My plan for my novel includes one primary inciting incident, followed by internal and external struggles, and ending with an opportunity for the protagonist to finish what was interrupted the first time.
bookmark_borderNoveling
It’s fun to be inside the world of a novel.
I haven’t been this far inside the creation of a new novel in a very long time. Around 2013 I started to focus on improving my prose which led to shorter works. At the time I had a novel in the works but I had difficulty with the ending so I put it aside. Last spring I picked it up and finished it, but finishing an old novel was a different experience than the creation process that I’m in now.
bookmark_borderPerchance, to Sleep
Over the past few years I’ve had difficulty staying asleep. A dream might shock me awake, or, more often, sleep will slip away as if it were a veil and someone simply drew it from my face.
bookmark_borderMe, on CBC
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently published an article I wrote: “We Let Our Father Die”.
bookmark_borderCheating Writers’ Block: Getting the Story Un-Stuck by Seeing Outside the Box
Looking from inside the character or story and trying to see what’s next can be difficult. Trying to visualize what is going to happen or what needs to happen based on tensions and history and theme is a lot like method acting except that the author has no script to follow. And yet as a pantser this is what I try to do to forage ahead in a story. Continue reading “Cheating Writers’ Block: Getting the Story Un-Stuck by Seeing Outside the Box”
bookmark_borderCheating Writer’s Block
Some claim writer’s block doesn’t exist. If you go all Zen it doesn’t exist but then neither does the writing.
bookmark_borderDangerous Writing App
Here’s a unique site I keep in my writing bookmarks.
If you don’t keep typing it will erase what you’ve done. If you hesitate, the font turns reddish-brown and fuzzy but it returns to normal if you begin typing again. If you don’t start typing as it is becoming fuzzier, a popup blocks you from adding any more words.
bookmark_borderThesaurus Alternatives
There a group of sites that I frequently use as thesaurus alternatives. They’re all created by the same person and use the same broad structure.
bookmark_borderTen Sentence Prompt
This is one of my favorite structures for re-usable prompts. It’s not as easy as some prompts are to get started and can be thorny to work through but it generates material that has potential more often than any other reusable prompt or prompt structure I have tried.
bookmark_borderReview: The Captives
I had hopes for The Captives, by Debra Jo Immergut. Somewhere I read that it was quality prose in a thriller genre. Turns out the prose is okay, nothing spectacular (why use question marks in dialog for one character and not for the reply which is also a question?) and the story? Disappointing.