Tag Archives: writing

Writing-Tip Wednesday: A Special Post on Narrative and Creativity

Posted on May 20, 2020 by dbjackson

This is a somewhat longer post than usual, but I hope you’ll read through it. It is the text of an address I gave a few years ago at our local high school to mark the Day of the Book … Continue reading →

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Writing-Tip Wednesday: Ideas — Finding Them, Using Them

Posted on May 13, 2020 by dbjackson

You may notice at this point that I have yet to offer any tangible advice on dealing with or coming up with ideas. That’s right: I’m stalling. Writing about ideas is really hard. Giving advice on developing ideas is nearly … Continue reading →

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Writing Tip-Wednesday: Reevaluating Goals in the Time of Covid-19

Posted on May 6, 2020 by dbjackson

Each of us responds in his or her own way to stress and uncertainty and fear – and there is plenty of all three to go around right now. I have one friend who has been unbelievably productive during the … Continue reading →

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Writing-Tip Wednesday: When is a Manuscript Done?

Posted on April 29, 2020 by dbjackson

There comes in the revision process a point of diminishing returns. And upon reaching that point, we need to say, “The novel is good enough, as good as I can make it with the feedback and skills and tools at … Continue reading →

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Writing-Tip Wednesday: Making the Most of Our Present Situation

Posted on April 22, 2020 by dbjackson

My Writing-Tip Wednesday post for last week was a downer (and also had a rather annoying typo near the end, for which I apologize). No way around it: The publishing business is in a bad place right now, and if … Continue reading →

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Writing-Tip Wednesday: The Scary New Realities of Publishing

Posted on April 15, 2020 by dbjackson

Really, though, this is about more than the immediate economic and health crises. Publishing has been in trouble for some time now – falling profits, fewer opportunities for writers and their books, less support for those writers who do land … Continue reading →

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Writing-Tip Wednesday: Dialogue, part II — Attribution

Posted on April 8, 2020 by dbjackson

Last week’s Writing-Tip Wednesday post began a two part series on dialogue with some advice on the writing of the actual “spoken” words we put in the mouths of our characters. Today, I follow that up with a discussion of … Continue reading →

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Writing-Tip Wednesday: Dialogue, Part I

Posted on April 1, 2020 by dbjackson

I love writing dialogue, in part because I love reading dialogue. I believe that people are natural eavesdroppers. We like to listen in on other people’s conversations. That’s what reading dialogue is all about – it is one of the … Continue reading →

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Writing Tip Wednesday: Maps, Worldbuilding, and the Creation of Story

Posted on March 25, 2020 by dbjackson

So you’re trapped in your home with too much time and too little to do. The world around you has gone to hell, and you’re fed up. Sound familiar? Yeah, thought so. So why not take the opportunity to create … Continue reading →

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Monday Musings: On Being Distracted, As Opposed To Dealing With Distractions

Posted on March 23, 2020 by dbjackson

A bit less than two months ago, when our lives still resembled something akin to normal, I wrote a Monday Musings post about getting started at work and overcoming distractions. Then the coronavirus took over our world and changed the … Continue reading →

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