Tag Archives: Writing Tips
A writing tip from Chuck Wendig
HARDEN THE FUCK UP, CARE BEAR Any creative person has to be a little bit hard of heart — how can you not be? You can’t go sobbing into a potted plant every time you get a bad review. Just because someone told you “no, I can’t rep this, can’t publish this” doesn’t mean it’s …
Any way to the coast…
Just Keep Going! Ignore your inner nagging thoughts. They are seldom accurate perceptions of what you are actually achieving. It is deeply unfair to criticize your navigation skills when taking a journey into unknown territory. Try not to demoralize yourself. I call my first draft “the Lewis and Clark.” Any freaking way to the coast – …
The only writing rules you’ll ever need!
Hi! You may have noticed that I’ve been missing in action for a few weeks – but with good reason. I have been working almost daily on polishing my novel. I have even found some readers to provide editing and feedback before I start sending out my manuscript to publishers (with fingers crossed and a …
Novel writing tips – PLOT
The following is an essay that Sarah Pekkanen, author of Skipping a Beat and These Girls, wrote for Writer Unboxed, a writing website that I will be adding to my personal resources as I finalize my own novel. I thought her writing tips were very useful – particularly with regard to making sure scenes have …
5 things you need to know …in order to write a successful book
I attended the Ottawa Independent Writers (OIW) October meeting, where author Nichole McGill made a presentation regarding writing successful books. I was advised by my mentor, Mrs. W., to touch base with a writer’s group if I could and I was lucky to find this one. They have monthly meetings covering different topics. I …
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The writer’s audience…
“The whole duty of a writer is to please and satisfy himself, and the true writer always plays to an audience of one.” — E.B. White
Advice for a writer….
The best artistic advice, according to Rainer Maria Rilke, is to ignore artistic advice. In Letters to a Young Poet, he writes, “You ask whether your verses are good…. You compare them with other poems, and you are disturbed when certain editors reject your efforts. Now (since you have allowed me to advise you) I …
10 second lesson in novel writing
“The key to success is coming up with a good strong “what if”. I learned three years ago from my editor and my agent that if a book can’t be reduced to a single “what if” sentence it is probably not worth wasting your time on. If the idea takes three paragraphs to explain it …