Wounds matter in life and in fiction. We’ve all been hurt in some way and to some degree. Just goes with being human. No one gets out alive.
Tag: novel
Feb 06 2012
A New Approach to a Traditional Group–The Concept Critique
So a couple of weeks ago, we discussed critique groups then I saw something shiny and forgot to post the second part of the discussion. ::head desk:: Anyway, in Part One, I posited the question: Can a critique group do more harm than good? In my opinion? YES. Traditional critique groups can have severe limitations, …
Dec 05 2011
Is Your Novel a Spineless Weakling?
Now that NaNoWriMo is behind us, it is time to take a hard look at the 50,000 or so words we wrote. Is it really a story? Or is it 50,000 worth of organic goo that we can maybe perhaps grow into a story? Maybe some of you didn’t participate in National Novel Writing Month, …
Nov 28 2011
Antagonists–The Alpha and the Omega of the Story
I’ve run critique groups for almost eight years. I also have edited literally hundreds of manuscripts, and one thing that most new writers do not accurately understand is the antagonist. I have to admit that I didn’t understand the antag the way I needed to until a few years ago, and this pivot-point in my …
Sep 19 2011
Setting–Adding Dimension to Your Fiction
Social media is an amazing tool and it is a wonderful time to be a writer, but, I am going to point out the pink elephant in the room. We still have to write a darn good book. If we don’t write a darn good book, then no amount of promotion can help us. Sorry. …
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