by Autumn | Jun 17, 2016 | Tips, Writing
What is the first step you take when creating a fantasy world? If you read my post on Map Making 101, you know I like drawing a visual map. It creates a world that is entwined with my growing story faster than just about any technique. But there is actually one step...
by Autumn | Jun 10, 2016 | Tips, Writing
A young writer asked me how I came up with story ideas. I told her, I create a character. It took me some time to come up with that answer. Because I started wondering where ideas come from and how they develop into a story, much less a unique story. And somewhere in...
by Autumn | Jun 3, 2016 | Tips, Writing
When I wrote Born of Water, I got as far as chapter 3 before I got lost. Well I should say the characters lost me. Because they were heading out of the one town I had visualized and created into the unknown on an adventure. That is all well and good for a reader, but...
by Autumn | May 20, 2016 | Tips, Writing
“I stayed up way too late reading this book. I couldn’t put it down!” Who wouldn’t love to have that sort of review? Hearing that you hooked a reader and kept them going until the wee hours of the morning is not just praise. It is an...
by Autumn | May 13, 2016 | Tips, Writing
Floundering. I won’t say writer’s block, but I will admit that when I started my current WIP the flow came in drips and drabs. I dreaded starting a new chapter because I just didn’t have a good sense of what was going to happen. Or what should...
by Autumn | Apr 29, 2016 | Tips, Writing
What makes a good novel beginning? How do you capture a reader’s (or agent’s) attention? How much detail should you have before it becomes too much? Working on slides for my writing course got me really thinking about the beginning of novels. Everyone says...
