Laurel Garver's Blog, page 18

Channel your inner reporter: using interviews to strengthen your fiction

I'm a big advocate of talking to real people as part of your routine research for novel writing. Internet research and books can be a good starting place, but these sources can't provide the rich details you need to make certain careers or time periods or phenomenon come alive on the page. You need to tap into eyewitness sources and draw on the experiences and expertise of real people who are intimately familiar with these things.
By George Armstrong, FEMA Library, via Wikimedia Commons
I talk...

Schedule shift

I've decided to move my regular weekly posting day to Wednesdays. See you tomorrow!

Get yourself on your side: developing better habits

Photo credit: pippalou from morguefile.com A new year has arrived, and it has taken me quite a while to get back to paying my dear old blog any attention. I didn't mean to neglect it so long. But this was an odd Christmas for us. We drove over 2,000 miles to spend the holiday with my mom in southwest Florida, visiting friends and a few of my brothers on the way down and back. My day job work came with me, and December is often one of my busiest months. Restroom breaks and...

Deja vu blogfest: Anxiety of Influence

Today, I'm participating in DL Hammmons's Deja Vu Blogfest, in which we share a post from the previous year that we feel got less attention than we'd like. My recycled post is from January.

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Anxiety of Influence
As a writer, should you be especially careful about what you read?

It's a question that's been plaguing me during a reading binge. My current read isn't an identical scenario to the one I'm currently writing, but there are numerous points of intersection. This puts me in a bit of a qu...

Holiday guide: gifts for literature lovers and supporters

Writer-friends, Christmas will soon be upon us, and if you're a procrastinator like me, you may have remembered at the last minute some special people you'd like to give a gift--your critique partner, writing group president, book club host, beta reader, editor or other support folks who have made your journey sweeter, like your book tour coordinator. Here are some fun ideas likely to appeal to any literature lover. (Click on each subtitle for more information or to purchase).

Tequilla Mocking...

Holiday guide: toys for writers

Looking for the perfect gift for your critique partner, book club president, writing-obsessed family member, or your own wish list? Look no further--I've got  you covered. I'll be doing a series of writing-related gift lists over the next several days, just in time to complete your shopping.

Since it's Friday, our first focus will be FUN! Check out these great toys and games for writers (click each heading for more info. and to purchase):

Great Writers Finger Puppets

Imagine all the great e...

Cultivating your creativity during the holi-daze

Photo credit: chamomile from morguefile.com
When the advent wreath comes out, my writing can often go off the burners entirely, which tends to make me a bit cranky and resentful inside. In a season in which special events and preparations for them can eat up most of one's waking hours, it can be really tough to carve out space for your creative life. But for my mental and emotional health, it's essential.

Finding writing time in December can be a bit like searching for loose chan...

Going backwards to move forward

How was your November, friends? While I didn't participate in NaNoWriMo, I did take advantage of the lull in the writerly social media world to put in long hours with my manuscript.

I'm at the stage with my current project where all forces collide in the big finale, which means, weirdly enough, this is where I stop to do a big re-assessment. Those of you who outline from the get-go may find this strange. But those who don't, whose process is organic,* have probably found themselves doing the s...

Teaser Tuesday: We fight for her

For a change of pace, I thought I'd share a snippet from my work in progress. It's a YA contemporary that picks up roughly 18 months after my debut, Never Gone. My protagonist, Danielle, is spending a few weeks in central Pennsylvania when her grandfather is hospitalized after a bad fall. She hopes to enlist her uncle's help to get away quickly to take a planned trip to Paris. But her reason is far from selfish.

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Uncle David scratches Rhys behind the ears. “Guess I should show you where you...

Compelling compulsions: Linking an old wound with a new challenge

Compulsion is a deep-seated need to do something, a belief that a particular action will make one's anxiety evaporate. More serious compulsions we label "OCD"--obsessive compulsive disorder. OCD sufferers need to wash their hands frequently to dispel their anxiety about germs, or flick light switches a certain number of times to keep the universe in harmony.

Photo credit: mensatic from morguefile.comMost of us have less dramatic compulsions that surface in times of stress. "I'll...