Peggy Bechko's Blog, page 39

For Writers The Devil Is In The Details

Details, details, details.  As writers we need them, and are told time and again not to overdo them.  Both admonitions are correct.

But, we can be come such masters of our own written work, such orchestrators of our stories that things happen.  Oh, don't get me wrong, many times it's very good things, but there can be others as well, things that simply aren't expected.

As an example, have you written a story where the descriptions of your characters are non-existent or the setting one that...

Writers Websites Wednesday - Zoho Writer

Here's a quick one - go check out Zoho Writer.  It's an online word processor that's easy and free.  You can upload documents you want to collaborate on or ones you want to work on on the fly .  Take a look at their Screenshots tour and see if it's a tool you want to add to you collection.

So How's the Weather, Writers?

We don't think about the weather much usually, it just is, unless it's doing something particularly violent. In fact we don't think about it to the extent that we may not put any of it in a book we're writing.  How many times have you read a book and not even noted the weather? 
Now you say, it's not important really, and in the end, literally, that's probably true, but it can add a very powerful element to your writing, provide sensory texture and contribute to the mood you're creating in a...

Writers Websites Wednesday - The Writer's Resource Directory

The Writer's Resource Directory is just that ~ a resource.  Now I'm not going to say it offers everything, but it does offer a bit of everything.  Information on writing, conferences, associations, articles, agents and more.  Definitely a Resource worth exploring.

The Writer's Path - Help & Resources

 As writers ourstrengths and weaknesses are many.  Wetend to put on a good show in an effort to let the world know we're ready foranything (whether we actually are or not). We all learn a lot along our writing path and as a result tend to thinkwe know a lot, our learning process having created an aura of blissfulignorance about just how much we do know. Until one day, comes the realization that we actually have a huge amountthat we don't know. 
That's the dark,scary place to be.
You might...

Writers Websites Wednesday

The Market List, the original electronic writers market resource, was started in 1994 as an online Ezine. It offered the first fully comprehensive writers market guidelines index online from its inception. Resources to help aspiring and professional writers find markets for their fiction. It's been around a while - Check it out.

It's Writing Time

How many times have youheard fellow writers say, "I just can't find the time to write"or how many times have you, yourself, said or thought, "mywriting is suffering, I can't get time to do it?" Howfrustrated are you in trying to carve out the time to write what youwant to write?  
Unless you're living on atrust fund and never have to hold down a job and don't have a familyto distract you, you're in the same boat as most writers. Trying towork writing into a life you already have.
Now I don't...

Writers Websites Wednesday - Rachel Abbott Writer

I like Rachel's blog, Rachel Abbott-Writer.  For starters, she provides lots of info on twitter in three parts to help the new/indi writer learn the ins and outs of twitter.  She reveals some great info and  helpful tools.  All in all a good site; a blog worth following to see where it goes next.

Writing Compelling Characters

Let's face it, your story really is nothing without characters that grab the readers by the throat and won't let them go.  Yes, story is iportant, local too, but the characters who populate your stories are what breathe life into it. They're what really draw readers in make them want to know what happens next.

So, that established, how does one create compelling characters?  Characters that leap off the page, then draw the readers down into their own little hell or lift them up to heights...

Writers Websites Wednesday - Chicago Manual of Style

This is a great site, the Chicago Manual of Style Online is a wonderful resource regardless.  Here the editors offer sometimes amusing answers to writers' questions.  Check it out, then mosey around the site and see what else you can learn.