Well, hey there – it’s been a while! Due to life circumstances, I just took an extended and entirely unplanned hiatus from blogging and social media. I’m ready to start dipping a toe back in, and thought a good way to do that would be a couple posts on one of my favorite, favorite parts… Continue reading How to write a character profile that actually helps
I’ve wanted to do a post for a while about my outlining method, but I keep running into a problem. Outlining is a squishy process for me, and it changes basically every time I write a book. Every set of ideas I’ve ever come up with needs something different in the planning process in order… Continue reading How to outline a novel, however you want
Happy Preptober! It’s officially Nanowrimo Prep season, and I’ve got some fun stuff planned this month as we approach what I fondly think of as the writerly holiday season. This year is going to be a fun milestone for me: I’ll be writing the first draft of the final book in a series I’ve been… Continue reading How to write a sequel (without getting overwhelmed)
Do you ever write a draft and then look back at it and realize that you did not in fact write a draft – you wrote two thirds of a draft? Are your manuscripts bloated with comments and notes to self that say things like “you forgot to foreshadow this” or “insert that one scene… Continue reading Underwriting vs. Overwriting: How to make it through a novel when your brain only wants to write half
It’s July, which means it’s time for Camp Nanowrimo! This month I’m attempting to add at least 30,000 words to the second draft of Nothing Is Here, which started its life as my 2022 Nanowrimo novel. The poor thing has been limping through the sad space in between drafts for many months now, and it’s… Continue reading How to prepare for revising a novel
I’ve been thinking a lot about symbolism lately, mainly because I’ve read, watched, or played a couple of things recently that did it really well. It’s gotten me thinking about how good symbolism ends up in fiction. How much of it is intentional, and how much of it is just me reading way too far… Continue reading How to write good symbolism
Research is one of my favorite parts of the writing process, but I’ll be the first to admit I tend to overdo it. Back in the pre-Google days, my mom was a reference librarian, so this is practically written into my DNA. I grew up in a house stacked with reference books, with an on-call… Continue reading Do you really need to Google that? A beginner’s guide to novel research
Oh, Wikipedia. My best friend, my darling… my downfall. How many writing sessions have I supposedly “started” by saying I need to google “just one thing” first, and twelve Wikipedia articles later, I’m still telling myself this is fruitful, writerly productivity happening even though not a single word has appeared on the page? But sadly,… Continue reading Warmup Wednesday: the Wikipedia method of worldbuilding
We are now more than halfway through National Novel Writing Month, which means you’re probably starting to think about the climax of your novel. This can feel like a very high-pressure part of your story. Fortunately, it’s also widely considered to be the fun part. But if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of bringing… Continue reading Story Structure Sunday: How to write the climax of a novel
Happy day 16 of Nanowrimo! We’re officially more than halfway through the month, which means this is a good time to sit back for a moment and take stock of your novel so far. If you’re on track, you’ve written about 25,000 words, and you are probably either at or approaching the midpoint of your… Continue reading Warmup Wednesday: Outlining a novel, for people who hate outlines
