Okay, the above title is not always true. Sometimes a change can be very detrimental. Like, if you go from an employed state to unemployed. Still, I think the inherent meaning of the saying has a lot of truth. In essence, sometimes when you are stuck in a rut, doing something different can help you to move forward and start getting things done again. That is actually both the benefit and the disadvantage to having multiple projects on the go all the time. The benefit: when you get stuck on a piece of the project, you can move on to a different project. The disadvantage is, you can avoid the problem you have been dealing with. Take my WIP, Mik […]
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The Second Book in a Series
I was chatting with an author friend and we were comparing notes about writing the second book in a series. He talked about the pressure he is feeling while writing the next book in the series. As we were comparing notes, I realized that we both have been experiencing the same things even though our genres are quite different – he is writing Science Fiction and I am writing YA Adventure. So what exactly are these pressures that we are feeling? Well let me list them in no particular order. I’ve got to make the second book better than the first. You might think this silly because if that is a pressure with each book in a series, eventually you […]
Read moreMake Them Work for It
I realized yesterday that I hadn’t spoken about the craft of writing for a while when I ran up against something I learned while revising Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero. So, with that timely event, I thought it might prove interesting to talk about characters. Specifically about making your characters work for their victories. One of the mistakes I made when writing Mik Murdoch was I often made things too easy for him. I would throw a problem at him and, knowing how I wanted it to turn out, Mik would get to the resolution with little trouble or effort. I don’t know about you, but when I succeed at something, it is usually through a series of trial-and-error type events. My editor, […]
Read moreI Have a New Short Story Coming Out on Every Photo Tells
By the title, you can probably guess that there will be some pimping going on in this post. You would be right, but that isn’t the sole purpose of the post. The good folks at Every Photo Tells have a very interesting premise for their short story podcast. Every month they post a new photo on the site as inspiration for all us writers. Authors are encouraged to write a story (between 1,000 and 5,000 words) based on the picture and send it in. If the story is accepted, they do an edit and podcast it. I’ve been meaning to do this for some time but always managed to miss the deadline. This past month I finally wrote a story and sent […]
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