Category: How To and Tips
Tackling the Daunting Second Novel
I began writing my second novel while I was querying my debut novel, The Hideaway. “They” tell you to do that to keep yourself from obsessing over the responses that come (or don’t come) from agents. Working on that second book gives you something else to focus on, plus it’s never a bad thing to […]
Writing Tiny: A Look Into Flash Fiction
Plot, characterization, structure, hook. These are buzzwords for writers everywhere, words we live and breath, ideas we sacrifice hours of our lives toward (and maybe even a few tears) just so we can craft the perfect story. We agonize over each paragraph and chapter, and we probably use hundreds of pages while doing so. When […]
ADJUSTING TO YES by Julie Maloney
The journalist sitting across from me in the café was someone who had been following me for years. Several times, she had written about the non-profit organization I founded fifteen years ago called Women Reading Aloud. She had kept up with how things had progressed from welcoming writers gathered around the dining table in my […]
A Mother and Daughter Crime Fighting Duo for the 21st Century
Literature has not been kind to mothers. From the earliest stories fed to us at bedtime, mothers die and get replaced with evil stepmothers. Coming of age stories are filled with overbearing maternal figures. It’s the mother who creates a serial killer or gives birth to psychopaths. I didn’t set out to write a mother/daughter […]
FREE FALLING INTO THE UNPLOTTED NOVEL
It was a dark and stormy night, which was not getting me off to a good start. But at least there were words on the page. I had a great idea, I knew where I wanted it to go, sort of. All I had to do was inject a good dose of drama and some […]
The Professional Writer
In his groundbreaking book, Outliers, Malcom Gladwell wrote about the power of practicing 10,000 hours in order to reach a higher level of proficiency and greatness in one’s profession or hobby. When I read his theory, I remember feeling as if that was one of the fairest statements ever made. In a lottery world revolving […]
When To Take Advice And When To Trust Your Intuition
The first thing people spot when they step into my kitchen is a large painting tacked on the wall above the breadbin. ‘That’s lovely,’ they say. ‘Your son? He’s very artistic.’ They’re right on one score; my son painted it 20 years ago. He was about three. But lovely? That depends. It’s a simple, childish […]
3 Ways to Use “Accidental Research” to Write More Authentic Fiction
It’s a run-of-the-mill question, but one that comes up again and again: “What sort of research did you do for this story?” Whether we’re writing contemporaries or historicals, readers like to know that we’ve done due diligence, and perhaps to discern how much of our fiction could conceivably be real. Sometimes, the answer is straightforward: […]
How To Take Your Writing To The Next Level
Finding your way in the publishing world as a writer isn’t always easy but She Writes University aims to bring authors the tools they need to successfully write, publish and promote their books. With webinars kicking off on April 5th, writers will have the opportunity to learn from some of the best in the publishing […]
Write Naked
There’s an acclaimed writer named Denis Johnson who had three rules for writing and for life, and his first rule was that writers should “Write Naked.” Though it’s fun to imagine yourself sitting at the desk au naturel for all the world to see, that wasn’t quite what Johnson had in mind. What he meant, […]
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