Most of yesterday was spent traveling and getting set-up in our rental, so I didn’t get much writing done on the 14th. Today I woke up to this lovely view and wrote 2503 words. Over 200 of those words were the beginning of a prequel to my novella Tam Lin: A Modern, Queer Retelling. I[…]
Tag: writer
NaNoWriMo Day 13: What’s with the Ducks, You Ask?
In the Before Times, rubber ducks were the mascot for Seattle area NaNoWriMo participants. (In case you haven’t heard it rains here a lot, but we like it.) We’d place one in our writing space during NaNoWriMo to identify each other. It was a cool way for participants to meet and commiserate. I carried one[…]
NaNoWriMo Day 12: How it Went
I didn’t meet my word count for Day 12, but the day wasn’t a complete wash. After my morning workout, I revised and edited an article. I also worked on some marketing campaigns for my novella. Those writing-related endeavors took up a good chunk of my time devoted to writing. I jotted down some notes[…]
NaNoWriMo Day 10: Writer’s Block
Have you ever had a really good dream, but your bodily functions wake you? After you take care of necessities and climb back into bed and you can’t quite get comfortable again and you try really hard to get back into that dream and sink into bliss. It keeps you awake because you just can’t[…]
NaNoWriMo Day 9: Almost Caught Up
When you’re a full-time writer, there are days when you are simply more productive than others. You can do all the same things you usually do to motivate yourself: good night’s rest, eating well, exercise, and the perfect environment and still have outside influences distract you. Social media is one of my biggest distractors. I’d[…]
NaNoWriMo Day 8: Why I’m Okay with Hitting Shy of the Mark
In the chart above, you can see that my daily word count is like Zoro’s signature mark, zig zagging. But, on a daily basis, I’m hitting either the mark or just below. I’m okay with not hitting the word count every day. I’m okay with not ‘winning’ NaNoWriMo. Why? Because I’m writing every day. I’m[…]
Why a Middle-Aged Protagonist?
In fantasy, protagonists tend to be 10-25 years old, untested and learning a life lesson. Those stories teach us that adults know it all and the young are the only ones who need to keep learning. That’s bull crap. You must keep learning and unlearning in life. Human minds continue to grow and develop, even[…]
NaNoWriMo Eve: Are You Ready?
November is National Novel Writing Month, where you write 50,000 words (The technical word count of a complete novel, albeit a short one.) by December 1st. I’m going about NaNoWriMo differently this year. I’m already 30k words into my rough draft of Eastside Faerie, so I’m going to write 50k and update my progress here.[…]
Does My Story Need a Villain?
Someone posted on social media “Does a story needs a villain?” If you mean someone twirling their mustache and plotting evil deeds, no. However, your story does need an opposing force. Why? Without conflict there is no lesson learned and without a lesson learned, there is no plot. A series of events does not a[…]
Troublesome Tropes in Urban Fantasy, Romance, and Paranormal Erotica and How to Subvert Them
Edit: As humans are want to do, I’ve changed my stance on some of these positions. Adult readers looking for escapism may enjoy anything they like. If someone is in a good space mentally they may have fantasies that are unsafe in real life and explore them through fiction. My personal dislike of these trope[…]
Writer Talk: Why Isn’t My Story Selling?
I’ve been alpha and/or beta reading manuscripts for about four years. I read a mix of about fifty to sixty traditionally and indie published novels a year for pleasure. What do some indie novels have in common with not-yet-polished drafts I alpha and beta read? Bad beginnings. Info dumps. Lack of developmental editing. The way[…]
Another Draft Finished
I finished the rough draft of Tam Lin: A Modern, Queer Retelling last night and will think of a less on the nose title soon. In the meantime, I’ll send the draft off to alpha readers. They’ll look for things like pacing, tension, seek plot holes, and analyze the character arc. I ended the story[…]