Last month we explored the topic of happiness, and how we can regain the joy of writing we felt when we first started writing. We can boost happiness by establishing a few simple daily habits–very important, because we can think best when we’re happy. Because we naturally store negative events in a deeper, more permanent…
Category: Blog
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Non-Human Characters
Birds and beasts, werewolves and vampires, fairies and trolls, rakshasas and dragons and inari okami (and did you think of a western European dragon or a Chinese dragon)? Aliens. Some or all of these can populate your work . . . for good or ill. Liesa Malik and I will be talking about writing non-human…
Do YOU Know How to Find Your Agent Match?
Finding an agent isn’t just about finding “someone” to represent your work. The author-agent relationship works best when author and his or her agent match well on a personal and professional level. Some people prefer to work via email; others like to talk by phone. Some authors want to know about every submission and every editor’s…
Creating Dynamic Characters
As you’ve probably noticed, there are a thousand-and-one approaches to character development. A lot of writers use work sheets that ask for details ranging from eye color and shoe size to favorite song and which high school the character graduated from. I think these sheets are awesome, but since I am not detail oriented and get easily distracted, I have yet to complete one. Inevitably I get bored and wander off to write something more exciting.
WRITING THEMES: Do we choose them? Or do they choose us? by Joan Johnston
Why do all my books have “abandoned or neglected children” as an underlying theme? Until about book 25 (I’m writing book 57 now), when another writer pointed it out to me, I had no idea that this issue resonated throughout my writing. I’d grown up in a family of seven children and my parents had remained…