Author Create: Recent Episodes
Stephen Woodfin
Has a story ever taken control of you while you were writing it? If it hasn't, it wanted to. Why don't you let it?
Would you rather be a consumer or a creator? A writer needs to be both, but he must strike the right balance between reading and writing.
Let your uniqueness shine through in all your writing. When you find your voice, everything else will fall into place.
The back stories of your characters make the difference between a book that grabs readers and one that falls flat.
Don't be your own worst critic. There are plenty of people waiting in line for that job.
What does the first sentence of a book give away about what lies ahead? We look at a few examples.
How the coronavirus outbreak drives us out of our old worlds and requires us to build new ones.
A new writer should do his or her homework before joining a critique group. What experience-level are members of the group?
Talent or Determination? Beginning writers do well to listen to John D. MacDonald's take on the subject. Is it about inspiration or perspiration?
The importance of reading a draft of your work aloud to test it for mistakes, to see if it has cadence and rhythm, and to prepare it for audiobook narration.
One thing new writers struggle with is the context they create for characters. Every writer is a world-builder, and she needs to create a consistent world so her readers don't get lost along the way.
When you sit down to write your book, have a working title in mind. The title expresses the book's essence as keeps you focused as you write.
Replace empty words in your writing with visual cues that fire a reader's imagination. Add descriptions and make your writing sing. To help you get the hang of it, review passages from your favorite writers to see how they create pictures with words.
Who will tell your story? You will write it down, but someone else will tell it. Will it be a narrator or a first-person account? Writers refer to this as point of view ("POV"), and it is a basic building block of your writing. Are you a head-hopper?
Which is better, Plotters or Pantsers? Plotters are those people who outline their books before they begin writing. Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants, learning the story as they go. Which group are you in, or can you be in both?
Four decisions will open the door to your writing life. Find a time to write. Find a place to write. Find a method to capture your words. Set a goal for each writing session.