Tag Archives: how to write

Quick-Tip Tuesday Post on Music and Writing

Posted on October 18, 2016 by dbjackson

I usually write with a good deal of structure in my process, and so I thrive on relatively unstructured music to inspire my creative process. So, I thought, what if with this project, to which I’ve taken a relatively unstructured … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday: More Fixes for a Broken Manuscript

Posted on October 4, 2016 by dbjackson

By the time we hit that 60-70% mark, things look dire for our good guys. And at that point we often discover that we have no idea how to get from where we are — often a world gone to … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday: Emotion and Narrative

Posted on July 26, 2016 by dbjackson

So how do we imbue our prose with emotion? Well, we DON’T do it with a sledge hammer. I am not telling you to bludgeon your readers with paragraphs-long explorations of your characters’ emotions. That would be no better than … Continue reading →

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A Quick-Tip Tuesday Post on Self-Editing!

Posted on May 31, 2016 by dbjackson

I’ve noticed an incredible amount of extra verbiage in my early books — filler, if you will: superfluous words that add little to the storytelling, but clutter up my prose. For the wordiness-intolerant, these words are as unwelcome as, well, … Continue reading →

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A Quick-Tip Tuesday Post on Travel and Narrative

Posted on May 17, 2016 by dbjackson

We never know when we’re going to draw upon experiences in our lives, be it for setting or character, plot or emotional content, dialog or action or romance or any of the myriad other narrative elements that come, at least … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday Is Back, with Ro Laren!

Posted on April 19, 2016 by dbjackson

But simply adding a character isn’t always enough. Sure, a love interest can spice things up, or a new villain can ratchet up the tension. But sometimes what a story needs is both more subtle than those options, and also … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday Looks at Goals and Realism

Posted on March 22, 2016 by dbjackson

The writing profession throws plenty of trials our way; we shouldn’t pile on with unrealistic goals that we can’t possibly meet. And the great thing about making writing a part of your regular routine is that you don’t have to … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday: Writing Every Day, or Not, or Yeah

Posted on March 8, 2016 by dbjackson

There is a sort of alchemy that takes place when we manage to convert our own emotions into the different-but-related emotions of our characters. Spinning gold from that straw carried me through my grief. Had I given in to the … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday: Being Scooped . . . Or Not

Posted on February 9, 2016 by dbjackson

We as authors have enough to worry about in this business as it is — the market is tough, writing good novels and short fiction is no easy task, finding time amid work and family to do all we want … Continue reading →

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Quick-Tip Tuesday: Giving Secrets to Your Characters

Posted on January 26, 2016 by dbjackson

Giving secrets to our characters sets up plot points for our stories. But secrets do more than that. They add dimension and richness to our characters.  Those secrets become the source of our characters’ vulnerabilities, and often their strengths as … Continue reading →

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