Consumerism in fiction has become increasingly prominent in recent years. Powerhouse companies have gone from mere advertisements—commercials during television shows, billboards outside ballparks, joint advertisements with blockbuster movies—to what many people consider a blatant overuse and occasionally even abuse of product placement in sports coliseums, movies, TV shows, and even books, such as Lauren Weisburger’s best-selling […]
May 31, 2009 by 36 Comments ProseActive Voice vs. Passive Voice: How to Use Both to Get the Most Out of Your Writing
Most of us learned about sentences in grammar school. Most of us also promptly forgot all about them after grammar school. This is why, I presume, the art of correctly using the active voice and the passive voice in our fiction is something almost all of us have to relearn at some point in our […]
May 28, 2009 by 37 Comments Writing Life15 Reasons Not to Become a Writer (Or “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ernest Hemingway”)
Today, I’m guest posting over at the The Master’s Artist with the tongue-in-cheek tutorial on why being a writer may not be the best life decision: “15 Reasons Not to Become a Writer (Or ‘Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Ernest Hemingway’)”. Excerpt: I suppose it’s possible that a few starry-eyed folks out there […]
May 23, 2009 by 25 Comments Writing Inspiration4 Unbeatable Ways to Fight Writer’s Block
Would it surprise you to hear I don’t believe in writer’s block? This infamous boogey man, rumored to lurk behind computer monitors and breathe down writers’ necks, hypnotizing us with the blinking cursor and laughing as we toss upon our sleepless beds—he’s just a ghost story as far as I’m concerned. An over-hyped ghost story […]
May 18, 2009 by 10 Comments Writing Inspiration5 Ways to Capture Brilliant Ideas for Your Novel
I think it’s safe to open this post with a broad, sweeping generalization: We write because of inspiration. Not only because without inspiration we wouldn’t have anything to write about, but also because inspiration is the writer’s version of runner’s high. It’s this top-of-the-world, explosion-of-joy experience that makes the personal sacrifices and hard work of […]
May 16, 2009 by 32 Comments Researching Your Novel5 Tips for Maximizing Your Novel Research
Maximizing your novel research is vital no matter what kind of fiction you write. I spent almost as much time researching modern-day Chicago for my portal fantasy Dreamlander as I did the Third Crusade for my historical epic Behold the Dawn. I’ve always found it odd that some authors approach research as if it were the […]
May 9, 2009 by 58 Comments Writing LifeDo Writers HAVE to Be Readers?
Do writers have to be readers? Reading is fast becoming a lost art. In our digital age of television and Internet, even the leisurely reading of the morning paper is going out of habit with most people. Sometimes, when I happen to be in a particularly cynical frame of mind, I can’t help thinking the […]
May 5, 2009 by 27 Comments Editing Your NovelWhy YOUR Opinion of Your Writing Is the One That Matters Most
Sometimes it pays to think of yourself before others. Many of us grew up with the Golden Rule etched into our psyches. And most of us would probably like to think we follow that rule as often as possible. But when it comes to your writing, the Golden Rule isn’t of much use. In fact, […]
April 26, 2009 by 32 Comments Writing LifeThe Value of Stories That Fail
Good writers aren’t born. Okay, well, actually, they are born, since it would be physically impossible to write without being born… but they’re aren’t born good. At least, I’ve yet to meet a four-year-old wunderkind who’s running around writing Pulitzer Prize-winning epics. I know I sure wasn’t. Instead, good writers are made. Skill isn’t a […]
April 19, 2009 by 24 Comments Writing LifeLearn How to Project (and Find) Yourself in Your Writing
Have you ever found yourself looking up from the pages of a book and wondering how much the words you’re reading are a reflection of the author’s own personality and life? We’re all familiar with famous examples of autobiographical fiction (such as Dickens’s David Copperfield) in which it’s easy to draw parallels between the make-believe […]
