Month: March 2015

  • KITTEHS!!!!!!!!!!

  • pervocracy:

    stuffman:

    image

    People have written a lot of touchy-feely pieces on this subject but I thought I’d get right to the heart of the matter

    This is 1000% more motivating than every preachy “real writers write every day” post on all of Tumblr.

  • Q&A: How do you feel about outlining/planning versus sitting down and just writing through a draft?

    Hello from #amwriting! 🙂 How do you feel about outlining/planning versus sitting down and just writing through a draft?

    Hello from tumblr! 🙂 I do like to have an idea of where a book starts and where it ends and what happens in the middle, but I try very hard not to force process. Whatever it takes to get a finished book, and all that jazz.

  • Q&A: What are your top 5 books/movies/tv shows/albums?

    What are your top 5 books/movies/tv shows/albums?

    ONLY FIVE?? You are a cruel, sadistic bastard.

    Books

    Harry Potter series by J K Rowling
    Mediator series by Meg Cabot
    Syrup by Max Barry
    Fear Street series by R L Stine, particularly the Cheerleaders trilogy
    Any Harlequin Presents, which is cheating but I don’t care.

    Movies

    A Goofy Movie
    Holiday Inn
    A Very Long Engagement
    Amelie
    Pride & Prejudice (the Colin Firth version)

    TV Shows

    Sailor Moon
    Firefly
    Supernatural
    Ancient Aliens
    Dr. Who
    Tie between Cosmos and Through the Wormhole
    Any science documentary, really, with special interest in physics, geology, and weather.

    Albums

    Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, The Smashing Pumpkins
    Fumbling Towards Ecstasy and Surfacing, Sarah McLachlan
    Go!, Letters to Cleo
    Scarlet’s Walk, Tori Amos
    When the Pawn, Fiona Apple

  • Q&A: What is the difference between an alpha reader, beta reader, critique partner?

    What is the difference between an alpha, beta, critique partner? I’ve seen them used synonymously and I don’t understand what the differences are? Good luck in the #BlazeBlitz!! 😀

    Hmm. I don’t know that there is a definitive answer, and a lot of people do use the terms synonymously, but if I had to wager a guess, I would say an alpha reader reads along as the author writes, a critique partner is often a fellow writer who offers input and advice after a significant portion, if not all, of the book is complete, and a beta reader reads after much of the critiquing and editing is done as a pair of fresh eyes on the project. Not every writer has all or any of these, though getting fresh eyes on your manuscript at some point definitely helps.

    I didn’t enter the Blaze Blitz, but have several friends who did! Wishing everyone who entered the best of luck!

  • Q&A: Which of your characters are you most like?

    Which one of your characters are you most like? Least like? Which one of someone else’s characters are you most like? Least like?

    Hmm. I share similarities with all of my characters, even the antagonists, but I wouldn’t say I’m most or least like any of them. 

    Of other people’s characters, I’m most like Arabella Figg from Harry Potter, because she lives alone with a bunch of cats and I think that’s awesome, and least like Lisbeth Salander from Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series. 

  • Q&A: I finished my novel, but I don’t know how to edit. Help!

    I finished my first novel during NaNoWriMo ’12. It’s crap, but I don’t know how to edit it. i’ve tried a few times but it’s like I get confused and I don’t know what’s good and what isn’t. It’s a complete mess and I don’t know how to clean it up. Help?

    Honest answer? Don’t even try. Most first books are crap and cannot be fixed. I’m not saying yours is, but most are. 

    So instead of worrying about how to fix it–which, after two and a half years, is pretty obvious you can’t, at least not right now–write another book.

    A better book.

    One you won’t have to clean up quite so much.

    And then, after you’ve written this new book, write another new book.

    And after you’ve written that new book, go back to the first book and look at it again.

    Because either you will see that it cannot be salvaged and should be shelved indefinitely, or you’ll have learned enough in writing other books that you have a better idea of how to fix it. 

  • Q&A: What’s the difference between internal and external conflict?

    What’s the difference between internal and external conflict?

    External conflict are things that get in the way of your character achieving her goals. ie, At the demand of her father, King Shithead, Princess Purity must be married off to Count Doucherag.

    Internal conflicts are the reasons why the external conflicts are, in fact, conflicts. ie, Why Princess Purity would consider marrying Count Doucherag even though she’s in love with Prince McDreamy-Hair and not just tell her father to stick his demand up his ass. 

    Internal conflict matters because you want your characters to have agency. You want them to happen to the story and have their decisions and actions move the story, rather than the story moving them. 

  • Q&A: How can I keep up my writing momentum so I don’t get the dreaded sagging middle?

    How can I keep up my writing momentum so I don’t get the dreaded sagging middle?

    The dreaded sagging middle cannot be avoided. It can, however, be fixed. So write your way through to the end, then if your middle sucks, fix it.

  • Q&A: Do you have a writing routine?

    Do you have a writing routine?

    I do. In theory, it begins with me getting up super early in the morning, writing on a couple of different projects for 2-4 hours, then breaking to take care of things around the house, pull a retail shift, run errands, etc. Then editing time at the end of the day.

    In reality I mostly goof off until 10PM than write like a mad woman until I pass out at my desk.