What are your thoughts on free-writing vs. outlining? Do you like to start writing and let the story evolve as your write, or do you plan out your plot points, characters, etc. before you ever begin your story?
I would say I’m more of a free-writer. Though I may switch to outlining the next time I […]
Filed under: Discussion Topics, Writing Tips on March 9th, 2010 | 9 Comments »
Writer’s Corner has a good article on How to Find Interesting Words and Names for Your Fantasy Writing. The article covers the following points:
Keep a small notebook of interesting names and words
Maps are an excellent resource
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Foreign languages
Add a glossary to your novel
Hearing the words
Enhance your readers experience
Names of cities on old maps have […]
Filed under: Writing Tips, Fantasy, Creative Writing on January 19th, 2010 | 7 Comments »
Scott Ginsberg has some good advice on disciplining yourself to be a more effective writer. His article 8 (More) Ways to Discipline Yourself to Write Every Single Day – Even When You’re Not in the Mood covers the following points:
1. Shift your attitude toward writing.
2. Rearrange your definition of “writing.”
3. Pick your best medium.
4. Eradicate […]
Filed under: Writing Tips on January 16th, 2010 | 4 Comments »
I’ve compiled a list of blog topics related to medieval history, historical fiction, fantasy, fiction writing, or industry news. Here’s a brief rundown:
Mark Lord dicusses Medieval Myths about Witchcraft and Sorcery
ABC will air an hourlong documentary about the woman behind the boy wizard, “J.K Rowling: A Year in the Life”
Alianore has a post about Edward […]
Filed under: Medieval History, Middle Ages History, Historical Fiction, Writing Tips, Fantasy, Fiction, Literary News on July 16th, 2009 | No Comments »
Does the fantasy novel you’re working on avoid the typical writing cliches? Compare your novel against the following Web sites:
Grand List of Fantasy Cliches
Risus Fantasy Cliches
The Fantasy Cliche Meter (The Good Guys)
The Fantasy Cliche Meter (The Bad Guys)
Granted, the Web sites are not aesthetically pleasing, but it’s still fun to go through the checklist […]
Filed under: Writing Tips, Fantasy, Creative Writing on February 11th, 2009 | 21 Comments »
“Ten Mistakes Writers Don’t See (But Can Easily Fix When They Do)”
A good article discussing the common problems amateur writers face that cause literary agents, publishers, and editors to immediately dismiss submissions. The list includes:
Repeats
Flat Writing
Empty Adverbs
Phony Dialogue
No-Good Suffixes
The “To Be” Words
Lists
Show, Don’t Tell
Awkward Phrasing
Commas
Filed under: Writing Tips on December 5th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
911 Writer’s Block: An interactive site to help you break writer’s block. Press a number for help with a particular area of writing. Exercises include: settings, characters, dramatic entrances, dialogue, commiserate, verbs, calisthenics, killing off a character, endings, and more.
*image retrieved from associatedcontent.com, credit to Writer’s Association
Filed under: Writing Tips, Writing Resources on September 16th, 2008 | No Comments »
It seems that writing dialogue would come naturally to everyone — as naturally as speaking — but writing and speaking are two very different things. The difficulty in writing good dialogue comes with making your dialogue sound like natural speech, but avoiding all of those “uhs” and “you knows” that make up everyday, normal conversation.
There […]
Filed under: Writing Tips, Novel, Creative Writing on September 2nd, 2008 | No Comments »
At times, you’ve probably been reading a sentence and come across a set of dashes being used to separate out a phrase or a few words from the main part of the sentence. These dashes — also known as em dashes — are often used incorrectly in writing. Many writers do not know when they […]
Filed under: Writing Tips on July 14th, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Two armies face off across an open field. You’ve set the scene; the battle is about to begin, but what do you do now? How do you capture the chaos and frenzy of hand-to-hand combat on paper? Do you try to gather a sweeping panorama of the battle from an omniscient narrator’s point-of-view, pulling back […]
Filed under: Bernard Cornwell, Writing Tips, Novel, Creative Writing on July 3rd, 2008 | 4 Comments »
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