We've come a long way together, friends! Today is our last post for Novel Writing 101, my blog series on how to pre-plan and write the first draft of your novel. If you're anything like me, you're probably not actually done your first draft yet (or, ahem, even close...), but I wanted to wrap up … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: The Finish Line – Now What?
Novel Writing 101: Keeping it Real – Writing When It’s Hard
There's an old adage we writers love to toss around--"You can't edit a blank page." The idea, of course, is that if you want to have something to shape into a book, you have to sit down and write it first. Last week we talked about 5 tips for getting that first draft written; today … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Keeping it Real – Writing When It’s Hard
Novel Writing 101: 5 Tips for Nailing the First Draft
The big moment has finally arrived. You've thought about characters,setting, story structure, and theme. You've created an outline or storyboard or list of scenes. You may even have had moments of panic, asking yourself, can I really do this? (Yes, you can!). Now it's time to tackle the first draft of your novel. And, might … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: 5 Tips for Nailing the First Draft
Novel Writing 101: Building a Story with Scenes
Today's post, as promised, will look at how we can come up with scene ideas to fill in the gaps in our novel outlines. But first, a quick review... What, exactly, is a scene? Simply put, scenes are the building blocks that make up a story. They may contain dialogue, action sequences, narrative, exposition, or … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Building a Story with Scenes
Novel Writing 101: Outlines – Pulling It all Together
We're in the home stretch of pre-planning, dear writers and readers! In our series so far, we've looked at characters and character arcs, loglines, setting, plot structure, and theme. Hopefully you've got lots of notes, full of little gems of insight into different facets of your story. Now what? How do we pull it all … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Outlines – Pulling It all Together
Writing Breaks: Finding Rest and Inspiration
Hello, dear readers and fellow writers! Today I'm taking a break from our series on Novel Writing 101, because I can't resist the chance to share with you about my recent trip to Ireland. But to keep things writing-related, here's our angle--taking guilt-free writing breaks. Have you ever reached that place in your work where … Continue reading Writing Breaks: Finding Rest and Inspiration
Novel Writing 101: Theme–Unlocking the Heart of Your Story
This week's topic may seem like a throwback to high school English class--how many of us struggled to come up with 5-7 pages explaining the theme of some book we barely understood? But I'm happy to report that the idea of "theme" isn't nearly as confusing as your English class may have led you to … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Theme–Unlocking the Heart of Your Story
Novel Writing 101: Ingredients for Character Arc Soup
Hello, friends! Do any of you like cooking? Or perhaps just watching other people cook on TV shows? (Iron Chef, anyone?) I'm more of a baker myself, but the concepts are the same. Whatever you're making isn't going to come out very well without adding the right ingredients in the proper order. Last time we … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Ingredients for Character Arc Soup
Novel Writing 101: How to Give Your Story Bones
Hey, friends! How is the story building going so far? Have you made some great progress on creating your story's world? So far we've touched on creating characters with goals, worldbuilding, and creating a plot sentence. Today we're going to dive deeper into story structure, an essential part of fleshing out your plot and giving … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: How to Give Your Story Bones
Using Twitter as a Platform to Raise Your Artistic Profile: A Guest Post by Jason VanHorn
Hey, fellow readers and writers! I'm a little late on getting this post out, thanks to the joys of summer like visiting with friends, afternoons by the pool, and late night fireworks. I hope you all are hard at work on your story world bibles. In the meantime, I have a great post for you … Continue reading Using Twitter as a Platform to Raise Your Artistic Profile: A Guest Post by Jason VanHorn
Kellie Michelle Parker 