Barbara Fradkin's Blog, page 15

A Little Something on the Side

 I learn a lot from the funnies page in the newspaper. I'm a puzzle aficionado, and start every day by reading the paper front to back, and then working all the puzzles. This is not quite the time consuming activity it use to be a few years go, when the daily paper actually had news in it. But at least the puzzles get my brain revved up for the day. One of my favorite puzzles is the Jumble,

So? When your critique partner cracks the whip on overused words.

Catherine DiltsI’ve been in critique groups large and small over the years.Currently, one writer and I exchange manuscripts once a month. Beth lives wayup the pass, and I’m in the middle of the "big city". She and I meet via Zoomcalls. I am happy with the arrangement.During a recent meeting, Beth advised me to do a veryspecific search. She suggested I check how many times I used the word

No Conflict, No Story

 By Thomas KiesSyd Field, author of Screenplay: The Foundations of Screen Writing, said, “All drama is conflict. Without conflict, you have no action; without action, you have no character; without character, you have no story; and without story, you have no screenplay.”On the other hand, Ursula Le Guin claimed that not every story needs to revolve around conflict, advocating for the

Writing in a New Place

View from the road in Hagåtña, GuamGreetings from Guam!After nearly a month on the island of Guam, my hubby and I are in our own apartment. Our household goods haven't arrived yet, but we've successfully hooked up with a local internet provider. I have no excuse for not jumping into my writing projects.New Project Set in GuamOne project I'm excited to begin is a women's fiction novella

In Person Events

 by Sybil JohnsonI enjoy doing in person events, whether it’s mystery conventions or signing at the Sisters in Crime Los Angeles booth at the LA Times Festival of Books or bookstore events or library events... It’s fun to talk about my books and mingle with other readers and authors. The only thing I don’t like to do is read from one of my books. I’m bad at it. Really bad. But if I have to

Slow start

by Charlotte HingerMy shiny New York began with the best of intentions then got off to a dismal start. A case of cellulitis landed me in the hospital for IV antibiotics. It was followed by a reaction to oral antibiotics that I overcame just in time to be plummetted into my usual seasonal allergies.What allergies? In January? When there's no pollen? Yes indeed. There's a quickening among all the

I'm struggling with organization

 By Steve Pease/Michael Chandos   I am mainly a short story writer. I like the format of a 30-40 minute story and I like pulling the puzzle pieces together of plot, character and structure. Short stories (3500 to 6000 words) are concepts, metaphors. They can be stylish and can comment on life, like using Lilliput to comment on Government.   I use many story-starters: a

The Magic Character

 I'm within a gnat's whisker of finishing the new book and am in the process of making a few changes as per my writing group's suggestions. My original plan was to have the book completely finished by last August.Oh, foolish woman.Once I got into the rewrites, I realized that it isn't quite that easy. As I was pondering ways to expand one character's part and add a bit more legerdemain and

You Have the Time

Catherine DiltsOne hour. My co-author informed me her window of opportunitywas constrained that day by being the Mom Taxi. We could skip our writingsession. Or try to accomplish something in sixty minutes.My co-author is my daughter. Last year we embarked on awriting project that was successful, despite our busy schedules. We’re workingon a new project right now that we’re both wildly

Shutting Out the Distractions

 By Thomas KiesI live on the coast of North Carolina.  I’ve been here for nearly twenty years and in all that time, I might have seen snow twice and then it was just a dusting. Here one moment, melted into oblivion the next.  But this past week, we got seven inches of the white stuff, and the temps have been below freezing so it hasn’t gone anywhere.I grew up in Upstate New York,