Writing & Publishing
I tend to blog a lot about writing, and I’ve decided to make all my old posts on the subject a little simpler to find.
Not every writer climbs the same kind of mountain, so my answers to some of the problems I’ve overcome, or am still wrestling with, may not be the right answers for you. I’m sharing them in the hope that they’ll be of some use. I certainly wish I’d known all of these things some years back…
First up is the most popular post on my site, one dedicated to finding focus before starting the writing process. After that, the rest of the essays are roughly organized by category. Keep in mind that some of these posts, being years old at this point, may mention subjects that are long since old news (the release of a new book or the appearance of a new movie) or send you to a related page off-site that’s no longer there. I’ll try to keep an eye out for the last, but if you find one, please let me know.
Invocation of the Muses
The Business of Writing
- How to Get a Book Deal
- Signing the Contract
- After the Book Deal
- Joining the Writing Community
- Why Should Writers Attend Conventions?
- Notebook Writing
- Notebook Writing: Purpose
Outlining and Drafting
- Outlining
- Outlining, Part 2
- A Few Outlining Thoughts
- Notecards
- Writing Notecards
- Beta Readers
- Rough Drafts
- More Drafting Thoughts
- New Outlining Thoughts
Novel Writing Lessons
- Novel Lessons 1: The Desert of Souls
- Novel Lessons 2: Plague of Shadows
- Novel Lessons 3: The Bones of the Old Ones
- Novel Lessons 4: Stalking the Beast
- Novel Lessons 4.5: Between the Novels, Part 1
- Novel Lessons 4.5: Between the Novels, Part 2
Working with Characters
- Character Writing Prompts
- Character Design
- Character Design, Part 2
- Character Design, Part 3
- Character Strengths and Weaknesses
- Character Epiphany
- Love Your Character
Hard Writing Lessons
- Word Count, Take 2
- Head Games
- Word Count, Take 1
- Hard Writing Links
- Lots of Lessons
- Many Lessons
- The First Lessons
Writing Mistakes
- My List of Writing Mistakes
- My List of Writing Mistakes, Part 2
- Self-Sabotage is Easier than Writing
- Writing Mistakes, Part 3
Miscellaneous Writing Topics
- Writing Notebooks
- Writing Tips from Dr. McCoy
- On Writing Swiftly
- Leveling Up
- Historical Research
- Writing Conference Scenes
- Step One
- Dialogue Tags
- Language Use
- Backstory
- Writing Tests
- Point of View Arcs
- Writing Flurries
- Dialogue Cheats
Reading For Writing
- Pulp Virtues
- Reading Outside the Genre
- More on Noir
- Genre Prejudice
- Robert E. Howard and Saki
- Vance, Robert E. Howard, and the Role of Women