Both J. Leigh and I have had two insanely busy weeks — doesn’t that always seem to happen right in the middle of huge and important projects? And it’s obvious that I “missed” my self-imposed publication deadline of October 4 for the release of Lords of Askalon. Part of that is life getting busy — …
Category: Musings
Writing blog
Sep 27
Editing Focus 3: Line Editing
Sorry this is late in appearing, everyone…that’s what this annoying little thing called…”LIFE”… will do to a person. O.o So, I’ve been working on beta reading S.K.’s awesome new book, The Lords of Askalon (can’t WAIT for all of you to be able to read it!). Beta reading for me is mostly line-editing. However, since …
Sep 18
Editing Focus 2: Consistency
Yesterday, we discussed macro (Big Picture) editing, in which we ensure that all the story components do what they’re supposed to do and work harmoniously together. Today, we’re going to concentrate on another aspect of macro editing: consistency. Let’s use our same three categories — character, plot, and setting — to see what types of …
Sep 17
Editing Focus 1: The Big Picture
J. Leigh laid out our editing map very nicely last week. Today, we’re going to consider Focus 1, what I call the “big picture” edit. There are three levels present in Focus 1 — character, plot, and setting. Character Editing As we step back and look at the Big Picture, we need to consider how …
Sep 13
Preparing to Publish: Editing
As S.K. said in her last blog post, we’re celebrating the month of September with an in-depth look at the publication process. Now, I’m going to assume that you have a finished manuscript. Your story is complete. Your characters are well-rounded and you’ve inflicted on them all necessary challenges and sufferings for growth and all …
Sep 10
September Blog Fest: Preparing to Publish
J. Leigh got us started with a bang yesterday with her fantastically funny (but sadly all-too-accurate) post on creating a YA cover for your novel. If you haven’t read it yet, do. Hopefully it will make you smile! All this month, J. Leigh and I will be writing about the process of getting your manuscript …
Sep 09
How to make a YA book cover in 4 easy steps!
Okay guys, this is totally a spoof entry. But after seeing about 10 YA PNR books in a row that looked like near-identical copies of each other, I decided to tell you how you, too, can create a bestselling YA book cover! Step 1 Find a great background. This should preferably be something gothic …
Aug 24
Mirror, Mirror…
A month ago or so, I finished reading all the entries I had received to judge for a writing contest. I read both children’s lit and YA fiction this year, and it’s been fascinating. I have so many things on my mind to say about what I observed, but I wanted to take a step …
Aug 14
Understanding Character Voice
So, I had intended to write a follow-up post to the last one on scene-setting by S.K., but instead I’ve decided to write about Character Voice. It’s something that’s been on my mind lately, and I think it’s one of those essential vocabulary terms for all writers to understand. If you sit in a room …
Aug 07
Dressing the Set(ting)
I happened to catch a fascinating show the other day on the DIY Network – Hollywood Builders. They were following the construction of the sets for the new Total Recall movie, and I found it riveting (pun intended). Watching the set electricians wire up the set for futuristic lighting, watching CGI transform a “green screen” …