Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 42

What Hooks you?

 What hooks you into an idea enough so that you want to write it? Character, setting, plot, genre? Or …?

I have often told other writers not to take anything from my method of working in the early stages of a book. I know it’s silly. You see, I tend not to write down the amazing ideas I get. I’m sure I have lost many certain best sellers to this technique, but I like to let things roll around in my head for a while. If it’s still there weeks or months later, I know I might be on to something.

Let’...

Hook, Line, and Reader by Gabriel Valjan

 

What hooks you into an idea enough sothat you want to write it? Character, setting, plot, genre?

In his Acknowledgments in Bound forGold, author William Martin discussed his first foray into screenwriting atmy alma mater, the University of Southern California, and he said somethingabout writing that I believe is worth the block quote.

Though I had little writing experience, I hadalready rejected the advice that you should write what you know. I believed then,as I do n...

"What If" Stories

 Q: What hooks you into an idea enough so that you want to write it? Character, setting, plot, genre? Or …?

-from Susan

What grabs me is anything that tickles me and sticks in my head. If it fires my imagination and begins to grow on its own into "what if?"  my job is to keep feeding the idea to see how well it grows. 

Character?  The language, tone of voice, perspective someone in my head speaks to me. The way they begin to look so that I see them in three dimensions. Their quirks, vulnerabilities...

Deadlines, Sudoku, Advice Columns, by Harini

 Is life/work balance, a myth? When you are pulled away from the middle of a manuscript by life having more important priorities for you, how do you mark the place where you are in your head and how do you find your way back into it quickly? A second question do you work on more than one project at a time? And is that confusing?

By Harini Nagendra

This question comes at the perfect time for me. Jan-Feb is the time of year that I work on producing a rough-rough first draft of the next book in The B...

Deadlines, Sudoku, Advice Columns

 Is life/work balance, a myth? When you are pulled away from the middle of a manuscript by life having more important priorities for you, how do you mark the place where you are in your head and how do you find your way back into it quickly? A second question do you work on more than one project at a time? And is that confusing?

This question comes at the perfect time for me. Jan-Feb is the time of year that I work on producing a rough-rough first draft of the next book in The Bangalore Detective...

Turbocharge Your Writing — 12,000 Words in Two Hours! from James W. Ziskin

Is life/work balance, a myth? When you are pulled away from the middle of a manuscript by life having more important priorities for you, how do you mark the place where you are in your head and how do you find your way back into it quickly? A second question do you work on more than one project at a time? And is that confusing?

I have no work-life balance. It’s an inner-ear thing. That’s why I compartmentalize my work, my play, my family, and my writing. I teach high school French, and when schoo...

One-man band

Is life/work balance, a myth? When you are pulled away from the middle of a manuscript by life having more important priorities for you, how do you mark the place where you are in your head and how do you find your way back into it quickly? A second question do you work on more than one project at a time? And is that confusing?

by Dietrich

There are times I need to adjust my routine to accommodate real life, and sometimes I get pulled away when I’m right in the thick of it, and that’s just the ...

Life Intervenes

 

Terry here: 
Our question this week: When you are pulled away from the middle of a manuscript by life having more important priorities for you, how do you mark the place where you are in your head and how do you find your way back into it quickly? A second question do you work on more than one project at a time? And is that confusing? 
My computer is littered with manuscripts that I was pulled away from and never got back to. There’s Astrid—a book I completed but which has major issues. Life int...

Keeping All the Balls in the Air

Is life/work balance, a myth? When you are pulled away from the middle of a manuscript by life having more important priorities for you, how do you mark the place where you are in your head and how do you find your way back into it quickly? A second question do you work on more than one project at a time? And is that confusing?

Brenda here.

I'll answer the last question first. I only write one manuscript at a time; however, I often have to stop to edit the previous manuscript as it nears publicati...

Writing Undeniable Fiction, By Josh Stallings

 

Undeniable, is that even possible? 

Today is the fifth week in the month so we decided it would be blogger’s choice. I’ve decided to muse or mumble on what’s rattling around in my brain. 

As a reader I’m always looking for a book that surprises me both in content and form. It has been said there are only a certain number of stories, and Shakespeare already told them all. In a reductive sense that’s true. But here’s another truth, every human is distinctly different if you are willing to look clos...