When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make … Continue reading
My current ms is so far from its beginnings that I’d almost forgotten it started with photos to draw character profiles. I remember how much fun it was browsing through internet images of paleoanthropologists, staring into their eyes to see if they were Kali or Zeke (my two main characters). Did they have her fragile spirit … Continue reading
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip. Q: I can’t find enough detail about a particular area of the world … Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned (sometimes to convince myself), I am closing in on a publication of my thriller, To Hunt a Sub. My characters have changed considerably in the years I’ve been writing the book, sometimes through my pen, but often because they’ve opened up to me, much as a friend does when you get to … Continue reading
Over half of our communication is done with body language, not words. I study it so I can characterize the people in my books–their actions, hand gestures, facial expressions–and it has taught me a lot about reading people’s interior monologue–those ideas they don’t want to share, but inadvertently do. Even the best speakers have a … Continue reading
This is the next in the occasional “How to Write Descriptions” series. If you’re a writer, you know what I mean. You can’t just say, The dog laid down at my feet and fell asleep. That’s boring. It tells the reader nothing about how cute the dog is, how innocent his sleep was, how you … Continue reading
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make … Continue reading
This is the ninth in the “How to Write Descriptions” series. When you’re writing about your protagonist, you want the reader to see them–their clothes, shoes, the scarf they wear, that old-fashioned belt buckle that shines in the sunlight. These images will engage readers in the plot as they watch a movie inside their brain, … Continue reading
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make … Continue reading
This is the third in a series “How to Write Descriptions”. As writers, we have only words to communicate some of the most complicated images in life. The trick for writers is, how to pick just the right words. That’s what I share here: inspiration for succeeding in your quest. Most of the following descriptions … Continue reading
