Category: How To and Tips
Write Here, Write Now
Turning something into a daily practice, be it writing or exercising or even flossing, can be a daunting process. In the case of writing, having a schedule is important. It’s also a good way to keep the writer sane. What do I mean by that? Well, a writer who is not working is a dangerous […]
Human: Know Thyself
I often wondered what would happen if I didn’t take a drink. Or eat a bag of cookies when I was stressed. Like 70% of the country, I use mildly destructive distractions to cope with everything from mid-afternoon boredom to my son’s impending puberty. I think for writers, the percentage is more like 100. Something inside […]
How Novels Bloom
As a girl, I listened to my mother’s stories about her teenage year quarantined, deathly ill and bedridden after a diagnosis of tuberculosis in St. Paul in the mid-1940s. As an adult, upon my mother’s death, I discovered for the first time I’d been adopted as a 7 month-old infant. As a writer, I’ve used […]
Writing While Blocked
Writing While Lazy Uninspired Distracted Overwhelmed Self-Critical Blocked At book presentations, I’m invariably asked, “What’s your process?” By which the curious listener is asking me to describe how I managed to come up with some 350 pages of narration. Questions about process make me quail. Yes, I’ve created enough content to fill the pages of four (soon to be five) books. […]
Finding Inspiration in Failure By Barbara Claypole White
In my second novel, THE IN-BETWEEN HOUR, my protagonist is a celebrity author on the cusp of a career crash and burn. The hero of his best-selling series, Agent Dodds, is dangling from a helicopter, and all Will can think is, “Let go, dude. Just let go.” Unlike Will, I’m not one of the big […]
Inspiration and Obsession in Historical Fiction
by Elisabeth Storrs Inspiration ignites the spark to imagine a novel; obsession fans the flames to fuel the journey to complete it. As an historical novelist, I also face the added task of researching as well as producing a narrative. Luckily for me, history always provides me with both the motivation and evidence to produce […]
The Art of Breaking the Rules
The Art of Breaking the Rules Dear Author, have you ever hit the delete key mid-paragraph because you feared you might be breaking some grizzled piece of writing advice? We’ve all heard those pearls of wisdom that bullet-point so easily: Do this, don’t do that. Show don’t tell. Always avoid adverbs. Never open with a […]
When The Creative Faucet Turned On
“Somewhere along the way I had claimed training as my identity. I craved it, even if it was destroying my body. The full day of yoga was the dessert that satisfied my sweet tooth while keeping the dentist at bay. If weights were no longer part of my diet, perhaps I could indulge in extra […]
Are Free Books a Good Thing?
Like the random dude at every book signing you’ve ever been to, I’m about to bring up a topic that may make you uncomfortable: money. I know, I know… it’s awkward. It feels like the conversation around the written word should float above those sorts of philistine concerns. We write because we’re compelled to; we […]
How To Plan Your Novel
I’m a project manager by trade and planning comes naturally so it makes complete sense to me to plan out my novel. Now I know this will have some of you screaming and reaching for the Ben & Jerry’s to comfort you but it’s really not that scary. Planning is not about stubbing out creative […]
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