Word Magic
Are you ready to achieve your goals in 2022? A brand new year is just a few short weeks away. Those weeks will be full and busy, so chances are you won’t have time to think, much less plan strategy for the new year. Before the holiday season gets well underway, spend a few minutes thinking about 2021. Did you … Read more
Is writing hard for you? If you want to make writing easy, you need to stop struggling. Seriously. Your brain will happily help you to write, because it naturally uses its Default Mode Network (DMN) whenever it can. You can leverage the DMN to make writing easy. So, what’s the brain’s Default Mode Network? Basically, it’s what your brain does … Read more
In fiction writing, dialogue is more than conversation, so make your dialogue work for you. Unlike real-life conversation, dialogue builds your plot and characters. It’s heavy with subtext and packed with conflict. Have you noticed that commercial fiction is dialogue-heavy? Readers expect scenes (showing) rather than narrative (telling.) This means there’s lots of dialogue and every word of dialogue is … Read more
Love to write short fiction but struggle to plot a short story? You’re not alone. A novel gives you freedom to go off on tangents; a short story or novella doesn’t. Many authors find corralling their story a hassle. I do too. I’m a wordy writer, so I’ve had to learn to stick to the point in short fiction. In … Read more
When you’re writing fiction, suspense is vital, no matter the genre. When readers can’t turn the pages fast enough, you’ll build readers and fans for your books. Recently a writing student asked about a quick way to build suspense. That’s an excellent question, because when you’re writing fiction creating suspense always needs to be in the back of your mind. … Read more