Category: On Writing
There are No Great Writers…
… only great re-writers. The sooner you accept that your first drafts will be steaming piles of squishy word vomit, the sooner you will be able to write the story you want to write. First drafts are nasty. They are disgusting. They make you want to curl up in a…
It Is A Truth Universally Acknowledge That All The Great Novels Have Subplots (a reprint)
Originally Posted 1/17/13 Forgive my abuse of beautiful Jane Austen quote, but it is the truth. Every bestseller out there that I’ve read (which does exclude a few with sparkling undead and men named Grey) have subplots. Think Dresden, LOTR, Price of the Stars, Lost Fleet, or any of the…
Yes, Virgina, You Need A Critique Group (a reprint)
Originally Posted On 2/5/13 Over the years I’ve taken a middle-of-the-road approach to critique groups. I waffled. I tried to see and accept opinions that I didn’t entirely agree with. And now I give up. You need a critique group before you publish. When you make the choice to move…