Iconoclastic Writer
Currently viewing the category:
"Fiction Writing"
While everyone else is carving pumpkins and hunting for a black turtle neck and New Balance sneakers, in between desperately trying to finish my house repairs before freezing temperatures arrive, I’m preparing for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).In the Seattle [...]
Continue Reading →
As a writer I consider words and reading important. But I was also trained in the visual and graphic arts and have longed been attuned to the type and fonts that create the words and make them legible — or not, that can enhance the meaning of the text — or undermine [...]
Continue Reading →
The New York Times has an interesting article on the decline in sales and marketing of the mass-market paperback. The industry experts in the article attribute the largest cause to the recession and e-readers and the release of hardcover titles as reduced price e-books faster than the release of the paperback. They [...]
Continue Reading →
A friend of mine who writes urban fantasy novels turned me on to Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat!® The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need and his technique of developing story plots. I was skeptical at first since I’d gone through a screenwriting phase a few years back and thought [...]
Continue Reading →Doris Booth, founder and agent with the Authorlink Literary Group and Authorlink.com, presented a workshop at the DFW Writers Conference, May 2, 2009 entitled:
Navigating the Changing Book Industry — an insider’s view of what writers should know
Doris Booth has been an agent for over 13 years. She actively follows the [...]
Continue Reading →These are some more tips from romantic travel writer Janice MacDonald’s on First Chapters.
Don’t sweat it initially, it will change. When you’re ready to return to it, consider the following: start as close to the end without leaving out important information open with action quickly establish: who, what, where, when and why [...]
Continue Reading →The essential elements of a marketable novel author Janice MacDonald teaches in her writing course are:
Hook Sense of place Interesting characters Compelling dialogue (she’s English) Strong storyline (one with a logical pattern) Appropriate pacing Distinctive voice Particular point of view Slowly revealed secret or answer (the presentation of information)
Ms. MacDonald refers to these [...]
Continue Reading →John Truby’s screenwriting courses and software are a staple of screenwriting classes worldwide. His book,The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller
, presents his “Twenty-Two Building Blocks” plot structure is a classic. I purchased one of his first video writing courses mumblety-mumblety years ago when I was writing [...]
While taking a workshop with author Janice MacDonald on developing a traditional fiction story plot (the kind with a beginning, middle and end), I decided to modify one of the templates that came with my Pages program into a set of worksheets. These worksheets can help you outline your fiction plot and [...]
Continue Reading → 
I’ve seen dozens of variations on fiction writing plot development arcs through the years (and I’ll be posting at least 3). I read fiction writing books and went to classes and workshops to avoid facing the muddle that was my middle, but somehow Janice MacDonald’s version clicked. I then joined NaNoWriMo [...]
Continue Reading → 