About Writing Archives - Page 4 of 54

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 […]

Is Theme Important in Writing?

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Michell

Theme – What I Used to Think There was a time (early on in my writing) when I thought paying attention to theme was dumb. The story is the story. What is the point to adding unnecessary baggage? I would poo-poo people who talked about how important it was to identify the theme early in your stories. Again, if you had good characters and a good plot or plots, the rest would take care of itself, wouldn’t it? That was then, this is now As you might have already gathered, my opinion has changed regarding theme. I don’t know if that’s because I’ve become more mature in my writing or simply more aware, but I now believe theme is important. […]

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