Tag: women writers
Writing Historical Crime – Bringing your Characters to Life
Writing historical crime – bringing your characters to life One of the joys of writing historical crime is that you have centuries of fascinating characters to bring into your writing, but also the potential for inserting imagined characters who add to your story. In The Conjuror’s Apprentice, I use real people in history – John […]
Five Myths about Story Revision by Lynne Reeves Griffin
Five Myths about Story Revision Lynne Reeves Griffin There’s consensus among writers that while completing a first draft is a monumental accomplishment, it is by way of rigorous revision that the depth and heart of a story is revealed. Every writer struggles with the complexities of the process. It’s daunting to rewrite or add scenes. It […]
In the End, Most Genres Turn to Love
Conventional wisdom dictates that writers should stick to one genre. Agents traditionally advise their clients to stick to a single genre to build a reader base and strengthen their reader brand. When writers want to deviate from their established category, they are either discouraged or told to write under a pseudonym if they want to […]
Life Dust: Writing Through a Nursing Lens
Life Dust: Writing Through a Nursing Lens What do John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, Katherine Neville, and Pam Webber have in common? We all write novels that include aspects of our previous or current professions. In other words, we write what we know. Not just for the ease and added insight, but because we can demystify, […]
The Naughtiest Word in Writing…
The Naughtiest Word in Writing… There’s a word commonly uttered in writing circles, a word that often strikes fear even in the most seasoned of novelists. Revision. Yep, revision. I know it’s scary, but I promise, it’s going to be okay. I can say that now, but when I first learned about the art of […]
On Writing Chingona: Owning your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice
When I first started writing Chingona: Owning your Inner Badass for Healing and Justice, I was still on my own healing journey. I knew I wanted to share my experiences to help other Latina and POC women heal from intergenerational trauma. I was healing and practicing survivance, which Gerald Vizenor says is “an active resistance.” […]
On Writing Unsettling: Surviving Extinction Together
As a kid I knew I was queer. By the time I was in middle school I’d had my first intense crush on a girl—one of my best friends—though I didn’t realize at the time it was a crush, because no one had ever told me that a girl could like another girl like that. […]
The Art of Edutainment: The Process of Blending, & Balancing Memoir Writing with Wellness
By Jane Enright “ Sometimes it’s the smallest decision that can change your life forever” —-Keri Russell Keri Russell once said, “sometimes it’s the smallest decision that can change your life forever.” For me, it was a decision to try my hand at writing a book, which became three books in three years and began […]
On Writing: How to Make a Kernel Pop
How to Make a Kernel Pop By Amy Q. Barker The other day I decided to make popcorn on the stovetop. Remember when we used to do this with Jiffy Pop? Well, I didn’t have one of those, but I did have a pan, vegetable oil, and popcorn kernels. I loaded the bottom of the […]
Words and the French of It All
By Nan Reinhardt One day, my friend and fellow writer Liz Flaherty and I were talking about words we hate to see in books We both had a list, of course, because writers are an opinionated lot, and of course we know what’s best in any novel. Some of the words we listed? Moist. Quip. Adorable. […]
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