As you bring in the New Year and set the tone and day dream and desire, enjoy some inspiration and wisdom from funny man John Cleese. A video I found on BrainPickings by the brilliant Maria Popova — a wonderful weekly newsletter I just discovered:
After writing your novel — be it a romance, mystery, thriller, fantasy, horror, or science fiction — and letting it sit — I let my novels sit for 1 year — edit your novel in layers.
Healthy Writers Club / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published November 28, 2012 · Last modified November 25, 2012
I always figured that, one day when I grew up, I would be a writer. Trick is, you have to actually write something before that can happen.
When it comes to blogging, I have learned a few things that I wish I’d when I started. If you’re thinking of starting a blog, or want to be more organised in your blogging, you might find these tips helpful. I may be ‘teaching my grandmother to suck eggs’, but here we go…
This week I walked more, and did 2 20-minute walking sessions, where I used my cool iPhone app called Seconds Pro (their site: http://www.secondsapp.com/). This app pings in intervals so I can do interval training, also known as Fartlek.
Creativity Tools and Tips / inspiration / Play and Games / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published October 25, 2012 · Last modified October 23, 2012
Sitting down with my first student for the day, I open a new game, Zing!: The Bewitching Storymaking Game. We take turns placing words like magnetic poetry magnets, slowing creating a story of a boy playing violin as his mother watches scornfully. We gradually reveal her belligerence and anger.
Setting should never be an afterthought in your story planning. Where you place your characters—and how you describe their geography, time period, and other setting elements—can expand or clarify themes, build story unity, tighten plot structure, intensify suspense, motivate and explain character, and intensify reader involvement.
Let’s say that you know who your story’s characters are, and you know what they’ll be doing—you have a plot. Now it’s time to write your story. And like many writers, you’ll be sitting there in front of your keyboard and monitor, staring at a blank page, and sweating blood. Where to begin?
A lot of authors that wonder how to edit their book think there must be some system all the great authors use for editing, when the reality is each author is different. For example, I have my own unique set of frequent writing flaws, so I have my own way to edit my book. You’ll need to come up with a system of self-editing that’s tailored to your own writing needs.
Instead of telling you how to edit your novel, I’m going to give you tips on how to create your own system of editing.
Welcome to my new weekly series on writing prompts to overcome writer’s block. More prompts and tools can be found in my Amazon bestseller, Overcome Writer’s Block, available on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords. As Anne Lamott encourages us: Shitty first drafts welcome here. Goal: Write for 20 minutes without stopping to get the writing moving.
artist entrepreneur / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published December 30, 2011 · Last modified April 30, 2014
Welcome back to the Friday Artist Entrepreneur column. Today I tell it like it is. Even though there are no excuses about getting to my writing, boy do I have them.
Welcome to the weekly Indie Fantasy Author Spotlight. Today we feature John H. Carroll, author of The Willden Trilogy. Thanks for stopping by, John! I enjoyed your interview! ^*^ Beth: What got you into...
by Beth Barany · Published September 10, 2011 · Last modified September 9, 2011
If we want the good habits of a successful writer, we start taking action today. That way our good habits of today become our success of tomorrow. This may sound like a bunch of...
artist entrepreneur / Author Career
by Beth Barany · Published September 9, 2011 · Last modified September 7, 2011
To define what an artist entrepreneur is I think we first need to define what an artist is and what an entrepreneur is. But why even go there? I’ll tell you why. To sort...
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