Posts Tagged ‘writing craft’
Ideas? Write About What You Know.
I’m fortunate as I never run out of ideas. However, framing one or more into an entertaining story may take some time. Before I get into that, welcome. I hope you’ve coped well and safely with the summer’s heat, humidity, rain, drought, and/or wind. I scheduled two outdoor projects which are eighty percent done. Just…
Read MorePersistence — A Writing Essential
The road to success is paved with persistence, with an underlayment of information and earned luck—being in the right place at the right time with the right credentials. For me, after spending a lifetime reading books, I harbored a secret desire to write a commercial paperback, but the time was never right. Family, community, work,…
Read MoreWhy do I Write? Societal Gaslighting and the Climate Crisis.
A typical question for a writer is, “Why do you write?” For me, I write because I get pissed off and have to tell a story to make sense of my feelings. Usually, it’s because Power, with intention, data, and impact studies, manipulates our institutions for their own greed to the detriment of the people…
Read MoreEditing – A Writing Essential
My fifth book, EXECUTION, left my hands and my house at the end of February. It was much like the feeling when a high school graduate leaves for college. The experience was a mix of joy, relief, anxiety, apprehension, and sadness. For me, the creative process and solving problems are at the root of my…
Read MoreLetting Go
My draft of Execution, the 5th book in the CL Bluestein thriller Seduction Series, has left my hands, electronically, for those of my content editor. I’m expecting it back with comments and suggestions in two weeks, give or take. This is my fifth time doing this. I expected to be used to it. But no,…
Read MoreEndings and Interruptions
I’m down to the last ten thousand pages of Execution, book five in the C.L. Bluestein Seduction Series. Now I get to plot my revenge, dream up all kinds of murderous outcomes, and choose which ones to use. Like the other books in the Seduction Series, its major theme is the harm caused by profits…
Read MoreBrain games – The Creative Art of Writing
Writing, for me, is a Brain Game. How to get from here to there, efficiently without leaving out the details, practically without over/under explaining, and safely so my reader is buckled in for the ride, while my characters fight for the world they want to live in and for. Recently, in a wide range…
Read MoreBoxes — Breaking Free
I have just returned from the International Women Writer’s Guild (IWWG) Summer Conference. It is the first-time members have gathered, in person, since Covid. It was as if we’d never taken a two-year hiatus. For me, this gathering is the space where we break out of our boxes, roles, and silence to listen, see, and…
Read MoreDoes a Hero’s Gender Matter in Fiction?
Q: Does a hero’s gender matter in fiction? What do you try to do when you write female characters and/or a female hero? What are they like and why? How much physical description do you include and why? What do male authors miss when they write female characters and vice versa? A: Good question. As…
Read MoreCreating Story
Armed with a slew of ideas taken from the news and history, I sat down to write from a very loose outline: guy kills people, guy get caught. Yeah. Not really specific enough. Turns out, finding the story is harder than it looks. Each individual problem has to be woven into the manuscript and addressed.…
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