Margaret Atwood on Writing
This one’s from 4 years ago, but pretty evergreen: persistent writer Margaret Atwood talks with a new generation of writers about her process and some key writing tips… and don’t forget to sit up straight.
Writing
Category: Writing
Writing
Lessons Learned from NaNoWriMo, 20 Years On
It’s National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Right now, friends and colleagues are busily trying to reach daily word counts that will total 50,000 words or more at the end of the month. I linked to a series of resources (articles, videos) about approaching NaNoWriMo and novel writing last month. My month is packed full of going through casting submissions for the first half and then script-writing on a certain space opera for…
Writing
“Leveling Up” your Writing Prior to NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo is almost upon us, so I’ve been posting articles for what many writers call National Novel Prep Month. (I’m mainly going to hype my writing in an anthology this month… and also work on some scriptwriting). In this installment, Shannon Valenzuela goes into some actions you can take to make the most of your prep.
Writing
9 Steps to Build a Strong Plot (NaNoWriMo Prep)
NaNoWriMo will be upon us next month, and so for a lot of people, October is National Novel Prep Month. (I’m mainly going to hype my writing in an anthology this month… and also work on some scriptwriting). Now, if you read last week’s post and decided that you are more of a plotter, writer Derek Murphy has a 9 step “plot dot” for you. For some, you’ll quickly pick up on the fact that…
Writing
Are You a Pantser or Plotter? (NaNoWriMo Prep)
NaNoWriMo will be upon us next month, and so for a lot of people, October is National Novel Prep Month. (I’m mainly going to hype my writing in an anthology this month… and also work on some scriptwriting). This Monday’s entry is important, as we’ll be midway through this prep month before you know it and you need to ask yourself: am I pantser or a plotter? Will Soulsby-McCreath walks you through some thought exercises…
Writing
Sci Fi versus Fantasy
A meme tickled Twitter users’ fancy late last month and for good reason: it was a pair of pithy comments contrasting science fiction and fantasy and skewering the related tropes for both. Mignon Fogarty has a good collection over at the Grammar Girl, but be warned! You’ll start wanting to do your own. To whit: Sci Fi is this blog on an encrypted server you’ll need some cyberpunk hacker to access. Fantasy is this blog…
Writing
8 Things to Consider Before Writing Your First Novel (Possible NaNoWriMo Prep)
NaNoWriMo will be upon us next month, and so for a lot of people, October is National Novel Prep Month. (I’m mainly going to hype my writing in an anthology this month… and also work on some scriptwriting). But let’s say you haven’t written a novel before and were anxious about it and were wondering about what will work and what won’t work and what will work for you… Well, since I featured one Vlog…
Writing
Wouldja Believe Lovecraftian Horror?
Zounds! After many a voiceover self-promotion, I get to do a writing self-promo! All seven or nine regular blog readers know that I do write plenty of audio fiction, given my periodic but consistent mention of my space opera Rogue Tyger, the implied adaptations of various folk tales and spooky tales, and occasional rampant, all-around silliness. But amid all these screenplays and essays here (and endless posts about Star Trek), there haven’t been any short…
Writing
Banned Books Week Wrap-Up: Thoughts on Maus
So, I finished Maus before the end of last week. It was a fast read both because the graphic novel format and because it was an absolute page-turner. I knew the book was autobiographical to some extent, but I didn’t realize how much the story of the author’s father during the Holocaust and the story of the author talking to his father about that story would be interwoven. It was very affecting, understated, and real.…
Various and Sundry Writing
Banning Books? Process Schmocess
In the video post from Monday, John Green briefly mentioned how one of the challenges to his book Looking for Alaska amounted to a person talked to a school official about a page in his book. The problem is, this kind of scenario happens a lot for challenging books. A single person is bringing this to the attention of a single official and there’s no process in place to review requests, challenges, or concerns. And…