P.M. Dooling's Blog, page 3

Character Storyboards

One thing I love doing before writing a story is creating storyboards for my characters. It allows me to get a real feel for them, like they’re coming alive (and not just in my head).

If you’re struggling AT ALL with developing your characters – I wholeheartedly recommend doing this. Even if you don’t create storyboards, collect images that represent your characters (their looks, their traits), save them, study over them when you’re stuck or just need a bit of inspiration. You may even end up coming with a completely separate character for a completely separate story!

Here are some examples of storyboards I did of Genderswap versions of Sam, Dean and Cas from Supernatural –

Sam Winchester-

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Dean Winchester-

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Castiel (Cas) –

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These images represent (my idea) of what makes up the core of the 3 characters. If I were writing the characters – and sometimes I REALLY wish I were – I could and would use these to just glance at from time to time. Put me back into that character’s mindset.

If you want to create your own storyboards, or just collect some images to help you out – here are a few boards on my Pinterest page where I save all the images that bring me inspiration. Perhaps they can bring you some too :

Writing Inspiration
Quotables
It’s a Fairytale

Gook luck and Good Writing!

Better Than Bones and Dust

Hi Y’all! So since I can sometimes be a bit of a space cadet, I forgot to mention that I had a short story published at Daily Science Fiction. It’s called Better Than Bones and Dust and you can check it out HERE. It’s SUPER short so it won’t take long to read at all. Side note – it’s crazy difficult to write stories under 1,000 words. This was a challenge for me. One I crazily kind of ended up enjoying. It stretched a writing muscle.

Also check out the rest of their website. If you’re an author and want to dip that little pinky toe into short story publishing, they’re a great (easy to maneuver and submit to) site.

I hope you enjoy the story and let me know what you think!

Better Than Bones and Dust

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Writing Hair and Eye Color

Sometimes you have a vision of a character in your head. It’s so clear. You can see them exact, but you might have just a wee bit of trouble translating what you see onto the page.

Or perhaps your character is a blank slate. You know their story arc – their history, but you’re not quite sure how they look…yet.

Below is a list of different hair and eye colors to either help you find the right adjective for what you see in your head, or help you put some physical characterization to the hero/heroine/sidekick taking form in your mind.

Good luck and good writing!

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Literary Agents Every Aspiring Author Should be Following on Twitter

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Ready to start querying that manuscript? Or should I say – ready to start thinking about when you will be querying that manuscript (even if you haven’t actually started that book yet – but hey, you know you WILL start, you WILL finish, and you WILL be querying in your future). One thing you may want to do is start following some agents on twitter. They’re a great source for information. A lot of them will do Q&A days. They give some great info about the whole process of looking for an agent AND it’s a perfect way to search out an agent that you feel might be a good fit for you and your novel.

So, here are some agents you should most definitely be following on Twitter –

Eric Smith with P.S. Literary Agency – @ericsmithrocks

Holly Root with Waxman Leavell Literary Agency – @hroot

Michael Bourret with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC – @MichaelBourret

Molly Ker Hawn with the Bent Agency – @mollykh

Diana Fox of Fox Literary – @dianafox

Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency – @agentkristinNLA

Ginger Clark with Curtis Brown, Ltd – @Ginger_Clark

Suzie Townsend with New Leaf Literary – @sztownsend81

Lauren MacLeod with The Strothman Agency – @Lauren_MacLeod

Leon Husock with L. Perkins Agency – @leonhusock

Lana Popovic with Chalberg and Sussman – @LanaPopovicLit

Eddie Schneider with Jabberwocky Literary – @awfulagent

Beth Phelan with the Bent Agency – @beth_phelan

Moe Ferrara with BookEnds – @inthesestones

Jen Rofe with Andrea Brown Literary Agency – @jenrofe

Peter Knapp with Park Literary – @petejknapp

Maria Vicente with PSLiterary – @msmariavicente

Kathleen Rushall with Andrea Brown Literary Agency – @KatRushall

Steven Malk with Writers House – @stevenmalk

Sara Megibow with KT Literary – @SaraMegibow

Natalie M. Lakosil with Bradford Literary Agency – @Natalie_Lakosil

Sarah LaPolla with Bradford Literary Agency – @sarahlapolla

Joanna Volpe with New Leaf Literary – @JoSVolpe

John M. Cusick with Folio Literary Management – @johnmcusick

Wolfson Literary Agency – @WolfsonLiterary

Marisa A. Corvisiero of Corvisiero Literary Agency – @mcorvisiero

Jennifer Laughran with Andrea Brown Literary Agency – @literaticat

Elana Roth Parker with Laura Dail Literary Agency – @ElanaRoth

Victoria Marini with Irene Goodman Literary Agency – @LitAgentMarini

Brooks Sherman with the Bent Agency – @byobrooks

Jenny Bent with the Bent Agency – @jennybent

Pam Howell with D4EO Literary – @BookaliciousPam

Louise Fury with the Bent Agency – @louisefury

Jess Regel with Foundry Literary + Media – @jessregel

Mandy Hubbard with Emerald City Literary Agency – @MandyHubbard

Barry Goldblatt of Barry Goldblatt Literary – @barrygoldblatt

Kim Lionetti with Book Ends Literary – @BookEndsKim

Jessica Faust with Book Ends Literary – @BookEndsJessica

Thao Le with Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency – @ThaoLe8

Patricia Nelson with Marsal Lyon Literary – @patricianels

Molly Jaffa with Folio Literary – @molly_jaffa

Laura Zats with Red Sofa Literary – @LZats

Laurie McLean with Fuse Literary – @agentsavant

Lucy Carson with The Friedrich Agency – @LucyACarson/

 

 

Good luck and good writing!

 

 

 

 

 

Write the Right Color!

If you’re like me, sometimes you struggle to find the word for just the right color. It’s not a red desk, it’s not a purple one – it’s something else. And what REALLY frustrated me is that I can spend way more time than necessary trying to figure out what to call the color. Time that could be used finishing my paragraph – moving on to the next chapter. But I can’t move on because I’m still trying to figure out that darn color. I do this with a lot of things, not just colors. Adjectives are a problem, in general – which ones to use, how many to use, if they’re needed at all. BUT – here is a pretty extensive list of colors to hopefully help you if you’re ever like me and don’t want to spend an hour wondering if you should refer to your mc’s walls as canary or dandelion –

Good luck and happy writing!

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Snoopy Inspiration for Writers

Snoopy! Ah, Snoopy…that loveable cartoon dog with the personality of an eccentric grandfather. I love him. And what I love most about him is his dream and desire to be a writer. He has a dream! He never gives up! He receives rejection letter after rejection letter! He suffers from writers block! He doubts himself! HE IS ONE OF US! And for that I LOVE him.

So here’s a little Snoopy inspiration to help inspire you – maybe tackle some writing block – or just bring you a bit of joy –

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January 2017 Writing/Short Story Contests

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If you’re a writer a great way to get your name out there AND make a little extra money (something all struggling writers need – unless you have a nice cushiony publishing deal), is through writing contests.

Maybe you have a short story in your folder of stories that you’re not totally sure what to do with. Maybe you want to flex some writing muscles. Either way, here are a few short story/writing contests for the month of January –

The Mogford Prize for Food and Drink Writing – Deadline January 15th – There is a small entry fee – https://www.oxford-hotels-restaurants.co.uk/mogford-prize/

Portable Story Series – Deadline January 20th – Small entry fee – Theme is ‘Love Story’ – http://portablestoryseries.com/

The Iowa Review Awards – Deadline January 31st – https://iowareview.org/rules

Imagine Little Tokyo Short Story Contest – Deadline January 31st – Free – http://www.littletokyohs.org/short-story-contest-2017-guideline.html

Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ+ Writers – Deadline January 31st – Free – must have written and published one but no more than two books – must identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual or queer – http://www.lambdaliterary.org/emerging-writer-award/

Nelson Algren Literary Awards – Deadline January 31st – Free – http://www.chicagotribune.com/about/ct-2017-nelson-algren-literary-awards-official-rules-20161201-story.html

Words and Brushes Story Contest – Deadline January 31st – Free – short story inspired by one of the sponsor’s online image gallery – http://www.wordsandbrushes.com/instruction

Happy writing – and GOOD LUCK!

 

 

Writing Fight Scenes – Helpful Info.

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If you’re like me then you write a lot of fight scenes – I mean A LOT. I write YA epic fantasy that takes place in a world of warriors, wizards and villains. There is going to be a lot ass kicking going on.

And if you’re like me you spend a lot of time Google-ing info about fighting. Below are some charts/lists I found helpful while writing my latest book. Especially the ‘Where to hit in a fight’ info and what it does to a person.

He Said, She Said, We all Said – Words to use instead of SAID…

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While I think ‘said’ doesn’t quite deserve its sometimes problematic reputation, I do admit that it can get overused. Overused a lot and overused quickly.

Sometimes I find myself struggling with whether I should use said, something else, nothing at all, or let an action describe that they’re talking/holding a conversation. All writers struggle with it, and its usually not until we’re editing (sometimes for the 5th or 15th time) that we realize if we’ve made a mistake or not.

When I do decide to use another word in place of ‘said’, that can be its own struggle. So if you ever get stuck like I do – here are some helpful charts put together that might help make the struggle a little more manageable –

Happy Writing!

 

Habits of Famous Writers – What do you know, I like dogs too!

I must admit the habits of writers is something that fascinates me. I’m always looking for things I do similar to the greats – and many, many things I do differently.

So, this little dog owning, night writer, who prefers tea over coffee and writes at a, sadly, relatively slow pace found this chart created by visualistan.com humors me. It’s always nice when you can find a habit or aspect of writer that you admire, in yourself. Even if it’s as frivolous as their affinity for pets.

As for lying down or moving – I’m a sitter. A slouching hunch-backed sitter, who gets up and dances when she fells the blood flow has almost been permanently cut off from her lower extremities.

 

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