I was invited to do a guest post on the blog of my old critique partner, Stina Lindenblatt, regarding the writing of ‘Kickass Action Scenes’. Thanks, Stina! Here’s the link for PART ONE. PART TWO. PART THREE. Uh… I was a bit wordy. In any case, Stina has an awesome blog for writers at all… Read more
Read MoreGetting my first book contract has ushered in a number of very awesome moments. One was seeing my cover in printed form (it is even prettier in person!) One was seeing my first pass pages: And one, I’ll discuss below. You see, I had this weird quirk most of my life, in that I was… Read more
Read MoreIf you’ve been around the writing blogosphere for a while, you’ve probably encountered the same classic bits of advice I have about beginning a story:Never start with a character waking up…Never start with an action scene before a reader is invested in the characters & aware of the stakes involved…Never start with a character gazing… Read more
Read MoreIn light of the recent YAMafia posts (nice summary here and here), I started thinking about the various things I’ve picked up over the last four years, six unsuccessful manuscripts, and one successful manuscript, with regards to the business of publishing. Time to share. Most aspiring writers are pretty well-acquainted with these tidbits of wisdom,… Read more
Read MoreFirst of all, I’m revising more than reading right now– I swear it! ::looks around sneakily, checks for editor :: But when I’m writing a lot, I tend also to be reading a lot. This leads to accusations that I am being anti-social, because there are only so many hours in a day and other… Read more
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