Victoria Grefer's Blog, page 17

Creativing Writing Tip: How to Utilize the Strengths of the Flashback Scene

Today, I’d like to continue our discussion about flashbacks. In particular: when you decide to use one, how can you minimize its disruptive nature? How can you best make it flow with the story and least throw off your pacing? … Continue reading →

The Flashback Scene: A Necessary Literary Evil?

Today’s topic is the flashback. We all kind of hate the structure involved flashbacks, we all strive to avoid them, and we all find that sometimes an author’s just gotta suck it up and write one, dang it. I’ve discussed … Continue reading →

How Bloggers and Authors Benefit From Reading Blogs

I sometimes write about blogging from the perspective of an author: how blogging can help us develop our skills, develop a community of readers, and get us thinking in creative and new ways about the craft of fiction. Today’s post … Continue reading →

Creative Writing Tip: Some Ideas to Vary Dialogue Tags

One of the most difficult things about writing dialogue isn’t just what to say, but how to let your readers know who’s talking. Dialogue tags–added phrases such as “he said” or “she asked”–can be useful, but they grow monotonous and … Continue reading →

Creative Writing Tip: Point of View and Character Description Go Hand in Hand

Welcome, fellow authors! Today, continuing my series on character description, I wanted to discuss point of view and how it affects the picture a reader receives of any given character. The idea to keep this series of posts going came … Continue reading →

AUTHORS: A Quick Guide to Character Description

Yesterday we discussed how important a character’s physical appearance is or isn’t. Today I want to continue that discussion and take it to a final conclusion: that sometimes you have to stop thinking about what you’re writing and how you’re … Continue reading →

Authors: How much does it REALLY matter what your characters look like?

As I continue to edit (or try to edit) “The Esclavan Abductions,” I got to thinking about character appearance. How important is it? How much does its importance vary from genre to genre? Do YOU generally care what a character … Continue reading →

On Characters Who Are Mere Acquaintances: More Important Than You Think

Today I wanted to talk about bit characters: those small, barely glimpsed characters who nevertheless can leave a big impression and really make the world of your novel come alive. Characters who, very possibly, could be the protagonists of their … Continue reading →

Creative Writing Reflection: How to Describe the Author-Character Relationship?

I have always held that the relationship between an author and his or her characters is a complex one. The author-character relationship is difficult to define because it can take many forms, even combinations of forms. We relate to fictional … Continue reading →

On Writing, Editing, and Momentum: Just Get Going!

The last couple of days have reaffirmed an important writing (and life) lesson that I felt it made sense to share here: an unpleasant task is rarely as gloomy or unpleasant as we make it out to be before we … Continue reading →