#NaNoWriMo 2014 and the Process Experiment

In September, I wrote a new draft and began the revision of last year's NaNoWriMo novel. I noticed that I tend to sprint through action - light on details and motivations - until I get to 30K words, then I have to pad back in to make up for this. When this happened with the …

Note to self – When done writing, write about process

I'm writing a new novel.  This is the second one I've drafted since the tenth draft of Salvaged when I swore I'd never write ten drafts of anything again.  The one before this was last year's NaNoWriMo which fell short of expectations. In the mid-term, I've outlined film scripts and worked on comic scripts and …

Fiction Friday: He Watches

  I think the Elf on the Shelf is creepy.  Though I've posted this before, it is time for the horror story I wrote about the skeevy little dude.  So for Fiction Friday today, I give you "he-watches". (Click on the link to read the PDF flash fiction.)

Three Things I’m Working On This Week

Sometimes I break my to do lists up into categories so I can get a smattering of things done across them. (This means doing some of the things I have to do, and balancing them with things I want to do.)  One of the category sets I like to use is "Beginning, Maintaining, and Finishing," …

Critique groups and Book-dating

I know - deep in my guts I know - that the next step forward for me in my writing is to find critique partners. A critique partner is different from a beta reader. A reader comes at a manuscript as just that - a reader.  A critique partner approaches a manuscript as another writer. …

140 characters: Monica, Sabrina

"I suck at Twitter," Monica blew a strand of her blue bob haircut from her face and gazed down at her smartphone. "I never remember to tweet stuff. I just lurk." "So why bother?" Sabrina said, yawning and stretching across the sofa for their shared bowl of popcorn. "You could quit." "Dad wants me to …

Trusting Readers With Subtlety

Over the weekend, my husband and I sat down and read comic books together. He wanted me to read the 36 short issues of Injustice: Gods Among Us. I've been trying to get him to read most of the series of comics on my shelf for a while. He doesn't like the big trade paperbacks. …

What Dreams May Come [CARTOON]

  I have some crazy nightmares. Often I write them out to try to make sense of them, and to make them less scary and haunting. The act of writing them out helps, but what's even better is the fact that they are usually the seeds of stories. Sometimes the image from the dream that …

Naming Science Fiction Characters Is Not Rocket Science

I see so many conversations about character names on Twitter, I thought I'd wrap up all of my thoughts in one post. Make it pronounceable Follow the rules of the world you're writing Every name does not have to be a creative masterpiece Pronunciation = Remembering As a reader, I like to think about the …

Words with Many-legged Fears

We get some pretty impressive arachnids here in Georgia.  This beauty to the left is a Black and Yellow Garden Spider. She's considered a beneficial, and will only bite "if harassed".  Considering her body measures about 1.25" long, not including those legs of hers, I figure anyone who harasses her gets what they've got coming. …