Category: writing process

• April 15, 2024

  Quick, easy tips to improve fiction writing (and some hard truths as well)

  You may have heard most, or all of these, before. But I have seen the importance of them, how easy they are to implement, and how much they have improved the quality of my writing. Those are easy fixes. Now to some deeper, hard truths for aspiring writers out there. You do NOT need an…
• January 29, 2024

  Sometimes you just have to wait and let the solution to a plot issue come to you

  As I write this, I have FINALLY figured out how to close out a subplot I am trying to add to the prequel to my Herezoth trilogy. General Grombach, who features in The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope, has some serious plot armor in the prequel, and it was causing me issues. I couldn’t…
• January 26, 2024

  Advice for beginning writers 5: hive mind compilation!

  I recently asked on my Facebook page what advice my fellow writers have for beginners. I got some great responses! Paraphrased by me, with credit given to the author who contributed the idea, here is what people offered. I will put author names in quotes as their official Facebook page is named, so that you…
• January 24, 2024

  Advice for beginning writers 4: the rules are more like guidelines, anyway

  This fourth post giving advice to novice writers is this: know the rules. Know grammar–it is your RESPONSIBILITY to know grammar if you want to publish your writing, period. Know stylistic regularities, such as what isn’t a dialogue tag and what is (only words that imply speech. “Smiled,” “grinned,” and so on? NOT dialogue tags.)…
• January 22, 2024

  Advice for beginning writers 3: focus on learning the craft (by doing)

  When you’re writing your first novel or first few short stories, focus on learning, growing, and on the story you want to tell. Focus on discovering the process that works for you as a writer. Don’t worry about the market or what you think will or won’t sell. Don’t have expectations about how good it…
• January 19, 2024

  Advice for beginning writers 2: don’t force plot

  My first novel will never be published, largely because the plot does not hold up that much. This is because I forced my characters to do some really stupid things, all to advance the plot to a particular place I wanted the plot to go, when that place didn’t end up making sense. A good…
• January 17, 2024

  Advice for beginner writers 1: JUST WRITE

  This is the first in a series of posts with my advice for beginning writers. I’m no expert, per se, but I’ve been writing for over 15 years, and I’ve studied literature and writing in grad school. If nothing else, maybe the fruit of my experience over that time is worth some small something. The…
• January 15, 2024

  Don’t forget that writing should be FUN

  I always say that the “right” writing process is the one that works. There all kinds of ways to write and prepare to write. Some are slower, some are faster. Some involve more work on the front end, some more work on the back end. But what is the “right” process for you? I think…
• January 12, 2024

  Side quests vs. Sublots

  Today I want to discuss the difference between what I call “side quests” versus subplots. What’s the distinction? A subplot connects with the main plot in (usually multiple) ways and affects the main plot. It’s one of the threads that compose the main plot, so to speak. A side quest does not connect so much…
• January 10, 2024

  When characters act counterintuitively

  Is it ok for your characters to do something counterintuitive? Of course! Great characters in great books do this all the time. The key is pretty simple: just make sure they have a reason not to do the logical or simple thing. Maybe their goals aren’t obvious and the seemingly obvious thing to do doesn’t serve…