Oct 18
When you can convey authentic, universally true emotions through your characters, you connect with your readers and they’ll keep turning the pages. Your readers become invested in your story the moment they viscerally feel what your character feels.
See what else the Plot Whisperer, Martha Alderson, has to say about writing emotions in her 5-minute video here: Read more
I’m always intrigued by how other writers write. I like to see their routines and quirks. Not only is it entertaining and informative, just maybe, I think, I’ll find something in their process I can adopt to improve my own.
Here are a few tidbits from The Daily Beast’s feature, How I Write.
Michelle Gagnon, mystery writer and author of the young adult thriller, Don’t Turn Around, is a big believer in writing a complete draft before starting any editing. Read more
Best-selling author Patricia Cornwell was recently featured on Sunday Morning where she talked about her heroine, Dr. Kay Scarpetta, in her main book series. In the interview, Cornwell says she gives her readers a “huge does of forensic science and medicine” but, at the same time, the story is really about her protagonist Scarpetta, what she’s going through, and where she needs to get to.
One way Cornwell makes Scarpetta human and more relatable is to give her a simple, down-to-earth trait. Read more
If you’re like me, making time to write is a juggling act. Last week was one of those weeks that knocked me out of my writing groove in a big way. Changing work schedules, tasks that took longer than planned, and other people’s priorities threw me off.
Sometimes it’s easy to throw ourselves off with tasks we put off doing. These tasks that take on a life of their own can divert us from our writing, take away our energy, and steal productivity from other creative projects. Read more
In my posts last week I wrote about why original research is important to your stories and how to make dry research fun. When I have a writing project that requires research, such as my current work-in-progress, I create a list on my computer to keep myself organized.
Some quick tips for creating a research reading list:
Write it down. Sounds obvious but there have been times when I’ve said to myself, “Oh, I have to read that book,” then promptly forgotten about it. Write the name of the book down on a pad of paper or even on your hand, if you have to, until you can add it to the list on your computer. Read more
How do you know when your novel, short story, or poem is finished?
I tend to work on a poem over a series of days or months. I’ll come back to a poem in progress days or weeks later and see a word or phrase that didn’t work because I was too close to it the first time I wrote it.
I listen as I read the lines to myself aloud to decide if something doesn’t sound right. If something doesn’t ring true or feels awkward, or if the poem just doesn’t feel complete or whole, I know I’m not done. Read more
In her book The Plot Whisperer,
The climatic scene directly answers the question at the outset of the novel—will the protagonist reach her goal and be victorious?
Alderson says, “A writer who has not experienced a transformation in her own life often cannot see, feel, touch, smell and hear the scene depicting such a moment for the protagonist.” Read more
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