Tag: writing process
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Don’t Take Good Ideas for Granted. Plan ahead!
Have you ever been in such a good creative patch that you are overflowing with ideas and not enough time to accomplish them all? Relish those days. That’s what I keep telling myself. I am currently overflowing with ideas. I’ve started to map out my drama writing 13 months in advance because I’m producing too…
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Chapter Titles or Chapter Numbers?
It was my wife that put me on to this one. One of her pet peeves is when authors only used numbers to differentiate between chapters. That is … Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, etc … As she says, it’s extremely boring and not very useful. She loves it when authors take the time…
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Thinking is Writing (aka: writing in a pool)
Thinking is writing. I’ve said this before, but the longer I’ve been a writer the truer it becomes. (Sometimes to the detriment to the people around me. I am not ignoring you on purpose.) A writer friend mentioned yesterday that I should do some writing without paper, pencil or device. I took the advice. I…
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I’d Rather Write a Novel than a Summary of that Novel
I’m at it again. One of my most frustrating times of the year. Writing the dreaded “blurb” that will become the back of my novel or the description on Amazon or just the pitch that I’ll use with reviewers. I’m nearly at the point of sending the draft of my fourth novel out to some…
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I wanted to write pretentiously.
This post is kind of a continuation of what I was talking about yesterday: the four things I’ve learned about novel writing. But I feel the need to expound a little more on one of the topics. I remember in the past when I tried to write, I would become very frustrated because when I…
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Four Things I Learned About Writing Novels
Yesterday, I completed the first draft of my fourth novel. Actually, in some ways it’s hard to believe that I’ve written that many novels. It wasn’t too long ago that I had given up entirely on writing and never thought I would ever have even finished one novel. As I reflect on the writing of…
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Writing Using Third Person Limited Point of View: I hope I chose wisely.
I’m in the home stretch of writing my fourth novel. I’m excited about the possibilities that this novel has. It’s unique and interesting, and, believe it or not, it’s my first novel ever that I at don’t even mention Vietnam! Surprising, I know! This is very much a novel about one character’s journey in a…
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Writing Session: Follow Your Story No Matter How Long or Short
It felt good to get in a solid writing session on my fourth novel this afternoon. I probably tallied 2000 words as the story heads for its conclusion. It’s now upwards of 43,000 words and will comfortably cruise into the novel territory before I write its final words. But I have discovered that I’m now…
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Be True to Yourself in Your Writing
I was reading an article from a writing website which was talking about the habits of successful writers. On the whole, I agreed with many of their ideas and suggestions, but one of them led me to pause, and I couldn’t quite completely agree with them. What was it? Research the market and write in…
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Me in my Former Glory: Researching on a Motorbike
Here I am in my former glory, sitting on the side of the road in Vietnam only 52 km from home. This was before selfies. It was actually taken with a camera that had film. And look! I’m wearing a watch so that will tell you it was before I had a cell phone. I…
