OKAY GUYS, WRITING RANT TIME! Buckle in for some CAPITAL LETTERS and also LITERAL FIRE! For this rant, I have my day job technical writer hat on, but the general principle applies to fiction, too. It’s about knowing your audience. What does knowing your audience have to do with ACTUAL FIREBALLS? Read on and findContinue reading “Don’t Forget Your Audience (Especially if they’re ON FIRE)”
Tag Archives: Writing Tips
Don’t Drop That Line
You know what I wish I’d figured out earlier in my writing journey? The importance of through lines. Take right now. I’m working on a revision of THE DEFIANT HEIR (Book 2 of Swords & Fire). I got about two-thirds done with a first draft, then realized I needed to go back and revise beforeContinue reading “Don’t Drop That Line”
Justifiable Murder
One thing that bugs me as a reader (and I do realize this is a pet peeve that probably doesn’t bother lots of people) is when an author kills off a character and I get the feeling they did it solely to make things seem EXTRA DRAMATIC. As if they might get some kind ofContinue reading “Justifiable Murder”
Breaking a Scene List into Arcs
In a previous post, I talked about color coding my scene list by stakes. That’s only one of the ways I use my scene list, which is really a super handy all purpose tool to look at a book’s structure in all sorts of ways. (To review, it’s just a list of all scenes inContinue reading “Breaking a Scene List into Arcs”
Stakes Map
I did a new structure thing today which worked really well for me, so I wanted to share it with all my fellow writers! I was side-eyeing my current revision, which involves adding a bunch of new scenes, and thinking there might be some patches where I had too many sitting-around-and-talking scenes in a row.Continue reading “Stakes Map”
Lies Writers Tell Ourselves: My Beta Reader Doesn’t Get It
So you send off your draft to some awesome, kind beta readers, and they send you feedback. Most of it is great, but there are one or two comments that are way off base and show they really missed the boat. Maybe they’re suggesting a character do something that character would never do. Or urgingContinue reading “Lies Writers Tell Ourselves: My Beta Reader Doesn’t Get It”
Lies Writers Tell Ourselves: Publishable Quality
Long ago, when I was young and innocent and just starting out on my journey through the world of publishing, I had the idea that my job was to write a book good enough to be published. Once I did that, everything else would follow—because if it’s good enough to be published, that means it’llContinue reading “Lies Writers Tell Ourselves: Publishable Quality”
Using Setting to Establish Character in the First Page
I’ve been working on a multi-POV novel lately, and I’ve had to introduce several new viewpoint characters. I’m discovering that one of my favorite ways to quickly immerse readers in each new character is through the setting. The great thing about this trick is that your words can do double duty. When you introduce aContinue reading “Using Setting to Establish Character in the First Page”
When to Trunk?
The horrible thing about being a writer is that rejection is, plain and simple, part of the business. There’s no way around it. You are going to get rejected. And unless you are one stone-cold badass, it’s going to hurt to at least some degree every time. Learning to shrug it off and move onContinue reading “When to Trunk?”
Setting Ain’t Nothing Without Character
A while back, I was writing a scene set in New York, and it was no good. I’d put in all these little details I’d actually seen in New York myself, and I’d used the internet to double check everything I remembered, and made heavy use of Google Maps… but it still didn’t seem likeContinue reading “Setting Ain’t Nothing Without Character”
Melissa Caruso 