Author Archive
A Sneak Peek at the Ardor Point #2 Outline
I’ve been working on-and-off on this outline for over a year and a half now. I could go down the list of excuses and reasons why it took so long. – And it’s still not “finished” yet, but I can’t stand it anymore, so I’ve started on the “zero-draft.” I’d like to share with you [...]
More about Book Covers
Related to last week’s extensive post on book-cover design for indie authors and publishers, Roger C. Parker posted over the weekend a few more tips for better book covers. He also linked to a page of interactive book-cover makeovers at Dunn+Associates Design’s web site. For a kick, check out a few, and think about how [...]
How to Design Your Book Cover
As an indie author, you probably need to understand book-cover design. Traditionally published authors have their publishers’ experts to design their covers (whether or not those experts are worthy of the designation). Self-published authors, just printing up a few copies for family and friends, will probably be satisfied with the très kewl cover design tools [...]
What Does Seduction Look Like?
Max, a young writer, asks: I am writing a story and need a visual description for a female “seductive” (if you know what I mean) antagonist. Or should I even describe her? I’ve seen that done well. This is actually one of my deeper characters. Hi, Max. The easiest answer I can think to give [...]
Carnival of Storytelling – June 30, 2011
Welcome to the June 30, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling. Thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from your own writing blog for next week’s carnival. Enjoy!
Monday Morning #CharacterStory Writing Prompts 2011/06/27
A photo: top of this post, which the artist has entitled, “Never a frown, with golden brown.” (Click for a larger view.) A personality type: ISFP. A need: the need for emotional intimacy. A quirk: Always writes in 1337-5p34k (leet-speak). Feel free to comment below with a link to your story if you use any [...]
Monday Morning #CharacterStory Writing Prompts 2011/06/20
Happy birthday to me! (Yup. Don’t know whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.) A photo: top of this post, which the artist has entitled, “.” (Click for a larger view.) A personality type: ENFP. A need: the need for attention. A quirk: Loves to dance, and does not have to be on [...]
Carnival of Storytelling – June 16, 2011
Welcome to the June 16, 2011 edition of Carnival of Storytelling. Thanks to everyone who submitted a link at BlogCarnival.com. Please browse their blog posts, and share your own favorite posts from your own writing blog for next week’s carnival. Enjoy!
Writing Tip: Research the Obvious
Let’s say you’re writing a scene in your story, a scene that takes place in a beauty salon. Now, if you yourself have spent 20 years working in beauty salons, maybe you can write that scene off the top your head. But if you’re like most of us, you have only passing exposure to life [...]
What Is a #CharacterStory (and the 2 Laws of Character Action)
I found this photo on Flickr. Entitled “The Problem with Character-Driven Stories,” the photo had an amusing story to go along with it. As the story goes, there was a writer who was auditioning characters for her next novel. Characters lined up all the way out the writer’s waiting room and around the corner. And [...]