Angela Booth's Writing Blog: Using The Writer's Notebook. BradScienceFest: Today in Cornwall - now that's... Itvnews: Irish coastal town of Lahinch... How to Write a Novel. Kitten Queen. 50 of the Best Websites for Writers. There are tons of reference sites on the web that can help you find a job or write a poem, essay or story. Here is a list of the best 50 websites for writers. Reference Websites Merriam-Webster Online - Merriam Webster is the perfect place to look up words and find information.
The site offers a dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, podcasts, word games and a lot of other things that may be of interest to writers and word-lovers. General Writing Websites Writer's Digest - Probably one of the best all-around websites for writers, Writer's Digest offers information on writing better and getting published. Fiction Writing Websites About.com - About.com publishes a Guide to Fiction Writing with general information about fiction writing and a number of community forums for both current and aspiring writers.
Nonfiction Writing Websites Bella Online - This site offers a large collection of resources for nonfiction writers. Websites for Freelance Writers and Authors. Markets for Articles: D. Joseph-campbell-monomyth.jpg (JPEG Image, 1021 × 750 pixels) Coffee: you’re doing it wrong | Kicking On. I was a barista for over three years – part-time around studying and full-time during the holidays, plus on my year off prior to university. As with every job I’ve done, I threw myself into it. I didn’t even really like coffee before I became a barista. Ten years from when I started, I know whether the milk for my drink has been steamed and allowed to settle properly from the second I pick up a paper cup. The first sip will tell me whether the espresso is any good, or if the machine is calibrated incorrectly.
And if you offer me coffee in your home, odds are I’ll twitch as I watch you make it. Because almost everyone does it wrong. 1. 2. 3. 4. These are the biggest and most frequent mistakes I’ve seen people make, but they’re the easiest ones to rectify and remember. Like this: Like Loading... Inside the Highest Hotel Rooms on Earth. Tips For Writers: On the Importance of Persistence. If you shop in the Amazon bestseller list for Thriller and Mystery (like I do), you’ll see a number of Michael Wallace books there. Michael has several great books with the Amazon thriller imprint, Thomas & Mercer, but it hasn’t always been this way. Today he shares some of his journey with us. The importance of persistence I could wallpaper a room with rejection letters. If I printed electronic rejections I could wallpaper two more rooms. My ego would love to say that the publishing industry is infested with idiots, but the truth is that many (probably most) of these rejections were justified.
It’s hard to say why I kept at it, even though my work faced indifference from the publishing industry. Writing is not performance art; until you have success, nobody much cares. It’s a hard business, and I’d never suggest that anyone voluntarily choose this path, but if you’re a writer like I am, you know one does not simply give it up. Here is my advice. (1) Produce (2) Study (3) Keep perspective. The Beginning Writer. Resources | Taylor Grace. The Secret to Show, Don’t Tell. Gone are the days of the long narrative passages we used to see in novels written by greats like Dickens and Steinbeck. Even though literary prose is still highly praised and found in many bestselling commercial novels, the trend over the last few decades has been to “show, not tell.” Meaning, readers prefer scenes in which they are watching the action unfold in real time—instead of being told what is happening by the author or even by one of the characters.
Sol Stein, in his book Stein on Writing, says, Twentieth-century readers, transformed by film and TV, are used to seeing stories. The reading experience for a twentieth-century reader is increasingly visual. The story is happening in front of his eyes. This is even more true in the twenty-first century. Just How Do You Show? As much as we writers hear the phrase “show, don’t tell,” we never hear anyone explain just how to do that. Is there only one way to “show” a scene? The Secret to “Show, Don’t Tell” Showing vs. Telling. Not sure if you saw my Tweet from Saturday, but FYI, rice harvest is going well.
Just thought you should know. Now then. It's one of the oldest writing "rules" in the book, and probably dates back to the time they were carving stories on stone tablets: Show don't tell. Show don't tell. Show don't tell. You hear this all the time. But what in the heck does that actually mean? My interpretation is this. I'm of the opinion that we read books in order to get to know our fellow humans better. Being told that a character is "angry" is not very interesting - we're reading the book, we know his dog just got kicked, of course he's angry! More interesting is how the character reacts to seeing his dog kicked. Even if it's a first person narrative and the character knows he's "angry," it's more interesting for the character to describe how he's feeling or what he's thinking rather than saying, "I was so angry!
" This also applies to: Show, Don’t Tell. By Erin Anyone who’s ever written a short story or taken a freshman composition course has heard the words “show, don’t tell.” I know those words can be frustrating. You might not know exactly what “show, don’t tell” means. Or you might believe that you are showing when you’re really telling. While “telling” can be useful, even necessary, most people don’t realize how vital “showing” is to an effective story, essay, or even a blog post. “Okay, I get it,” you’re thinking. I’m glad you asked. 1. This is probably one of the first things I talk to my students about when I have them write personal essays. “Justin Michael,” mom bellowed, “Get in here this instant!” Dialogue can give your reader a great deal about character, emotion and mood. 2. In order for readers to fully experience what you’re writing about, they need to be able to see, hear, taste, smell and touch the world around them. 3.
I’m sure everyone remembers learning to use adjectives and adverbs in elementary school. 4. Plot. We’re doing something new, and Howard gets to go first. The plan is to take something one of us has completed, and which you’ve had ample time to read, and grill the creator about the project. Obviously there will be spoilers. Also, we’re going to run a bit long on these. First up in our “Project In Depth” series: Howard’s most recent online volume of Schlock Mercenary, Force Multiplication. You can read it for free at the link above. The biggest issue discussed is the female perspective. He also talks about the setting — Haven Hive — and how he needed the setting to functionally isolate a small ensemble cast.
Next up on our Project In Depth series: The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson. Thing That Would Make Howard Sound Smarter: Remove every last “you know” from his dialog. Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett, narrated by Stephen Briggs This episode of Writing Excuses has been brought to you by Audible. Audible Free Trial Details. Create A Plot Outline In 8 Easy Steps. By Glen C. Strathy How would you like to create a plot outline for your novel in less than an hour that is emotionally compelling and dramatically sound? It's easier than you think. The secret is to incorporate the 8 Basic Plot Elements. Sound intriguing? I'll describe each of the eight elements in turn. On the other hand, if you already have a draft for a novel, that you're looking to revise, then ask yourself, as we go through these elements, whether you have included them in your story. 1. 15K+Save The first element to include in your plot outline is the Story Goal, which we covered in detail in the previous article, The Key to a Solid Plot: Choosing a Story Goal.
For instance, let's say we want to write a story about a 38-year-old female executive who has always put off having a family for the sake of her career and now finds herself lonely and regretting her choices. There are many ways we could involve other characters in this goal. ... a mother who wants her to be happier. 2. 3. How I Plot A Novel in 5 Steps. By popular request (ok, 1 person, but they're populace, so that makes it popular, right?) I've put together a step by step process for how I go from "Hey I should write a novel" to "Ok, let's get writing!
" Though I managed to get things grouped into steps, what I've really done is labeled and applied order to the phases I go through as I work toward the point where I feel I know enough about a book to start writing. Some parts of my process may seem a bit obsessive, but the most important part of writing fast is knowing as much as you can about what you're writing before you write it, and that means lots and lots of planning. Planning a novel takes me anywhere from a few days to weeks. Usually I plan while I'm working on other things, like editing, but I've also had whole weeks where I did nothing but put a story together.
I should say that I plan far more novels than I actually end up writing. My computer is littered with the cast off husks of half started worlds. Make a timeline. How to plot your novel - a free article by Simon Haynes, author of the Hal Spacejock series. In this article I will discuss how to plot your novel, from first ideas to a completed outline. (Articles Index) I'm currently putting together a how-to book containing updated and revised editions of all my articles on writing and publishing, plus a lot of new material. If you'd like to know more, follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter Plotting is the process of describing your novel in summarised form, usually before you start the actual work of writing it. So why doesn't every author write a plot outline? I don't know about other authors, but I never liked plotting and I never enjoyed writing to a detailed outline. What I used to do was map out a few scenes ahead of where I was writing and basically stumble along until I reached the end of my novel.
After my first novel was accepted by a publisher I had to work with their editor to revise and improve it. So, instead of rewriting the book I wrote a detailed outline. So how do you write this outline? NEW! This isn't the end, by any means. Novel Plotting Worksheet | The Organized Writer | Annie Neugebauer. Want to help support the author? There are hundreds, possibly thousands of articles on novel plotting on the web. There are a few plotting worksheets, with spaces and questions for you to fill in your own work – some of them are good. But I couldn’t find what I wanted, so I decided to make it and share it with you all.
The “Plotting Worksheet” is for writers who have scattered ideas (maybe a conflict + its resolution) that need to be worked into a basic plot structure. It is 1 page, bare bones, easy to view at a glance. The “Plotting Worksheet with Prompts” is the same thing with questions to prompt your answers, in case some of the steps confuse you or you are familiar with different terminology, etc. Note: if you are in the early stages, it might be easiest to fill in this worksheet out of order. I hope this helps. Happy plotting! View the full list of available organizational documents. All documents are © Annie Neugebauer. Share this: How To Plot A Novel. Plotting a novel is no small task. Not only do you have a lot of events to dream up, you also have to make the readers keep turning the pages. And that is what plot is all about at the end of the day - entertainment. There are probably countless reasons why you decided to write a novel in the first place.
But high on many people's lists is a need to release all the thoughts and feelings churning around inside them. Plot is the thing that allows you to pour your soul out on paper without sending the rest of the world to sleep. Plot will play a big part in your novel, then, which is why it's kind of on the complicated side. So long as you go about it logically and build the plot one small piece at a time, you'll be fine. Let's start with the most basic of questions... What Is a Plot? Yes, I know that sounds like a stupid question, but I've always been a great believer in beginning right at the grassroots. A plot is a series of linked events. If all of that is clear – great! Three Act Structure. The Ten Normal Human Genders and the Seven Variants: An Exercise in Geek-Deep Worldbuilding.
Human Gender Sliders Back in 1991-1992, when I was building Arhel and writing Fire in the Mist, I worked out in detail the thirteen Hoos sexual preferences, and mentioned them as half a line in the Glossary at the back of the book. Over the years, I received a lot of mail/email asking me about those thirteen sexual orientations. Problem is, during a move, I lost all my Arhel worldbuilding, including my ton of notes on the Hoos and their ways of looking at sex. Thing is, “What WERE the 13 Hoos sexual orientations?” Still remains an interesting question—I think anything related to how and why people have sex is an interesting question—and because I was working on the Create A World Clinic, I decided to see if I could, using my World Clinic techniques, lay out my set of worldbuilding rules and then working through them, replicate what I’d done before…or at least come up with a solid replacement. It worked out well.
For Prospective Worldbuilders Here are the rules I set out: 1) Sex is life. Pasted-graphic. Dianemarycowan2. Fantasy Writing Help! Expanded Power Revision Checklist. Would you like to be a published poet? Would you like recognition for your work? Please check out the "Invalid Item" Part I of the Writers Workshop: Expanded Power Revision Checklist I first presented the content of this article at a writers workshop. And seeing a need amongst fellow writers for a more in-depth handling of these superb techniques, I decided to do some moderate reformatting to make this reader-friendly and suitable for posting.
This article is a compilation of the techniques culled, distilled, and synthesized from the thirty-eight references listed at the end of this piece. Warning: Some of these techniques may not fit with what you may have thought was great writing. Although these techniques apply to both fiction and non-fiction, most of my examples utilize fiction because it is my favorite form. These techniques are not designed to teach someone how to write. Keep in mind that avoid and limit do not mean never. 1. Showing expresses action, while telling explains. 2. A. Fantasy Writing Help! A Simple Novel Outline. Just as every tree is different but still recognizably a tree, every story is different but contains elements that make it a story. By defining those before you begin you clarify the scope of your work, identify your themes, and create the story you meant to write.
At Norwescon 2011 I sat in on a session called Outline Your Novel in 90-minutes led by Mark Teppo. I’ll give you the brief, readable, synthesized version. Answer 9 questions and create 25 chapter titles and you’re there. Here are the 9 questions to create a novel: 1.) 2.) 3.) 4.) 5.) 6.) 7.) 8.) 9.) Now, with those 9 questions answered to your satisfaction, try to fill in a 25 chapter, 75,000 word outline. Chapters 7-18 are the middle of your book.
Chapters 19-25 depict the heroic act to victory. Wasn’t that easy? Okay, sure, the work isn’t done yet. Using the idea that there are 25 chapters, I outlined my current work in progress. I hope that was helpful. Tell me what works for you. Related 6 Steps to Masterful Writing Critiques. The 100 Most Important Things To Know About Your Character (revised) Fractal World Generator. 5 Ways to Become a Better Writer in 2012. Questionnaires for Writing Character Profiles - Creative Writing Help. 102 Resources for Fiction Writing « Here to Create. The Furlow Writing Lab. Pinterest. Pinterest. Helpful charts, templates, and worksheets to keep any ... | Story thi…