Ryan Lanz's Blog, page 22

How Music Can Help Your Writing

Music is a source of creative inspiration for me. When I taught elementary music, I occasionally passed out drawing paper and crayons and had the students draw a scene suggested by music I played for them. Some authors make WIP-specific playlists that put them in the zone as they work on their projects. They even […]

Can an Attitude Adjustment Make Your Story Better?

Well, maybe. Sometimes just like kids, our characters need an attitude adjustment. A change in attitude at our house could save my kids a world of grief. And me a lot of aggravation. Parents reading this know exactly what I’m talking about. The mood in our house could go from calm and peaceful to stormy in […]

Language and Worldbuilding

Well, for today, I thought that I’d take a very quick look at one of the more basic rules for making fictional “worlds” seem more immersive and realistic. This is because I happened to see an absolutely perfect example of this rule in action fairly recently. So, what is this particular rule? Well, the rule […]

Breaking Down Point of View – Which One is Right for You?

Today we’re going to talk about perspective, or Point of View (POV).  Who is the narrator of the book? It’s a concept that’s easy to grasp, but difficult to execute. Accidentally changing viewpoints is one of the more common mistakes a new author can make. In my first book I thought I caught them all, […]

Critiquing: Giving and Getting the Gold

So, what goes into a critique? What is it that makes it useful, or not? For openers, try to be positive. That doesn’t mean sugar-coating. It means finding something you can focus on in order to start on a positive note, even if most of the piece being reviewed needs work. Then you can move […]

Showing vs. Telling

If there was one piece of writing advice I disliked most as a new writer, it certainly was “Show, don’t tell.” Initially, I had no idea what it meant. Self-help writing blogs often toss this phrase around without examples. I even had a critique done on my writing once, and the person critiquing said this phrase […]

Tips On Writing Travel Memoirs That Every Writer Should Know

One common assumption people make is that travel writing is a synonym for writing a travel memoir. It isn’t—they’re two different forms focusing on different audiences. To the bloggers, travel writers, and guides, travel memoirs aren’t guides to places or tips to saving money on backpack traveling. Writing a travel memoir is an art all […]

Who Else Wants To Know How Many Copies Novels Actually Sell?

We live in a world dominated by best sellers. A new writer can be forgiven for thinking that the mega-success of writers such as Dan Brown, J. K. Rowling and Stephen King represent to norm. The reality is very different, with debut novelists struggling to even get reviews, never mind selling millions of copies. So, how […]

Why Writing is Hard

Writing is hard. You know this without having to convince yourself it’s true. You may love it – it may be your art; your love; your baby – but that doesn’t mean there are days it doesn’t take all you have left in you to drag yourself to your laptop and write something. Writing isn’t […]

4 Reasons Why You MUST Wait Before Moving On Your Manuscript

  Rome wasn’t built in a day, you guys, and the plans weren’t drawn up that quickly either. Note how the header to this post says that you “must” wait before making any moves on your manuscript. Noted? Awesome. Because I used “must” for a reason. I didn’t say “should” or “it’s recommended” or anything […]