There are times when I think I’ve read too many “How to Write” books. Every book I read says something similar; show don’t tell. That statement should be pretty self-explanatory, but I think I might have missed something. I would call my writing style a bit minimalist. I tend to write with the idea that the reader will want to use their imagination to ‘see’ the story in their minds. I would much rather give too little detail than too much. I’ve also read/heard that everyone sees characters differently. Too much description of what a character looks like could pull the reader out of the story. Again, I like to err on the side of too little. Maybe that’s because […]
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A Laugh Out Loud Moment
I was thinking the other day (and no, that isn’t the funny part) about my goal to see one of my books in print and I realized just how far I’ve come as a writer. Let me explain. When I first entertained the idea of writing a book and actually getting it published it was as far away from reality for me as the possibility that I might one day walk on the moon. I knew I enjoyed writing and I felt I could probably write something decent if I was given enough time. I just never expected anyone to want to read my work. After I finished writing my first book, I actually started to think I could pull […]
Read moreWhat Should You Write?
Do you ever wonder if you should be writing for specific trends in the book industry? Genre fiction, especially Science Fiction and Fantasy seems to be especially susceptible to trends. One day it might be dragons, the next zombies. Oh look, vampires that glitter. While it might work to see what’s coming and write for it, you need to keep in mind that getting a book from manuscript to shelf can be a very long process. It may be that by the time your book is ready, it’s already out of style. But what if that isn’t a problem. Maybe vampires (for example) as a subject are going to be around for a while and you decide to write a story […]
Read moreDon’t Let Setbacks Set You Back
We’ve all had moments where things didn’t go quite as planned. We’ve all had times when it seems like the world is plotting against us. Responding positively to these challenges is critically important and often extremely hard to do. Case in point, I interviewed JC Hutchins for ‘Get Published’. I must confess that I was really looking forward to talking with JC. We connected via Skype and started talking. Five minutes into the conversation, JC dropped off. I called him back and we picked up where we had left off. About 25 minutes into the interview, increasing amounts of distortion crept into JC’s side of the talk. I should have halted the session, reconnected and proceeded. Unfortunately, I thought maybe […]
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