A Strange Reason For Writing Even Though I’m Not Famous

I’ve been at this writing game for most of my life.  I started writing short stories, horror stories, in high school and the writing bug has never let me go.  There have been periods of my life where I have been more prolific than others, but all in all I continue to write. I’ve had

5 Ways To Focus On Writing

  There are so many different things in this digital age to distract us from writing.  The picture to the left is of Ernest Hemingway typing a novel on the beach, but the days when a writer could isolate themselves from their tech may be completely gone. Even though I love writing (the process, the

Guest Post: A Series of Potentially Dangerous Experiments by Amy Paulussen

The television season finales were a month ago, and for a month now nothing new has aired.  We have two (or three) more months until new content is added.   What will I do with myself? I recently moved to the Northern Hemisphere, where this tragedy occurs at the beginning of summer, not winter. Instead

An Interview With a Marketing Manager: Advice to Self-Publishers

Josh Mosey, who runs a blog here on WordPress is a marketing manager who owns his own marketing business, specializing in creating print materials for the publishing industry.  He has also worked at a book store for many years.   I was able to interview him about his industry and how he relates to self-publishers like

How a Book is Born: A Humorous Yet Truthful Look at Publishing

Yesterday I brought up the point that it is strange how James Patterson completes the herculean task of churning out 12 best sellers in a year.  Today I found an info graphic by Mariah Bear that is a humorous satire of what it takes to get published these days, but it is also laden with

Samantha Shannon: The Next J.K. Rowling?

I read an article today about Samantha Shannon who will release a novel entitled The Bone Season this year.  She is a literature student at Oxford University and many people say she could be the next billion dollar author, as her book will be one of seven books in a series. She has everything going for

Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Creating Epic Heroes

One of my most popular posts is Tolkien’s 10 Tips for Writers, in which I glean from J.R.R. Tolkien’s letters of his wisdom about writing.  Today I will delve into his letters again, but will focus on the epic character Aragorn and ask Professor Tolkien how he created great characters. 1.  Motivational Mirrors – Tolkien

How to Write Descriptively With Metaphors

Metaphors are one of the most used literary devices in the English language second only to similes. The problem with using similes is that they often cause your writing to become a mine field of quantifiers. (i.e. His breath was like the foul smell of a garbage heap and his face was like a pock

Imagery: Beyond “Show Don’t Tell”

I am sure that if you have attended any creative writing courses at all , you have heard the old addage “Show, don’t tell.”  This is referring to the idea that amateur writers often tell us about the action in their narrative rather than “showing” events through imagery, figurative language and good description.  Over the

Deus Ex Machina: God Is Not A Crutch

Breaking Dawn is one of Stephanie Meyer’s most popular books, but it has within its pages a literary device that is something good writers should learn to use properly: deus ex machina. Deus ex machina is defined by my handy Dictionary of Literary Terms & Theory (Penguin) as: “any unanticipated intervener who resolves a difficult