Category: Writing Tips
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The Writer’s Guide to Fainting
Hi, writers! Here’s a post that’s a little different than usual, what with it being so full of medical facts: the writer’s guide to fainting (or passing out). Because I couldn’t number the books I’ve read that portray fainting scenes incorrectly, and I’ve seen so few tutorials on how to write them better. We’re going…
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How to Write a Story for Someone – a Step-by-Step Guide to Writing the Perfect Gift
It’s hard to buy gifts for people. Birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, you name it, I always have difficulty finding a present that is not only straight from the heart, but something they’ll remember and keep. That’s my goal with presents, anyway, and sometimes I cheat on that goal. I’m a victim of buying candles as…
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New to The World of NaNoWriMo? Here’s What You Need to Know
You’ve heard a lot of crazy things about writing in November. So you looked into it – maybe you asked a friend, maybe you Googled it – and discovered the details. Or maybe you haven’t looked into it much at all, but you love writing, and you’re intrigued. So what is this “NaNoWriMo” thing, anyway?…
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100 Writing Prompts That Are Definitely Not Boring
Why do we have writing prompts? Inspiration-gathering. Which is why I’m tired of plain old writing prompts that don’t spark the imagination. So here’s a whopping 100 prompts that are definitely, without a doubt, not boring. Trust me on this one, I did a quality test and removed the boring prompts. I encourage you to add your…
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Things to do when You’re Stuck in a Scene – the importance of keeping yourself and the readers interested
What keeps us coming back to our writing? For me, personally, I will only come back to my writing if I’m interested in the story and my characters; if I lose interest, or don’t know what I’m going to do next, I leave it. Think of it as reading a book: if the start is…
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How to Make a Character’s Death *Heartbreaking*
Asterisks for *emphasis.* I’ll be honest with you – a majority of the people who read my books tell me these same things: “Why did so-and-so have to die?!” “Noooo, how dare you kill off so-and-so!” It’s a pattern. And I’ve started to take notice of it. I wonder to myself, What exactly makes my characters’…
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3 Things that bore the Reader (and how to fix them)
When a reader gets bored, he closes the book. It happened to me just last night, when I was reading The Lightning Thief. That fight between Percy J. and Ares was really, really boring (which I will bring up again later). It’s disappointing from an author as great as Rick Riordan. As a writer, I know it is…
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How to Write a Book – from a published Amazon author
“You can make anything by writing.” – C.S. Lewis Writing a book is hard. It’s the honest truth for any and all writers – writing is hard. It takes weeks, maybe even months to write those 50 pages that the reader will finish in one sitting. Is the effort worth it?…
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Female Characters – what you’re doing wrong
Recently I read a book series with two important female characters; one of which was unnecessary, the other was a waste of great potential, and they both were just pieces in a stupid love triangle. No one likes jealous girls, people. After reading making that realization about those characters, I sat down and typed…
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20 One-Sentence Dialogue Prompts
(It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything! Just to recap, the only things that happened since my post on November 30th are both mine and my brother’s birthdays passing.) Sometimes I feel like the best writing prompts are the simple, one-sentence prompts. I find them most inspiring, and they can go in so many…