Kaye Dacus's Blog, page 50

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Bob Mayer on Setting Goals

Excerpt from Write It Forward: From Writer to Successful Author by Bob Mayer Here’s another thing about stating your goal. Putting it out there, verbally and in writing, is a form of making a commitment. I know many writers get some static from those around them about all the time and money they invest in […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Sol Stein on Dialogue

Excerpt from How to Grow a Novel: The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make and How to Overcome Them by Sol Stein Dialogue is not a recording of speech, it is an invented language. As a refresher, let’s now remind ourselves of some basic guidelines for dialogue: 1. What counts in dialogue is not what is […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Brandilyn Collins on Character Growth

Excerpt from Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors by Brandilyn Collins Too often authors—particularly first-time authors—make their characters turn suddenly, one event moving them from darkness to light, or light to darkness. This is simply not the nature of human passions. To believe a change from fear to courage, a […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Billy Mernit on Theme

Excerpt from Writing the Romantic Comedy by Billy Mernit The first and foremost, most obvious rule of working with theme is that it can’t be artificially imposed on the material—or artificially expressed. . . . Actually, if you’re working with a viable theme . . . it’s already being expressed without such on-the-nose soapbox pronouncements. […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Stephen King on Description

Excerpt from On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons why you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot. It’s not just a question of how-to, […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Andrew McAleer on Saving Your Writing

Excerpt From “Saving Everything” in The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists (ed. Andrew McAleer): Do not throw away your work. Save everything. Especially your early material. In your early work are the seeds of your fledgling voice, your characters, your story lines. These words are measuring tools and moreover, while you may have to […]

What Are You Reading? (August 2015)

Happy First Monday of August, everyone. It’s Reading Report time! . Tell us what you’ve finished over the last month, what you’re currently reading, and what’s on your To Be Read stack/list. And if you’ve reviewed the books you’ve read somewhere, please include links! To format your text, click here for an HTML cheat-sheet. If […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: Donald Maass on Tension on Every Page

Excerpt from “Low Tension Part III: Tension on Every Page” in Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook: Hands-On Help for Making Your Novel Stand Out and Succeed by Donald Maass: How interesting is it to hear two people passing the time of day? Usually, not very. Why is it, then, that so much dialogue in manuscripts […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf–Madeleine L’Engle on Starting a Story

Excerpt from “Where the Story Begins” in Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life (compiled by Carole F. Chase): One of the things I learned in college was that I usually was wise to start my story where I thought it ought to start and then cut a minimum of the first paragraph. I […]

Writing Advice from the Bookshelf: James Scott Bell on Heroes and Fools

Excerpt from “Know the difference between a hero and a fool” in The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell: If you want to be a writer, know this: A hero knows it takes hard work and a long time to get published; a fool thinks it should happen immediately, because he thinks […]