Marissa De Luna's Blog, page 6
March 31, 2014
My Writing Process Blog Tour!
Today is The Writing Process Blog Tour Day. This blog tour is where writers and authors answer questions about their writing process. One of the founders of my writing group, Gabrielle Aquilina, posted hers last week. Her blog is fab and worth checking out. You can take a look at her writing process here:
http://gabrielleaquilina.blogspot.co.uk/
Here’s a glimpse into my writing world!
What am I working on?
Poison In The Water is a thriller and is my current work in progress. It’s set bet...
http://gabrielleaquilina.blogspot.co.uk/
Here’s a glimpse into my writing world!
What am I working on?
Poison In The Water is a thriller and is my current work in progress. It’s set bet...
March 18, 2014
NaPoWriMo is almost here!
If you follow this blog you'll know that poetry is not my forte but recently I have been thinking about it. And then in my first edition of Mslexia I read about NaPoWriMo which is basically 30 days - 30 poems for the month of April. I don't think I'll be any good, but confining my poetry to the privacy of my own notepad why not! I'm not going to sign up but I'm going to do it for myself. who knows at the end of April I may share one of the poems with you. In preparation I have started a...
March 12, 2014
Remember: Plot is no more than footprints...
“Remember: Plot is no more than footprints left in the snow after your characters have run by on their way to incredible destinations.”
—Ray Bradbury, WD
So as I embark or writing a crime series I have subscribed to the Crime Writers Association newsletter. So far I have haven’t had time to read much of it but the its I have read have been informative and helpful. In particular the contents of the article entitled ‘Are Crime Writers psychopaths?’ http://www.thecra.co.uk/2014/02/14/fea...
—Ray Bradbury, WD
So as I embark or writing a crime series I have subscribed to the Crime Writers Association newsletter. So far I have haven’t had time to read much of it but the its I have read have been informative and helpful. In particular the contents of the article entitled ‘Are Crime Writers psychopaths?’ http://www.thecra.co.uk/2014/02/14/fea...
March 5, 2014
Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad...
Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.
- William Faulkner
I have been good recently. I have been plodding on with my ms for Poison in the Water- I’m half way! Hurrah! It feels good to reach this milestone. Not only that but I have been blogging (Check out my nutshell posts below on how to improve the dialogue in your ms and setting tone and mood in your ms) and I have started a new notebook for The Body in the Bath. The ideas are already...
- William Faulkner
I have been good recently. I have been plodding on with my ms for Poison in the Water- I’m half way! Hurrah! It feels good to reach this milestone. Not only that but I have been blogging (Check out my nutshell posts below on how to improve the dialogue in your ms and setting tone and mood in your ms) and I have started a new notebook for The Body in the Bath. The ideas are already...
March 2, 2014
In a Nutshell - Writing Dialogue
In a nutshell – Writing Dialogue
"The dialogue is generally the most agreeable part of a novel, but it is only so long as it tends in some way to the telling of the main story."
- Anthony Trollope
I could go on at length about dialogue but when I started doing this In a nutshell series thingy it was just to give you a flavour so to speak of bits I had picked up over the course of writing since 2007. So here is a snapshot of the things I have learned along the way about writing effective dialogu...
"The dialogue is generally the most agreeable part of a novel, but it is only so long as it tends in some way to the telling of the main story."
- Anthony Trollope
I could go on at length about dialogue but when I started doing this In a nutshell series thingy it was just to give you a flavour so to speak of bits I had picked up over the course of writing since 2007. So here is a snapshot of the things I have learned along the way about writing effective dialogu...
February 25, 2014
Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.
“Write. Rewrite. When not writing or rewriting, read. I know of no shortcuts.”
—Larry L. King, WD
The frustrating thing about editing this ‘raw’ version of Poison in the Water is that I keep looking at the word count thinking yes 60,000 words to go. But I have noticed that during my last fit of editing the word count is just increasing so the 60,000 words is staying static! It’s so frustrating. The WIP is now 90,000 words. I am sure I will have to trim the fat at some point but I fear for my sa...
—Larry L. King, WD
The frustrating thing about editing this ‘raw’ version of Poison in the Water is that I keep looking at the word count thinking yes 60,000 words to go. But I have noticed that during my last fit of editing the word count is just increasing so the 60,000 words is staying static! It’s so frustrating. The WIP is now 90,000 words. I am sure I will have to trim the fat at some point but I fear for my sa...
February 24, 2014
When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd job.
“When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”
—Margaret Laurence
I know many of the readers of this blog are still debating the perils of trad publishing over self publishing. You’ve finished your manuscript and you don’t know what to do. Face the rejection or going down the traditional route - who knows you might get lucky or just self publish and again you may make it big (In both cases I believe your success is partly down to luck and partly down to how much time a...
—Margaret Laurence
I know many of the readers of this blog are still debating the perils of trad publishing over self publishing. You’ve finished your manuscript and you don’t know what to do. Face the rejection or going down the traditional route - who knows you might get lucky or just self publish and again you may make it big (In both cases I believe your success is partly down to luck and partly down to how much time a...
February 22, 2014
In a nutshell - Mood and Tone
In a nutshell – Mood and Tone
So we’ve covered characters, details and symbolism in this ‘In a Nutshell’ series and as part of The Bittersweet Vine blog tour. The next two topics I would like to cover are Mood and Tone.
So what exactly is tone? They say that when you are having words with someone via text or email that it is difficult to judge the senders tone and therefore things said one way can be taken another. You must have experienced this yourself. You read a text- perhaps an inn...
So we’ve covered characters, details and symbolism in this ‘In a Nutshell’ series and as part of The Bittersweet Vine blog tour. The next two topics I would like to cover are Mood and Tone.
So what exactly is tone? They say that when you are having words with someone via text or email that it is difficult to judge the senders tone and therefore things said one way can be taken another. You must have experienced this yourself. You read a text- perhaps an inn...
February 20, 2014
Writers live twice.
“Writers live twice.”
—Natalie Goldberg
So I am committed now to writing a series. You may have heard me banging on about this before. The Chupplejeep Mysteries will be the over-arching title. I hope it is a cross between Alexander McCall Smith and Arvinda Adiga and it’s a lighthearted detective series. Why am I thinking about the ins and outs of writing a series? Well because I need distraction from the laborious task of editing Poison in the Water. Yes, I have started that labour of love (It...
—Natalie Goldberg
So I am committed now to writing a series. You may have heard me banging on about this before. The Chupplejeep Mysteries will be the over-arching title. I hope it is a cross between Alexander McCall Smith and Arvinda Adiga and it’s a lighthearted detective series. Why am I thinking about the ins and outs of writing a series? Well because I need distraction from the laborious task of editing Poison in the Water. Yes, I have started that labour of love (It...
February 9, 2014
The price of a book...
So lets have a think about pricing!
I have noticed that my publisher Thames River Press is maintaining the e-book for Bittersweet at £3.58. Initially I thought this price was too steep for an unknown author - but I thought- hey they know what they are doing but then I started to worry that my sales rank would drop. Then recently I read in an article in the Society of Authors which mentioned the cost of ones work. The author of the piece suggested that an ebook is often sold for less than...
I have noticed that my publisher Thames River Press is maintaining the e-book for Bittersweet at £3.58. Initially I thought this price was too steep for an unknown author - but I thought- hey they know what they are doing but then I started to worry that my sales rank would drop. Then recently I read in an article in the Society of Authors which mentioned the cost of ones work. The author of the piece suggested that an ebook is often sold for less than...
