Norman in the Painting, Chapter Three when Norman disappears again: “A strong waft of air swooped into the space. Jill, with eyes closed as her hair blew into her face, clasped the edge of the desk . She couldn’t hang on any longer and fell to the floor.”
What Did You Start Writing?
When you first started writing, what form did you use–short stories, poetry, memoir, or a novel? In middle school, I chose short stories and I still like to write them. Next I wrote a few novels, and then poetry. In the afternoon writing class I teach, we are writing a Haiku twice a month based […]
Is Your Character Addicted to Being Right?
If any of your characters are addicted to being right, they would rather be right than happy. They have to have the last word in an argument and proving their point of view takes precedent over listening to others. Even after being shown they are wrong, they still search for ways to prove their point […]
The Sagging Middle in Novels
Sagging middles in writing novels can be a mess. Often everything gets thrown into the middle while the plot goes around in circles. New characters or too many characters flounder, back story info dumps create road blocks, tension disappears, dialogue goes on and on by characters who are in their heads instead of taking action, […]
Writing Weather in the First Paragraphs
Elmore Leonard states in his book, Ten Rules of Writing, “Never open a book with weather.” He explains that the reader looks for people and will skip ahead to find them if the author writes on and on about the weather. Sheldon Siegel, author of several modern legal novels, spoke at the California Writers Club, […]
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe: You’re It!
The blog hop continues with Vi Moore, one of the writers I tagged.