Tuesday, March 1, 2005
A writing exercise
I had my peeps in my writers group do a short writing exercise to get the blood flowing in the brain. The exercise was to write a paragraph describing a scene that someone would see sitting on a bench in the mall. The catch was that the paragraph had to be devoid of all adjectives and adverbs. I did...
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Wednesday, February 16, 2005
The character arc
As I've mentioned before, I am obsessed with characters and character development. So it goes without saying that before I develop a plot, I usually aim for planning a character arc. What's a character arc? It's the growth of a character from point A to point B in the story. Humans are constantly...
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Thursday, January 6, 2005
But it's my baby!
How attached should you be to your writing? On one hand you need to have love for it. But on the other hand you need to have an amount of emotional detachment to it. So how do you find that middle ground? Listen, the bottom line is YOU'RE NOT PERFECT. There has never been a perfect writer in the...
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Thursday, December 2, 2004
The problems with "ly"
I had this pointed out to me recently, and it's really great advice, so I'll pass it along to you, the writers of the world. Or maybe just the bloggers. Either way. Let's talk adverbs, folks. You know, those words that end in "ly." Quickly, quietly, peacefully, etc. Words that modify verbs. You're...
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Thursday, November 18, 2004
Giving a critique
Being a writer requires thick skin. Not only because you'll probably stab yourself accidentally with pens, pencils, and staples occassionally (and let's not forget the ever-dreadful paper cut), but because you are bound to receive criticism. And this is good, because without it we wouldn't evolve as...
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Monday, November 15, 2004
Books on writing
In an attempt to be a better a writer, we often find ourselves turning to other writers or those who seem to know more about the process. That's when you head to the "reference" section of Barnes and Nobles or whatever section of your local bookstore stocks the writing books. I've never taken much...
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Thursday, November 11, 2004
No excuses!
"I don't have the time to write." Bullshit. There are 24 hours in a day. Eight is probably spent at work, and eight is probably spent sleeping. That leaves 16 hours. You can't fit writing anywhere in that span of time? I ain't buyin' it. What about that time you spend in front of the TV? Turn the...
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Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Good dialogue
When you have a conversation with someone, you usually take your words for granted. What do I mean by that? Well, do you ever notice the actual words you use? The tone of voice? Inflections on certain words, letters, or sounds? Speaking is a natural thing for us and so we do so without thinking....
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Thursday, October 28, 2004
Creating characters - part two
You have the basics of a character now. We've determined the purpose of the character, given him or her a motivation or goal, and given physical attributes to him or her. So what's next? Well, the next two things go hand-in-hand. I can't really tell you which one to figure out first, as I've done it...
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Creating characters - part one
It's kind of a hard to write a story without characters. It's even harder, sometimes, to write a story with characters. Characters are integral to a story because the can be the vehicle for the reader to see everything with, they can be the catalysts for conflict within the story, and they can bring...
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