Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 12

Surprise!

 

Terry here with our question of the week: tell us one thing that you didn't anticipate about the writer's life, which surprised you once you became a writer. 
There are so many things I didn’t anticipate about the writer’s life, that I can’t hold it to one. I’m going to list a bunch! 
It starts with those last two words: writer’s life.I always wrote stories. Even when I worked long hours in computer programming and analysis, during lunch hour I often went to my car and wrote. And I wrote after ...

Introducing Myself - by Matthew Greene

I'm so excited to join these Criminal Minds! I tried to think of a more erudite first tine than that, but it never hurts to lead with a little enthusiasm. My name is Matthew, and I'm relatively new to the crime writing world. My first novel—There's No Murder Like Show Murder—came out last summer, and it's been a whirlwind debut year. During that time, I've had the pleasure of meeting some of the kindest, funniest, most generous folks I've ever known. That's crime writers for ya!

My background is ...

Flaw. Want. Need. (my not-so-secret recipe to writing)

Poppy teaching a crime fiction workshop at Logan North Library last week.
Craft - How do you come up with character personality sketches for your books - do you plunge in and let your characters develop on the page, use real life people as inspiration, turn to personality frameworks like the enneagram? Especially for those who've written a lot of previous books - how do you keep your new characters from looking and feeling like your old ones? 
Initially, I thought this was a hard question to answe...

A Ruth by any other name, by Catriona

How do you come up with character personality sketches for your books - do you plunge in and let your characters develop on the page, use real life people as inspiration, turn to personality frameworks like the enneagram? Especially for those who've written a lot of previous books - how do you keep your new characters from looking and feeling like your old ones?

I too have no clue what "enneagram" is, so that's that out of the way.

Next, I want to say how much I love Mary Higgins Clark, whos...

Who are these people? by Eric Beetner

How do you come up with character personality sketches for your books - do you plunge in and let your characters develop on the page, use real life people as inspiration, turn to personality frameworks like the enneagram? Especially for those who've written a lot of previous books - how do you keep your new characters from looking and feeling like your old ones?

I definitely don’t start a book until the characters start talking to me. To be clear, I am NOT one of those people who says stuff like,...

Same Riff, Never the Same Solo

 How do you come up with character personality sketchesfor your books—do you plunge in and let your characters develop on the page,use real-life people as inspiration, or turn to personality frameworks like theenneagram? Especially for those who’ve written a lot—how do you keep newcharacters from looking like old ones?

First off, I don’tknow what an enneagram is. I assume it’s either a personality chart or aScandinavian death metal band. Either way, I don’t use it.

Explainingcreativity ...

Hello, my name is...

 

 

How do you come withcharacter personality sketches for your books-do you plunge in and let yourcharacters develop on the page, use real life people as inspiration, turn topersonality frameworks like the enneagram? How do you keep your new charactersfrom looking and feeling like your old ones?

 

I love this question because it seems that it’s onethat always comes up once anyone realizes you’re a writer. It’s right up therewith where do you get your ideas from. From the idea fairy, of ...

35 Tips to Get Your Writing Motor Running from James W. Ziskin

Have you found any hints or shortcuts to speed up your writing process? Energize your creativity? Minimize distractions? Do tell.

Okay, I’m going to unload here. Some of these might seem obvious or repetitive, but maybe you’ll find a tip or two that can help. I’ve divided my list into two categories, Tools and Tips. 

Ready? Go!

Software/technological tools:

1. Text-to-speech — I’m against using AI to create, but it’s okay in my book as an editing aide. I would never use text-to-speech to publish an ...

Battle-Tested

Have you found any hints or shortcuts to speed up your writing process? Energize your creativity? Minimize distractions? Do tell.

by Dietrich

Shortcuts and ways to spark inspiration keep the process flowing and save me from staring at a blank page.

First off I should confess, I learned to blind type way back in school, but those 40 to 50 wpm days are far behind me now and my skills have devolved into more of a hunt-and-peck technique involving mainly my index and middle fingers. I’m about half as f...

Shortcuts?

 

Terry here with our question of the week: Have you found any hints or shortcuts to speed up your writing process? Energize your creativity? Minimize distractions? Do tell. 
 I am a fast writer, but there is only one hint I have for writing at speed: Butt in chair (or stand, if you’re that kind of writer), hands on keyboard (or with pen in hand). Go!
That’s it. That’s my hint. If you insist, here’s a little more: Do it every day. Set goals. Meet the goals. If you don’t meet the goals, don’t beat ...