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Injecting Some Suspense

I caught this article from MBToolBox this afternoon. The topic is something that most fiction writers face at one point or another, but for some, it applies even more.

The stuff that I like to write (although it’s been a while since I’ve done any serious writing) is chocked full of suspense. As to whether my suspense scenes are any good, well, that’s an entirely different story!

Read Seven Ways to Inject Suspense into Your Novels

On another note, have a great Memorial Day Holiday! If you’re out traveling, be safe, as it’ll be a madhouse out there.

Villains and Heroes and All of That Good Stuff

Yes, yes, it has been a couple of days since my last post. Other things have kept me at bay, call it life, or business. But the important thing is that I didn’t just disappear from the face of the earth, right?

I was doing a bit of browsing and came across a post from an unlikely source. Up until recently, Bubbles In My Head was a blog that seemed devoted to poetry in all of its forms. Very informative, but just not something I’m into yet. Now, it seems Zoe has expanded a bit into other literary zones, which includes fiction. You've got my attention now!

Two of her most recent posts touch on something that I don’t think I’ve written about yet: villains and heroes.

Just like many plots are based on master templates of one kind or another, characters are usually the same. Villains and heroes are all created with traits that have a commonality across the board, even though they may not be readily apparent. Zoe does a good job in describing some of the common archetypes out there.

I’ll stop droning now and let you get on to the good stuff!

Read Zoe’s Villain Post and Heroes Post

Boring Writing – Sometimes We Just Have to Do It!

Aside from writing fiction, I also have to do a lot of writing for my “real job”. I did a lot more with my last position, but still do a fair amount in my current one. The biggest mistake I made when writing for my place of work was the fact that I actually wrote something well.

Well, since I have to do it, I might as well do it right. Right? I found this article today (which I think is posted at more than one site) that discusses ways to improve your writing in the workplace.

The article is a tad long, but is full of great advice. Of the information in the article, this is my favorite paragraph, because it is so, so true:

“Whatever type of writing you do in the workplace, always know this reality: readers believe the quality of your writing reflects your skills, work ethics, and integrity as a person. If you write eloquently, clearly, and lively, the reader trusts you and you are able to build rapport quickly. If your writing is sloppy, disorganized, and riddled with errors, the reader assumes the rest of your work is flawed, your work ethics are flawed, and perhaps as a person you are flawed. Why should this reader waste his time reading the rest of your junk or even do business with you?”

Regardless of whether you’re new to the job, or have been there for years, there’s never a shortage of eyes to judge your every move (and every word).

Read How To Improve Your Lousy Writing Skills In The Workplace

What I Know about Writing Action Scenes

Now here’s something that I need to work on. It’s probably not my worst area in writing, but it needs help. If you’ve read any of my past short story exercises, you'd notice that many of my scenes lack any real tension-filled, or knuckle-whitening moments. They may be close, but not quite there. I definitely chalk this up to inexperience on my part.

So, as always, what do I do? I research, research, and research. This time, to try something different, I’m going to list what I know about action scenes, and see if maybe you can fill in the rest. Call it a cry for help.

What I know:

Character Blogging for Better Character Development

Have you seen them around? You know, blogs that are geared around a single fictional character? These characters can be from shows, movies, and novels, and often speak to readers through their own written voices.

Well, Steve Rubel - who blogs more on the side of marketing and business related stuff - doesn’t seem to think they’re good for anything (entertainment or not – such a killjoy). He claims they are useless and a waste of time. While I like his straightforward attitude, I believe he may have missed a very good point to fictional character blogs. And that is the fact that developing a character blog could prove to be beneficial to writers and their development of characters.

Why do I believe this? Imagine what it would take to create a character with such life-like attributes (like personality), and being able to blog in his or her voice? It would be the ultimate exercise to “get into your character’s head”. I can only assume that by doing this for long enough, that your character development skills would lead to developing some incredibly real and believable characters (full of personality and emotion).

Unfortunately, while I might believe this, and while I’ve given it some thought about doing it myself, I have yet to see a version where someone created a character blog, prior to using them in a story. I’ve seen it the other way around, though, like Lee Goldberg’s character, Natalie.

If you happen to know an example of a writer who has done this, please let me know via comment or email. I’d be very grateful!

Writing Attention-Grabbing Headlines

I read this article a few days ago when Darren, from ProBlogger.net, posted it on his site. It’s a wonderful source of information for writing attention-grabbing headlines. Understand that the article is geared a bit more to writing advertising headlines (copywriting), but it still applies well to us writers.

This is something that I’ve put more effort into when writing marketing copy, but not my blogs for some reason (you’ve seen my drab headlines – haven’t you?) This is something I’ll need to remedy I think.

Read Writing Headlines that Get Results

10 Things You Shouldn’t Worry About

Sorry for the quick post tonight; I'm finally back on track with my writing exercises, and the next lengthy post will be my short story for that exercise. It should be ready by Thursday morning (which means I'll need someone to tear it apart for me!).

In the meantime, I wanted to quickly share a list of 10 things that a writer should never worry about. I found it on Lee Goldberg’s blog, A Writer’s Life.

This list has 3 things that I have definitely worried about in the past; these are numbers 2, 3, and especially 6. What about you? I’m sure you’ll probably spot something there that you’ve worried about, or are still worrying about.

Read “10 Things You Should Never Worry About” by PJ Parrish

A Quick Critique

Well, here’s the post I promised. Overall, I thought Paul’s story was a very nice read. Being the nitpicky fellow that I am though, I saw some things that I thought might improve it. These are just suggestions, so take ‘em with a grain of salt.

I edited the first paragraph, because of the wordiness (which I’m guilty of too). I think it would flow better if it went from this:

The Four Styles of Figurative Language

If you’ve been around as long as this blog, then you know I put an emphasis on the use of figurative and descriptive writing. I’m always looking for ways to make my stories as real as possible; to make the reader get lost in my world, and like it.  Face it, if you cannot show a reader something as simple as a character’s environment, then you’ve already lost half of the battle. Mastering this ability is what makes writers like Stephen King so fun to read.

I don’t want it to sound like I know what I’m doing, because I usually don’t. I’m always researching, researching, writing a little bit, and researching some more. I’m sure this’ll go on for a while until I have a good grip on this craft.

The following is an article by Niko Silvester, who writes for About.com. Niko goes over the four types of figurative language, which include:

A Writer’s Long Experience in Self-Publishing

So, I was surfing a little this evening, when I came across a series of articles by John Spivey from BlogCritics.org.  In it, John spends pages of writing to discuss a bit about his writing life, and how he came to self-publish a book of his.

The series provides some pretty solid information, but you should be prepared to sit back for long ramble sessions in between tips. If you’re willing to do that, you may gain a thing or two from his posts.

There were a couple of statements that I found interesting, including this one: