Laurel Garver's Blog, page 30
June 24, 2013
On Worldbuilding
Cheerio! I am still overseas, exploring England and Wales, so in my stead, I bring you another fabulous guest. Let's have a big Laurel's Leaves welcome for Catherine Stine! Take it away, Catherine....
Whether your world is set on a future earth, in a spaceship speeding to a ringed planet, or in an alternate medieval high fantasy with fantastic magic, it must have an internal logic that satisfies readers. Magic needs rules and constraints, a techie world must have gadgets that match the level o...
Whether your world is set on a future earth, in a spaceship speeding to a ringed planet, or in an alternate medieval high fantasy with fantastic magic, it must have an internal logic that satisfies readers. Magic needs rules and constraints, a techie world must have gadgets that match the level o...
June 17, 2013
Unexpected advice to overcome what holds you back
I'm now in the UK for a few weeks, so I have some special treats for you--more fabulous guest posts! Today's guest is romance author Beth Fred. Take it away, Beth....
Find what you're bad at.
I bet that's a piece of writing advice you've never heard before, and I mean it. What is your biggest weakness? You need to know because it could be the one thing holding you back. I really really loved one of my first manuscripts, and the feedback was so positive. My CPs and betas swore they loved it too,...
Find what you're bad at.I bet that's a piece of writing advice you've never heard before, and I mean it. What is your biggest weakness? You need to know because it could be the one thing holding you back. I really really loved one of my first manuscripts, and the feedback was so positive. My CPs and betas swore they loved it too,...
June 11, 2013
Turning a Short Story into Verse
by Jessica Bell
The first word of advice I was given about writing stories in verse was that you can’t just break a short story into lines and call it “verse.”
This is true.
It’s also not.
Because ultimately, that’s what I did with Muted.
Muted was a normal short story to begin with. It was first published in an anthology called From Stage Door Shadows. But I wanted to publish it as a stand-alone piece, too. Mainly because I loved the story and thought it deserved a piece of the limelight.
I d...
The first word of advice I was given about writing stories in verse was that you can’t just break a short story into lines and call it “verse.”
This is true.
It’s also not.
Because ultimately, that’s what I did with Muted.
Muted was a normal short story to begin with. It was first published in an anthology called From Stage Door Shadows. But I wanted to publish it as a stand-alone piece, too. Mainly because I loved the story and thought it deserved a piece of the limelight.
I d...
June 8, 2013
Inspirations...and a giveaway
I'm the featured guest today for Tina's Book Reviews's Saturday Spotlight. I talk about how the ideas of grief, ghosts and God came together in my novel. There's also an Amazon giftcard giveaway going on through July 1. Please swing on by to say hello!
Have any of your stories taken years to gel? Do you revisit trunked projects?
Have any of your stories taken years to gel? Do you revisit trunked projects?
June 5, 2013
Learning from the Negative
by PK Hrezo
Thanks so much to Laurel for letting me take over her blog today! If you’re a reader, you probably have your favorite book reviewer blogs, and if you’re a writer, I’m sure you frequent all the great writing blogs for craft tips and techniques, as well as publishing insight. Since most writers are readers, you probably have a combination of the two types, or maybe even blog about them both like I do.
But today I want to single out the book reviewer blogs, and how you can improve your...
Thanks so much to Laurel for letting me take over her blog today! If you’re a reader, you probably have your favorite book reviewer blogs, and if you’re a writer, I’m sure you frequent all the great writing blogs for craft tips and techniques, as well as publishing insight. Since most writers are readers, you probably have a combination of the two types, or maybe even blog about them both like I do.
But today I want to single out the book reviewer blogs, and how you can improve your...
June 3, 2013
Hospitality month at Laurel's Leaves
Photo by hotblack, morguefile.comI will be heading overseas in eleven days, which means I won't have tons of time to write posts. Instead, I'll be playing host to a bunch of wonderful writers throughout the month of June.Wednesday, PK Hrezo will be coming by to share writing lessons learned from reading book review blogs. Later in the month, Jessica Bell will be talking about fiction in verse, Catherine Stein will discuss world building, and Beth Fred will share insights as well.
I have a few...
May 30, 2013
Emotional arcs: the teaspoon problem
"Just because you've got the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have," said Hermione nastily, picking up her quill again.
--J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (chap 21)
That line almost always makes me laugh out loud. But once it also kicked me in the teeth.
I'd been trying to figure out what isn't quite working in a story opening, and this idea of "emotional range" was a wallop to the incisors.
I realized that by the second scene, my protagonist was already de...
--J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (chap 21)
That line almost always makes me laugh out loud. But once it also kicked me in the teeth.
I'd been trying to figure out what isn't quite working in a story opening, and this idea of "emotional range" was a wallop to the incisors.
I realized that by the second scene, my protagonist was already de...
May 27, 2013
Tips to jazz up your revision process
Photo by kakisky, morguefile.comMany approach revision as if it were the literary equivalent of housecleaning. You sweep away redundancies, throw out excess adverbs and dialogue tags, donate some unneeded subplots to charity, polish lackluster sentences, and voila, a shiny manuscript.Agents and editors are looking for more than tidiness, and so are readers. They all want a story that grabs them by the throat and won't let go. A story that sings.
It's easy to let the fear of making mistakes put...
May 22, 2013
I've gone to the dogs! (with Charmaine Clancy)
Celebrate the release of Charmaine Clancy's new book and win prizes!Dognapped? A dog show detective mystery featuring Kitty and her mischievous miniature schnauzer, Spade. In this adventure, they unravel the mystery of the missing dog -- simply lost, or something more sinister?
A lost dog
A stolen dog
A mysterious will
It all equals murder!
Meet twelve-year-old Kitty, friendless bookworm and amateur sleuth. All Kitty wants is to gain her mother’s attention, spend time with her miniature schna...
May 20, 2013
The iceberg approach to demonstrating character
We've all heard the advice "show, don't tell," but putting it into practice can be a challenge. Today I'd like to share one of my favorite techniques for showing how a character's mind has been shaped--associations.
Associations are “tip of the mind” thoughts that, like icebergs, show only a portion of the whole story. Most of the mass is hidden under the surface, whether it's a mass of history or emotion. Associations are a huge part of character voice because they tell a tremendous amount ab...
Associations are “tip of the mind” thoughts that, like icebergs, show only a portion of the whole story. Most of the mass is hidden under the surface, whether it's a mass of history or emotion. Associations are a huge part of character voice because they tell a tremendous amount ab...
