Tag Archive | plot
Your Story is Contrived
I was doing a brainstorming session with a client not long ago, and she mentioned how she finds herself trying to emulate George R. R. Martin and Brandon Sanderson by adding multiple layers and and intrigues and subplots, and it was frustrating for her, because it wasn’t really what she wanted to write, but she […]
Brainstorming Plot Holes
One of my favorite things to do is to help other people brainstorm through plot holes. I love looking at the big picture, seeing where it needs to go, and figuring out how to get it there. This is a little weird, since I’m totally a pantser, so at least in my own writing I […]
Safe or Interesting?
I recently read a story by a well-known author who is highly acclaimed in the Christian market. And, unfortunately, I was underwhelmed. The writing was clean, some (not all) of the characters were well-rounded and interesting, and there were some moments of good tension, but I felt like it had a lot of unmet potential. […]
Editing…Again
I’ve been working with an editor on my Dragons manuscript, in the hopes that I will finally get it to a place where someone (preferably the house this lady is with) wants to publish it. I’ve gone back and forth with her several times, making some major changes, and with each round of edits, it […]
Challenge Success
Throughout the last half of the month of August, I participated in an informal challenge given by my good buddy and boss at Splickety Publishing Group, Ben Wolf, to write one flash fiction story per day for the rest of the month. I didn’t do exactly that. For one thing, I didn’t finish all of […]
Where Are Your Strengths?
I’ve been discovering a lot about my writing strengths and weaknesses lately, more so as I’ve been working with other people’s stories for Havok, but also as I’ve gotten more feedback about my own work. I’m definitely a pl0t-first writer. I have great ideas for grand worlds and adventures, and then I have to stick […]
Getting Ideas
“How do you come up with your ideas?” That’s a question writers get a lot. Most of the time, my answer is “I have no idea. It was just something I was thinking about.” I think a lot of us are the same way. Ideas get in our head and we have to get them […]
Why Frozen Isn’t as Good as Everyone Thinks
Editor’s Note: Spoilers, sweetie Let me start by saying this isn’t a Frozen-bashing post. I actually enjoyed the movie, and my six-year-old daughter loves it, which is really the main goal of an animated film such as this. Also, there were a lot of things I really loved about the movie. I loved the music, […]
The New Authors Fellowship 