Category Archives: Writing

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Plotting Or Not — Doing Away With a Dumb Debate

Posted on October 28, 2020 by dbjackson

This is my forty-second Writing-Tip Wednesday post of the year, and somehow I have gotten through forty-one posts without addressing that age-old writing question, “Do I or do I not outline?” Or put another way, “Plotter or pantser?” First, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Islevale Cycle, Novels, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Plotting Or Not — Doing Away With a Dumb Debate

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Real-World Influences On Our Fiction

Posted on October 21, 2020 by dbjackson

It’s also possible, particularly with our world as fraught as it is right now, that the sheer gravity of real-world events and conflicts will pull your story in directions you don’t want it to go. These influences are powerful, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, History, kids, Novels, parenting, Politics, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Real-World Influences On Our Fiction

Monday Musings: How I’m Coping

Posted on October 19, 2020 by dbjackson

I’ve written about politics and social issues a lot in recent weeks, and I want desperately to avoid doing so again this week. It’s not that I don’t have more to say. I do. But I feel as though I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in cooking, Family, food, Music, nature, Novels, photography, Politics, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Monday Musings: How I’m Coping

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Descriptions and Point of View

Posted on October 14, 2020 by dbjackson

Description does not — cannot — take place in an emotional or circumstantial vacuum. Not that long ago, I offered tips on writing scenes involving sex and violence, and essentially said that dealing with such encounters is almost entirely a … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Setting, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Descriptions and Point of View

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Anatomy of a Rewrite

Posted on October 7, 2020 by dbjackson

As I described in a recent Writing-tip Wednesday post, I have been working recently on a trunk series — a pair of books, the first two in a projected trilogy, that I initially wrote nearly ten years ago. I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Novels, Reading, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Anatomy of a Rewrite

Writing-Tip Wednesday: “Pitch Inside”

Posted on September 30, 2020 by dbjackson

In the mid-1980s, my favorite baseball player on the planet was a young pitcher for the New York Mets named Dwight Gooden. Gooden had a meteoric career that was shortened by injuries and chronic drug abuse. But for the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Ethan Kaille, Fantasy, Islevale Cycle, Novels, Short Fiction, Thieftaker, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: “Pitch Inside”

Writing-Tip Wednesday: Crutch Words — Finding Them and Limiting Them

Posted on September 23, 2020 by dbjackson

Last week, John Hartness, my good friend and the owner and editor at Falstaff Books, posted on Facebook about something he was seeing while editing manuscripts. Many of his writers were starting too many lines of dialogue with, “So…” As … Continue reading →

Posted in Novels, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: Crutch Words — Finding Them and Limiting Them

Writing-Tip Wednesday: On Blogging

Posted on September 16, 2020 by dbjackson

So, at the risk of going full-on meta, I would like to post today about blogging — the value and costs of maintaining a blog, the secrets of keeping the blog fresh for you and for your readers. When I … Continue reading →

Posted in Business of publishing, Publicity, Publishing, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: On Blogging

Welcome J.D. Blackrose! Her PLUCK AND COVER Blog Tour Stops Here Today!

Posted on September 15, 2020 by dbjackson

J.D. Blackrose (aka my wonderful friend, Joelle Reizes) is promoting Pluck and Cover, the first of her Zombie Cosmetologist novellas. (Find it on Amazon.) Here is the series description: Waylon Jenkins has a problem. Well, he’s got a few of … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Friendship, Publicity, Publishing, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Welcome J.D. Blackrose! Her PLUCK AND COVER Blog Tour Stops Here Today!

Writing-Tip Wednesday: SEX and VIOLENCE, and How To Write Them

Posted on September 9, 2020 by dbjackson

Title got your attention, eh? Yeah, figured it would. I might not be a marketing genius, but I’ve learned a little bit over the years… Last week, I wrote about using profanity in our writing, and at one point likened … Continue reading →

Posted in Character, Novels, Writing, Writing Life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Writing-Tip Wednesday: SEX and VIOLENCE, and How To Write Them