10 Things to Consider Before Writing a Novel

Currently life is preventing me from reaching my daily quota on my new writing project.  I suppose if I hadn’t considered a few rules to set for myself before I began this project, I would be spinning my wheels in the endless morass of counter-productivity. I set some basic ground rules before I began writing,

The Plot Thickens: Sweetening the Plot

I used to fear for the future of humanity in the days when Twilight was all the rage.  Now look at it.  Gone, baby, gone. And good riddance, I suppose.  You know something is passé when it garners a top 10 list of reasons why it is good that it has passed on. However, there are

Question for the Writer: Who Are You?

We will begin today’s post with a simple quote from the late great Kurt Cobain:   Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. I have been writing something whether it be short stories, poems or now mostly novels for the better part of my life.  I can remember as

Building a Platform: Short Story Submissions

This past weekend I attended Soonercon, a local science fiction/fantasy convention, and while browsing around the con dressed to the hilt as John McClane from Die Hard I happened upon a fellow novelist who was happily selling his hard work right next to my good friend artist Jerry Bennett.  I spent a little time talking to

Under the Dome: Stephen King Talks Writing Brass Tacks

The new miniseries based on Stephen King‘s best selling novel Under the Dome premieres tonight on CBS at 9 eastern time (U.S.) and there was a great live chat with him that you can view below where he answers questions from Twitter and talks about the processes he uses as a writer.  There are many wise writing

Emulation: How Much Is Too Much?

We all have our favorite books as writers.  All of us have that author we would aspire to write like and have the successes that that particular writer has had.  One problem that plagues many amateur writers is their self-imposed need to be exactly like “so and so” because that author is successful or has

Writing a Memoir that No One Will Read

Today I read an article by Theo Pauline Nestor answering the question “Why Writing a Memoir Might Actually Make You Happier“, and found myself agreeing with her completely.  However, writing a memoir is something that is done by most as a hobby and is usually never intended to be read by millions. I have written

NaNoWriMo Tip #15: The Midway Point

Well, here we are.  The midpoint.  We are now 15 days away from the deadline and many of you should have most of your novel completed if you want to spend some quality time editing and revising. I have a few encouraging words for you today so that you will not quit when you have

NaNoWriMo Writing Tip #5: Sleep

I have shifted to dropping daily writing tips because I have given all the time management tips I live by.  I will now be posting writing tips to make your life this month easier if you are attempting to do the NaNoWriMo competition.   It is highly important to get at least 7-8 hours of

NaNoWriMo Time Management Tip #3: Outlining

There may be many of you who write like Stephen King, who have a general idea where you are going with your novel but have decided to “wing it” every day during the NaNoWriMo, relying on your instincts to get you through this massive project.  If you are able to do this, and be consistent