Kaye Dacus's Blog, page 7

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Set Your Word Count Goal and Writing Schedule | #amwriting #NaNo2018

We are one week away from the start of National Novel Writing Month. Do you feel ready to start? Because writing a first draft in thirty days is not a normal level of writing that any of us do on a regular basis, it’s important to start thinking now about how you’re going to schedule […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Site Your Settings | #amwriting #NaNo2018

What Do You Already Know about Your Settings? One of the sections I suggested when creating your NaNo project story bible was for setting. So you don’t have to go back and read the original post: If you’re writing a world-building genre—like fantasy, science fiction, or historical—you’re going to have a relatively large section for […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: What Do You Already Know about Your Story? | #amwriting #NaNo2018

By now, you’ve started a story bible structure and you’ve jotted down your ideas for your characters. But what about your story? What are you actually going to write about? What’s Your Premise? Premise—or what your story is about—is one of the essential elements to being able to write a complete draft of a story. […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: What Do You Already Know about Your Characters? | #amwriting #NaNo2018

In the next twelve days until November 1, it’s going to be important to be thinking about what we’re planning to write for our NaNo project—but if you’re following along with me for this prep, it’s also going to be important not to overthink it. I’ve already done a couple of First Draft in 60/90/120 […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Setting Up Your Story Bible | #amwriting #NaNo2018

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo) starts November 1. Now that we’ve taken a look at the processes that go into becoming a writer, let’s get prepped to actually take that step and write. I’m going to spend some time over the next couple of weeks helping us get all our ducks in a […]

#NaNoWriMo Prep: Creating a Story Bible Step 1–Setting Up Your Story Bible | #amwriting #NaNo2018

National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo or NaNo) starts November 1. Now that we’ve taken a look at the processes that go into becoming a writer, let’s get prepped to actually take that step and write. I’m going to spend some time over the next couple of weeks helping us get all our ducks in a […]

Fun Friday: What’s Your Romantic Film Score? | #AFITop100 #RomanticMovies

How many of the AFI’s “100 Years…100 Passions” romantic movies have you seen? Casablanca (1942) Gone with The Wind (1939) West Side Story (1961) Roman Holiday (1953) An Affair to Remember (1957) The Way We Were (1973) Doctor Zhivago (1965) It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) Love Story (1970) City Lights (1931) Annie Hall (1977) My […]

A Character Study through Dialogue (aka, Got Weekend Plans?) | #amwriting #writingchallenge

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been reading the Dear Prudence advice column on Slate.com for many years now—mainly because it’s a great outlet for story/character/conflict ideas. This week, one of the contributors came through for me in a big way—it’s the first time in forever that I’ve read one of the letters and […]

Writing with Depression — A Work in Progress | #amwriting #depression #anxiety #healing

I experienced my first major depressive episode when I was 21, which led to my dropping out of college (I eventually went back and finished my Bachelor’s and got a Master’s in writing!). At that point, the one thing that helped pull me out of it was writing–and I was prolific, churning out at least […]

Welcome to Gossettville!

As I posted on Instagram several months ago: “My first published novel grew out of a fictional city I’d created and been playing around with for years. So I’m taking myself back to square one and starting a new fictional city in hopes of jump-starting my writing after five years away.” I’m happy now to […]