At times it is difficult being a writer and a reader, since looking at novels with a critical eye can ruin the fun of reading. But reading often what makes our writing stronger. Over the years I’ve discovered similarities between the works that irritate me at best and cause me to lose interest and stop reading at worst.
Below, in no particular order, are five things writers (maybe including myself) do that annoy reader:
So, you’re a writer, but when people ask for a copy of your novel, you only have two or three chapters to share, and they may not even be from the same work. Finishing a book is hard work, and it’s all too easy to get distracted, overwhelmed, and discouraged.
When I first started writing, I struggled to move past the first chapter. I moved to short stories for a while so I could achieve a sense of completion but deep down, I wanted to be a novelist. Fast forward two years, I have now finished two novels, A Time of Stones and To Wield the Stars.
If your a writer that struggles to finish your novel, below are five ways to help you.
If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. —Anton Chekhov
This quote by Chekhov is the basis of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is a literary device that allows you to plant clues, hint at what’s to come, build the tension, or even place a red herring in your reader’s path.
You can use foreshadowing in a variety of ways. The resulting action can be immediate or delayed. Foreshadowing can feed the tension of a scene. You can use dialogue or narrative to set the scene, and you can foreshadow a symbolic event or an ethical dilemma. You can use direct or indirect foreshadowing, and it can even be true or false.
Below are when to use foreshadowing, the major turning points in your novel, tips and how to master foreshadowing.
It has been a while since my last post and there are many reasons why I have been absent from my blog posting. They are the same reasons as my last post.
I have been writing my novel, To Wield The Stars. I have been devoting all my spare time to this novel and neglecting my blog. I’m sorry.
However, I am so excited to be apart of my first compendium for Fiction Vortex.
Happy New Year fellow writers and bloggers!
Last year I asked a question to my readers.
What are your writing ambitions for the next twelve months?
So, what were they? Did you achieve your goals? Will you set more goals or less this year? What have you got planned for Two Thousand and Twenty?
These are the questions you should be thinking about if you want to make changes or continue the momentum into the new year.
In twenty nineteen, I had high expectations for my writing. I am proud to say I achieved my goals and this coming year, I will have the same level of expectations.
Let me reflect on the year that has passed.
It’s funny. I promised I would attempt to post regularly on my blog––and it’s not the first time I’ve made that promise with my followers. Each time I apologize but this time: I’m not sorry.
Okay, maybe I am a little bit but over the past months, I devised a writing routine that works for my lifestyle and busy schedule. It has taken me a long time to work out the best and most productive writing life for me.
It might take writers and authors days, weeks, months or years to work it out but once you work it out, you don’t want to break that cycle. I don’t want to break the writing cycle I’ve created for me.
The honest truth for my absent posts is: I’ve been writing. I have been writing a lot more than usual. There are some moments in life when you know, the amount of effort of what you are putting in isn’t enough. The effort isn’t enough to finish writing that book. I had some serious thoughts on how I could change my routine to set me up for success.
I stumble upon a Twitter account, 5amWritersClub and my problems were solved. I wake up every morning at six o’clock and I thought I’d give it a try. Wake up an hour earlier and write. At first it was hard to get in the rhythm and the gears slowly moved but the more I woke up at that time, the easier it and now my writing goals are coming within reach, closer than I anticipated. My absence from my blog is from 5amWritersClub igniting the idea and writing when the world is silent and asleep.
That is where I have been but hopefully, things should stay on track and the first draft should be finished soon.
I will continue posting writing tips but committ myself to only one post a week.
Congratulations.
You finished writing the first draft of your novel but you aren’t finished. Now comes the best part. Revisions. The good news and the bad news: it takes longer, much longer than you might think, to revise your novel and make your book wonderful.
Below are ‘Seven Ways to Revise Your First Draft In The Second Round of Edits’
Writer’s block is real. Every writer, at one point or another, has experienced this debilitating inability to make any real progress in his or her work.
A lack of progress can be discouraging for anyone, and sometimes it’s difficult to maintain the motivation needed to complete a long project.
If you’re not feeling motivated, it’s not a reflection of your abilities as a writer. Creativity can seem to ebb and flow according to its own schedule, and we all have to find a way to cope with the slow periods in anticipation of the next big spark.
Below are five ways to deal with writer’s block. Whenever I feel less than inspired, I start here.
I hope you can use these same strategies to stay motivated in your own writing when it seems as if you aren’t making any progress.
Often I read fantasy novels that contain a lot of traveling whether it’s by foot, horse or sea. Your characters need to eat and one way to pull your reader out of your fantasy world is to write something so strange or unbelievable that they pause to wonder how that can be. One place that typically happens in a fantasy novel is when food is mentioned.
Below are three rules to avoid these mistakes and add some solid, commonsense detail to the food in your fantasy novel.
In my last post, How To Bring Lift and Fluency to Each Scene In Your Novel, I explored how to make your scenes shine like the torchlight in a dark cave.
As you tackle your scenes you should be supporting the overall point of view the story is told. Point of view can be difficult. We all know that. It’s even harder when you’re using multiple POVs.
It’s an easy call when a POV character narrates a scene that features only non-POV characters. However, when one or more of the POV characters share a scene, who comes out on top? That is, which character’s POV are you in? Who’s narrating the action?
Here are four tips that have helped me make this critical decision. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.
