Tweet I’ve spent a couple weeks trying desperately to finish up Taming Fire for publication this month. But last time we talked, it was about the questions that keep people reading your stories, and the big story question that drives your story forward. I said offhand that well-designed story questions and scene questions make it […]
In the post, read about the three most important words in your novel.
Characters are like the paint samples of the world. Some of them are vivid. Some are pale. A select few are restful and pleasant to the reader’s eye the moment they step onto the page. Yet others look icky, no matter what light we cast them in. But they all need molding and clarifying, and that’s where the hard work starts…
Tweet This week we’re talking about industry terms, and specifically focusing on the questions that keep people reading. Yesterday I talked about the gimmicks–hooks and plates–but today I want to talk about your load-bearing questions. These are the questions that form the foundation of your story. They’re the questions that drive your protagonist through some […]
Tweet At long last, I’m going to fulfill a promise made weeks ago. I’m going to teach you some storytelling terminology. As I admitted to Joshua Unruh yesterday, I tend to work off a couple different writing glossaries that use some overlapping but non-identical terms. That means when I say “plot point” in one context […]
Since Ed and I moved here three-and-a-half years ago, we’ve had a tornado scare every spring. And without fail, every time there’s a tornado headed our way, it lifts somewhere west of us and passes us by. The same thing happened yesterday. We huddled in a basement for an hour, while the temperature rose, and the humidity increased…
Tweet Last week I half-apologized for a temporary and unexpected hiatus due to my busy schedule, and then it went and got busier. The weekend featured the first major event by my publishing-company-slash-engine-for-world-change, the Consortium. You can read a summary of the event that I wrote for the official page, but you’ll get a clearer […]
Tweet Last Tuesday, I told a little story about unexpected delays, and then promised to follow up with a couple educational blog posts on Thursday. I talked about family medical emergencies and final homework assignments. I didn’t really say much about my novel coming out in June. But I have a novel coming out in […]
I’ve learned that I glean inspiration from about a kajillion more sources than I ever thought I did. To celebrate this cramazing realization, I shall now share with you a list (with headings, sha-ZAM!) of WILAWriTWe inspirations.
Greetings, dear inklings. Today’s WILAWriTWe title comes to you courtesy of the German language, directly translated with love by Yours Truly.
You see, in German, there is the word Mist. This word is what we in linguistics would call a “false friend”: It looks like it means “fine spray of water,” and yet, it means nothing of the sort…
