Uncategorized – Page 10 – Melissa Caruso

Giving Thanks

You know the saying “It takes a village to raise a child?” Well, it takes a village to make a writer, too. While writing a novel is one of the few grand creative endeavors you can actually accomplish alone, doing it right without losing your mind requires an extensive support team. I’m thankful for mineContinue reading “Giving Thanks”

Where to Begin

In the draft I’m currently revising, I have a hook at the beginning, then I kind of establish some stuff, and then something Really Exciting happens at the end of Chapter Three. I used to cross my fingers and hope readers would just hang on until the end of Chapter Three, because then I gaveContinue reading “Where to Begin”

The Dreaded Vagueness

Whenever I did pitch workshops of any kind, I kept seeing the same crucial piece of feedback appear over and over again, both on my own pitches and others’: don’t be vague. If you read a bunch of query or pitch feedback by people who know what they’re talking about, one thing rapidly becomes apparent:Continue reading “The Dreaded Vagueness”

Revising in Phases

I used to try to do all my revisions in one pass. I’d gather all my feedback from CPs and beta readers, plus my own notes, and pull everything into in one document in the order the issues appeared in the book. Then I’d go through from start to finish and try to fix everythingContinue reading “Revising in Phases”

NaNoWriMo 2014

I’ve never done NaNoWriMo, but every year I cheer on friends doing it. I find it incredibly motivational to watch them post their word counts and progress. I’ve always got some writing goal I’m working towards, and in November I like to try to set something suitably epic so I can get into the NaNoWriMoContinue reading “NaNoWriMo 2014”

(Not) Doing the Dumb Thing

Last night, I basically had this conversation with my main character: Me: I need you to do this thing. MC: Hell no. That’s stupid. Why would I do that? Me: Well, you can’t deny you want to do it. MC: Sure, but it’s risky and dumb. No thanks. Me: It’s OK. I promise nothing badContinue reading “(Not) Doing the Dumb Thing”

Subtle Revisions

I’m working on revisions now, and one thing I’m running into a lot is scenes where something has subtly changed in this revision. Maybe a character knows something earlier than they did in the previous draft, or their relationship with another character has changed, or the previous scene they just came from had a differentContinue reading “Subtle Revisions”