I'm not sure new year resolutions are the best option, but starting another "journey 'round the sun" is a great time to think about what you did last year and what you'd like to accomplish this year. For me, it's been far too long since I've posted, so that's one of my goals this year—blogging … Continue reading What Do You Hope to Do This Year?
Tag: Fiction
Nowadays, you can go from "I've got a great idea" to "PUBLISHED" without involving anyone besides yourself. You can do your own editing and proofreading, formatting, cover design, and blurb writing (I'm not saying you should, but it can be done). Now, we've talked about the need for good cover design, and we discussed what … Continue reading Why Your Book Needs Beta Readers
As writers, we're told that we should "Show, Not Tell" all the time, and it's advice that is usually quite helpful. When possible, we need to let a scene unfold before the readers, to where they get to see what happens and to experience the details just as the characters do. But there are times … Continue reading When Just Showing Isn’t Enough
Over the last few months I've been watching Korean dramas with some of my friends. I find them preferable to their American counterparts for a few reasons. For one, they're often cleaner, and if the characters do swear, they do so in another language to where the subtitles filter it out and you don't actually … Continue reading Korean Dramas: Bad Plots or Thorough Explorations of Themes?
We've been looking at Les Misérables to see what writings lessons we can glean from it. Last post, we looked at the Plotting and Sub-plotting, and this time, I want to look at the characters. Hugo has an enormous cast of characters in this book, and honestly, there are times when even the most attentive readers … Continue reading Writing Lessons from Les Mis: Characterization
Title: Shadows of Tomorrow Author: Ryan Lanz Genre: Dystopia Short Stories Only One Mask: Nob only trusts two things: his knife and his breathing mask–the latter because he has to. Ever since the world went crazy, he feels like he’s always on the run. Running from those who want to kill you. Running from those … Continue reading Book Review – Shadows of Tomorrow
Characters do all kinds of things in fiction. Their actions make up the stories we write, and if they did nothing...it'd be pretty boring. But how much motivation should there be in what they do? Do you, as the author, need to always know why they're doing it, or can they just "do something for … Continue reading Character Actions: Should There Be a Reason Why?
Title: Road of a Warrior Author: R. K. Lander Genre: Fantasy Book Blurb from Goodreads: A light in the forest, a king returned, a past to claim … Fel’annár is an immortal half-blood warrior from the Deep Forest, an orphan whose questions were never answered. With a dream of becoming a Silvan captain in an army … Continue reading Book Review: Road of a Warrior
Every so often, I will review a book I coached or edited (particularly if the author asks it of me). This may sound tremendously biased—who can evaluate a book they were involved with—but hear me out. First, I don't publish my reviews on Amazon. Their policy would see me as biased, to where I would … Continue reading Why I Can Review a Book I Coached (or Edited)
This week, the Insecure Writer's Support Group is asking how we celebrate a writing goal or completing a book. Click here to join the fun! As I was thinking this over, I realized I don't usually celebrate finishing a project. So often, it's "done-and-on-to-the-next." I think this is partly because of my schedule--book coaching projects … Continue reading Why We Should Celebrate Our Writing Goals
Andrea Lundgren 