Amanda Shofner's Blog, page 8

6 Signs of Weak Fiction Writing

Nothing is more humbling than reading your earliest works and realizing how cringe-worthy they are. On the upside, they provide you with proof your writing has come a long way since the beginning.

Take it where you can get it, I say.

Here are some examples of weak fiction writing. Don’t panic if you find these in your manuscript — edit them out.

1. Excessive physical description.

The excessive is important, trust me. It can be nice to know what a character looks like, but if your entire stor...

Why Every Writer Should Get The Emotion Thesaurus

Because writers are evil beings who are cruel to their characters. Wait. No. That’s not it.

It’s because common problems that arise in manuscripts revolve around how writers describe what’s happening. I’m trying really hard to avoid the cliches like “Show don’t tell” and “avoid adverbs” but a lot of that contributes to wooden stories.

Yes, sometimes you need to tell, not show. Yes, some adverbs are good — tell me how you intend to write a book without using “not.” I’m not here to discuss the...

Timed Writing or Word Counts? How to Blend the Two for Greater Productivity

photovia Death to the Stock Photo

When it comes to writing, do you use timed writing or word counts?

Here’s how one can feed the other:

When I first started writing, I preferred word count goals for a simple reason.If I could reach my goal in a shorter amount of time, I could stop sooner. And while it sounds perfect in theory, in practice I spentmore time writing fewer words.

Productivity in writing depends on your ability to get focused and stay focused.

Ah, focus. What helps a writer focus...

Head Down, Fingers on the Keyboard — Goal Tracking

I’ve been quiet lately, but for good reason:with limited time outside my job, I had to revise my priorities. I ditched blogging in favor of publishing A Veiled Truth, a 31k novella set in The Hunted world and out now, and my series bundle, aptly titled The Hunted: The Complete Series and set to release July 1st.

Ahem. Buy links for both can be found on their respective pages linked above.

I’m particularly proud of A Veiled Truth, not just because it’s my best work yet, but also because it re...

The Inevitable Regress — Goal Tracking

The week after my last goal tracking post, I managed to crank out a 10k week — the best yet! (And halfway to my goal of 20!) Caught in the end-of-book frenzy, I went hard and wrote.

But rather than capitalizing on that momentum and continue writing, I had to switch gears into editing. My next book isn’t fully plotted yet, so I didn’t want to dive into that prematurely and spend months rewriting (ahem, as I’ve done with this novella). Cue the regress.

Despite not writing, I’m still devoting o...

Recommended Reading for Fiction Writers

When I shared my schedule — and how I plan to write 20k words per week — you may have noticed that I built time for reading.

The result is reading more writing-as-a-business and writing-as-a-craft books than I did the last couple years combined. Rather than profile each of them individually (my brain whimpers at the thought), I’ll summarize my thoughts — and let you know which books you should pick up!

If you only read a few books off this list, my picks areStructuring Your Novel, Gotta Read...

A Peek Into One Writer’s Schedule — Goal Tracking

Committing to writing 20k per week is no easy task. Well, committing to it is easy. Making changes in my life to accommodate the goal, however, is where it gets difficult. Right now, though, I’m not focused on my word counts. I’m working to lay the foundation for my writing habits.

How I make time for writing with a full-time job

This is what my schedule looks like during the week:

5 am: wake up, set up coffee, shower
5:30: grab coffee, write
6: eat, comb through my feed reader, comment, ans...

I’m committing to 20k per week — Goal Tracking

*dusts off the blog*

Well, hello there.

A lot’s happened since I last wrote. Not anything interesting, necessarily, just that I’ve been adjusting to working full-time and writing. It’s given me plenty to think about, especially as it relates to priorities and making time for writing.

I’m committing to training myself to write 20,000 words per week

Yeah. Notice how I saidtrain. Right now, 1k to 2k is a good week for me, so going from that to 20k is going to take a lot of work. A lot, a lot.

B...

Have You Reviewed Elusive Memories? Get Hidden Illusions!

Plus, new Elusive Memories synopsis sneak peek!

Hello, my darlings. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I intend to write a post to update you on all the things I’ve been working on, but until then, I want to talk ELUSIVE MEMORIES REVIEWS!

Which is this: from NOW until APRIL 6TH, if you email me a link to your review of Elusive Memories (on Amazon, Goodreads, or your blog), I will send you afree e-copy of Hidden Illusions. Yup. That’s it. Review Elusive Memories, get Hidden Illusions.

All you have...

Any Progress Is Good Progress — Goal Tracking

If you’ve spent any time around The Path of Least Revision and The Writing Sidekick, you know that I’m a big proponent of celebrating any number of words you get down, whether it’s 10 or 10,000. Two weeks ago, I wrote about taking a break; today I’m happy to say that I’m eking out a somewhat daily word count.

Huzzah!

But I’m not writing the story I started back in December — I’m writing a short story set in my Hunted world. (For a couple reasons: so I can offer it exclusively in a special/lim...