As I begin the process of marketing the launch of my third book, I look at what I did right and wrong with the previous two launches. Authors can no longer rely on the publisher to market their books #bookmarketing Click To Tweet To get your book out there before readers you must do it […]
Creating a Narcissistic Personality When Creating Villains
Many of the villains in the books I read are narcissistic personalities #writingvillains #amwriting Click To Tweet These are people who display a lot of cunning and very little empathy. They may appear as sociopaths, but their tendency to want recognition for their bad behavior suggests a tendency toward a narcissistic personality type. The Norwegian […]
Five Tips for Character Development
As writers we are fascinated with people. Why? Our characters reflect real people. As such, they must act in realistic ways. We can’t have them do things that are “out of character.” We can dig deep inside ourselves and our experiences to create the people who fill our books or we can use other methods. […]
How do you know when you’re done?
Artists tell me it’s hard to know when a painting is finished. One told me that if she works on a painting for too long, she ruins it. This reminds me of my writing. I tweak and tweak and then tweak some more. Was it better before the last tweak or after the first tweak? […]
Tips for Underwriting your Overwriting
As a writer who creates something from nothing, I often catch myself overwriting. If you are a big name writer, editors leave your overwriting in your books and readers learn to skim and sigh. If you’re not so famous, you must catch your own overwriting and learn to under write. By under write, I mean […]
Tips to Write with Emotion without Overusing Exclamation Points
We all know it’s important to use good punctuation in writing our #fiction #amwriting Click To Tweet When we overuse commas, it distracts the reader. Conversely, when we leave out a comma, the reader may not understand what we are trying to say. Punctuation has an important place in the writing. But, is it the-be-all-end […]
4 Stars for My Brilliant Friend
My Brilliant Friend is told from the point of view of a young teen. #amreading Click To Tweet That makes it a young adult book. The writing is choppy, perhaps as a young person thinks, perhaps due to the translation. The story full of emotion about things adults do not consider life and death. When […]
Reviving an old manuscript: Pros and Cons
Recently I had the pleasure of seeing someone who read the original version of The Clock Strikes Midnight. She had read it ten to 15 years ago. It was the version written before receiving feedback about its genre misconception. The story then was told from the point of view of the two main characters when […]
Writers Helping Writers
As I struggle along with my new manuscript, I realize how much writers have to do alone. We create, edit and ponder all by our little lonesomes. Here is where I’d love to have a writing partner. Wouldn’t it be nice to toss ideas off someone, to ask them to read what you’ve written, to […]
What to do When You’ve Run Out of Things to Say
Here I am facing another Wednesday and time to publish a new post. I’ve written about writing fiction and nonfiction. I’ve looked at the way authors develop their characters and come up with character names. I’ve examined the pros and cons for pantser styles and outliner styles. I’ve looked at grammar issues and non issues. […]
