Kent. She’s a writer also.

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Q&A / Writing Tips

Q&A with Award-winning author Lisa Boragine

L. Heller Boragine was born in Colombia, South America. She is fluent in Spanish and English. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Vermont in Environmental Studies, a masters degree in Speech Communication from Syracuse University, and has 20 years experience teaching Communications studies and coaching academic debate.

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Writing Tips

The Subtle Art of Eavesdropping for Character Development by Raina Schell

I’ve been honing my eavesdropping skills as of late, in the spirit that each of our fictional characters speak in a different voice. Whereas one character may sound like a grumbly religious naysayer, another may have the vocal inflections and vocabulary of a “valley girl”. Each character not only uses different verbiage, none speak alike in inflection or tone as well. I pondered this fact of good character development for some time before I decided the best way for me personally to get the “hang” of that was to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations in order to keep all of my characters from sounding exactly like me.

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Writing Tips

Perfect Partners Aren’t So Hard to Find by Jami Gray

I know, I know, there is no such thing as a “perfect partner” unless of course you exist in the written pages of all those books we devour like popcorn. And let’s be honest, if we did live in those pages, we’d all have curves to die for, a kick-ass attitude that would make men swoon at our feet, or for those male readers out there—a chiseled chest to cradle all those females falling under our Alpha-with-a-soft-spot spell.

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Writing Tips

Motivation vs. Habit by Carol Malone

Does the word “goal” send you into a panic? It does me. A man whose blog I follow religiously told of a motto hung above the door of his gym. It read, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit keeps you going.” I believe Jim Ryan was attributed with saying that. Great thought, don’t you think?

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Writing Tips

Resolving Fictional Love Triangles by Kay Keppler

Many books, whatever their genre or literary bent, include a love story. Whether thriller, mystery, science fiction, or even Western, many stories that are not written primarily as romances include a love story in which the complications of the lovers match, complement, or escalate the complications of the primary plot. Think of Robert B. Parker’s Westerns, John Sandford’s thrillers, and many others.

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Writing Tips

Writing for Scanners by Annmarie Miles

I heard a great phrase a couple of years ago that has stayed with me. The speaker said, “We live in a pierce & ding age. You pierce the top of a frozen meal, a few minutes in the microwave; and DING; it’s ready.” The point she was making was about how fast things happen now, and how we’ve gotten used to it. People look for instant responses to emails, we don’t like to wait for webpages to load, and we pay to see the preview episode of our favourite box set; because we just can’t wait.

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Writing Tips

Finding the Perfect Place to Write – a Field Guide to Procrastination by Catharine Bramkamp

From wanting to know if James Patterson uses a special pen to wondering what kind of perfect program Jon Green has loaded into his computer, we think that if only the specific talisman for good writing is identified, then purchased, possession will make us instantly famous. Except no matter what kind of special pen you own, you still must use it.

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