About Writing Archives - Page 4 of 54

What is the Next Project?

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Michell

How do you figure out the next project? If you are like me, you have several stories percolating in your brain all the time. Plus you probably have notebooks/sticky notes/random napkins with other ideas sketched out. And then there are those new ideas that pop up whenever you aren’t looking. With all that noise, how do you (or in this case, me/I) decide what the next project should be? Stories Under Contract Anything that has a contract attached to it automatically floats to the top of the list. I am mindful that not everyone is at the stage of their career where they have books already under contract. I am fortunate to have a couple series that are in that […]

Good Edits Take Time

Posted on June 27, 2019 by Michell

I am hot and cold on editing. There are times when I absolutely LOVE the process and others when I would prefer to do anything but. Regardless of how I feel about them, I have recognized the need to really think about what my editor is asking for. I find if I don’t, I might completely miss their point and either: (a) write something that doesn’t fit the story, (b) write something I’ve already written so it appears more than once in the story, (c) delete some of the stuff that was good, replacing it with bad/worse writing. In full disclosure, I have done all of those things at one point or another when I tried to rush my edits. […]

Editing Brain

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Michell

I’ve talked about the difference between writing and editing before, but I think it bears repeating. There is a real difference that is significant enough that I don’t typically try to write when I’m editing. With writing – for me, at least – writing is more stream of conscience. I open myself up to any possibility for a story. My mind is constantly running different story scenarios. Editing, on the other hand, is more about picking at the details and making sure they all work together in the best way possible. When I’m editing, I’m not focused on story scenarios and the next scene as much as I’m making sure everything I’ve already written works together. No stream of conscience […]

Write What You Know?

Posted on April 3, 2019 by Michell

One of the first pieces of writing advice I ever read was, “Write what you know.” I used to think I knew what that meant. I mean, if I read Science Fiction and Fantasy, then I clearly know those genres and should write in them, shouldn’t I? So, the first novel I ever finished was a Fantasy novel. It turned out pretty good (in fact, it will be coming out in August this year), but it was a real slog to write. Was I missing something? The second novel was much better, partially because I knew I could write a book at that point. But it was also a story I had thought about for years, roughly based on comic […]

« 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 54 »