Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 9

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 ...

So Long My Friends

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

Brenda here for my final post!

Before I tackle this week's question, a note to say that this ends my run on 7 Criminal Minds. I began blogging five, six, ten? years ago and feel it's time to pass the torch on to a fresh voice. I've enjoyed sharing my thoughts alongside a stellar cast of authors, and will continue to follow their posts from the sidelines.

To my fellow Min...

Festival Finance by Poppy Gee

What do your writing expenses look like for a conference? Airfare, hotel, meals, books, booze? What about ROI(return on investment)? Are conferences worth the expense?

Poppy and New Zealand author Vanda Symon became good mates at a festival in the Huon Valley!For rest and relaxation, my husband likes loading up hismotorbike trailer, packing his swag and an esky full of food, and driving fivehours west to camp by a river, beneath gum trees and the stars, usually withour boys and a bunch of fri...

To illustrate my point ... by Catriona

What do your writing expenses look like for a conference? (Percentages are fine.) Airfare, hotel, meals, books, booze? What about ROI (return on investment)? Are conferences worth the expense? 

With the divine Mr M, Bouchercon, Raleigh, 2015

Did everyone read Eric yesterday? About how ungrateful it looks when you're nominated for an award and you don't even bother to show up? Well, I'm nominated for two Anthony awards at this year's Bouchercon and I won't be anywhere near it.

Michael Mueller, Kr...