When you think of point of view, think of the “central intelligence” of your story – it is the thing that operates the eyes, ears, memory, and revelations, the thing through which your narrative is sifted and makes its progress. It is indicated by the pronouns that we use. In first person, we use I/me.Continue reading “Pretober – Voice”
Category Archives: Writing Resources
Pretober – Plotting
Kurt Vonnegut said, ‘I don’t plot my books rigidly, follow a preconceived structure. A novel mustn’t be a closed system – it’s a quest.’ Others, like the author of Room Emma Donoghue, prefer to have a guiding base structure. She notes that ‘Some writers can produce marvelous plots without planning it out, but I can’t.Continue reading “Pretober – Plotting”
Pretober – Setting
For some of you, when writing your stories, you may be doing more than just inventing characters and their lives. You may choose to take on creating a brand new, never before seen world for them to live in. The biggest piece of advice I can give you in this endeavor is just to makeContinue reading “Pretober – Setting”
Pretober – Characters
Are you participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, the best way to set yourself up to be successful for it is to do as much planning as you can now so that when you sit down to write 50K in 30 Days, you can just go go go. One thing we can plan inContinue reading “Pretober – Characters”
Cover Design
Probably the thing that worries me most about self-publishing my second book is the cover. Not in the “will people love it” sense – but in the “what if I can’t get it to look how I want” sense, in the “what if I royally mess up the dimensions” sense. I know – I knowContinue reading “Cover Design”
Come Sniff Books with Lynda Barry
reposted from my work with UntitledTown I have a confession. In 2009, I didn’t know who Lynda Barry was – I had yet to be introduced to her work. But I was back in Green Bay, a year out of grad school, and desperate to once again be surrounded by writers and artists. So whenContinue reading “Come Sniff Books with Lynda Barry”
Tracking: Plot
I remember early on in my learning about writing stories being taught Freytag’s pyramid: introduction/exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, denouement. At the time, the simple structure made sense and worked just fine with the types of short stories I was writing at the time. As my instruction went on, as my stories became moreContinue reading “Tracking: Plot”
Tracking: Characters
I’m part of a really stellar online, global writing community. I found them, actually, through a workout program, and they were such an unexpected bonus who have become super important in my writer world. We have a private Facebook group where people can ask questions and share resources, and I’ve found questions about a specificContinue reading “Tracking: Characters”
Rejection
I vividly remember the first rejection I received when I began to query my first book. Honestly, it was when I officially felt like a “real” writer – despite my telling my students over and over that being a writer simply means that you write. I wore that rejection like a badge of honor. AsContinue reading “Rejection”
My Characters Need to Stop Reaching for Things
When that list of “Words I Apparently Overuse” just keeps growing… Kathy Steinemann has a wonderful index of commonly overused words and long lists of alternatives. I highly recommend utilizing these as you write and as you edit.
Ami Maxine 