Tag: fiction

Structure Part 5–Keeping Focused & Nailing the Pitch–Understand Your "Seed Idea"

Welcome to the 5th installation on the topic of structure. As an editor for years, I consider myself an expert in spotting and fixing structural problems. Sadly, over the course of doing this many years, I have run into far too many novels that had plot problems that ran so deep there was no saving the …

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NaNoWriMo–Finishing What We Start

  Finally, I get a chance to blog about what it feels like to finish NaNoWriMo. It was great to make it through the first draft of my novel, and I realize I have A LOT more work to do. But, I am no fun to talk about because, frankly, when once you do land …

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Fail to Plan & Plan to Fail

Welcome to WANA Wednesday, the day I dedicate to help you guys rock it hard when it comes to social media. Today’s topic might be familiar to some of you, but I believe it is one I can never preach on too much. I am on a mission to rid every writer moniker from social media. …

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Structure Part 4–Testing Your Idea–Is it Strong Enough to Make an Interesting Novel?

For the past month, we have been discussing story structure. Part I of this series introduced the novel on a micro-scale. Part II explored the big picture and offered an overview of common plot problems. Part III introduced the most critical element to any novel, the BBT. Each of these blogs builds upon the previous lesson, so if you …

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3 Steps to Fan Page Awesomeness

Well, it is WANA Wednesday and here are some nifty platform-building tips from my best-selling book We Are Not Alone—The Writer’s Guide to Social Media. Yes, today is a repost because I am knee-deep in finishing my novel for NaNoWriMo…either that or I licked a taser and fried my own synapses. Right now everything is all a little fuzzy, and …

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