Category: writing tip
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When You Hate Your Writing
I talked about this a little here, but I want to go further into it today. Back sometime in December – I’m not really sure when, but it was a few days after Christmas – I pulled out a first draft I had set aside for a few months. My fantasy novel Oh, Wonder Why…
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Am I a Good Writer?
Any artist of any medium (dance, painting, writing) will probably wonder at some point, “Am I a good [insert thing]?” In our case, “Am I a good writer?” My first thought about this is CAUTION. *alarm bells and tornado sirens* This can lead down a deep, dark worm hole, from whence you may never return.…
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How to Find the Perfect Writing Routine
I got a little secret for you. Here, come closer. THERE IS NO PERFECT WRITING ROUTINE. There. I said it. It’s easy to become the writer who is constantly searching for the perfect writing routine/method. They bundle their belongings on a stick and go out searching, searching, and searching, like they are looking for El…
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The Unicorn Method to Editing (which I just made up)
I don’t know about you other writers out there, but editing stories is not my favorite part of the process. Which is not that great since a large chunk of the writing process is editing. I just really love drafting. I love writing without worrying about the content. I have freedom to write whatever comes out.…
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How Long Should You Step Away from a Writing Project?
How long should you step away from a writing project? It’s common advice to take breaks from projects. You finish a first draft and put it in a drawer for a while before looking at it again. If you are frustrated with something you step away from it for a while. But what’s a while?? …
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Should You Treat Writing like Work?
Should you treat writing like work? First, there are a few questions you need to answer: Do you want be published? Do you want to make a career out of writing? Is this your calling? If you have answered yes to any of those questions (or all three), then yes, you should treat writing like…
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Should You Write Short Stories Before You Write a Novel?
(Why cacti in the header photo? WHY NOT.) When I started to write (way back when I was wee), I wanted to write novels. So, that is what I did. I wrote novels. (They weren’t actually full length novels. I was a child, and with that comes the attention span of a sparrow when there are…
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“Am I Writer?” We’re Asking the Question the Wrong Way
“Am I a writer?” can seem like a really harsh question that will send you down the spiraling slide of doom into an endless loop of despair. But it is a legit question. The problem lies with how we are asking it. If you are considering writing as a career (or your calling, as I would…
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Boo! Pick a Plot Line (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and my own dumpster fire WIP)
In which we talk about two things that could not decide on a plot line: a recent first draft of mine and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Let’s start off with Fallen Kingdom, given you probably have more knowledge of it than my first draft (considering like…no one has read it). This is the progression of the…
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Villains: Why Not Just Plain Evil?
As I started writing my Beowulf retelling back in October, I had a question about one of my antagonists. “Can’t he just be a plain, evil villain? Like, he was never a good guy just always evil? Just be an evil being?” And I decided: Why not? Now, I have other antagonists, those of whom…
Bernadette Benda 