Over the past few years I’ve conducted over a hundred interviews divided between KLWagoner.com and SouthWestWriters.com. I enjoy learning how authors deal with writers block and what kinds of scenes give them the most grief—and I can’t help compare my…
Blog Archives
What Authors Wish They’d Known, Part 1
Tagged with: D. E. Williams quote, interview answers, Irene Blea quote, Jonathan Miller quote, KL Wagoner, Michael Backus quote, Patricia Smith Wood quote, Sarah Baker quote, Sarah Storme quote, Sharon Vander Meer quote, SouthWest Writers Authors, storytelling, writing truths, Zachry Wheeler quote
Posted in Writing Advice
Posted in Writing Advice
What Beginning Writers Misunderstand about Storytelling
Between this blog and the website for SouthWest Writers, I’ve conducted over a hundred interviews in the last few years. The answers I enjoy most involve the writing process, how authors deal with world building and series writing, and what…
10 Tips to Conquer a Writing Block Mountain
Writers often slam into a story wall. Sometimes they find a way to scale it and continue to run and dodge through the rest of the obstacle course to reach “The End.” But sometimes, instead of a wall standing in…
Tagged with: writer's block, writing blocks, writing encouragement, writing truths
Posted in Writing Advice
Posted in Writing Advice
First Draft Writing Rules from Copyblogger
In Demian Farnworth’s post, “10 Rules for Writing First Drafts [Poster],” he mentions this quote by Kurt Vonnegut: When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth. If an author like Vonnegut felt that way,…
Tagged with: Copyblogger, Kurt Vonnegut quote, writing encouragement, writing truths
Posted in Writing Advice
Posted in Writing Advice
Five Poisons That Paralyze Your Writing (and Their Antidotes)
Bill O’Hanlon has authored or co-authored 30+ books including Write is a Verb: Sit Down, Start Writing, No Excuses. Not only is he a prolific nonfiction writer, he’s an entertaining speaker who motivates his audience to follow their dreams. In the…
Procrastinate to Fuel Your Writing, Tip #1: Chocolate Wars
Some insist procrastination is a dirty word. But I say, “One writer’s procrastination is another writer’s research.” Have you ever left your keyboard in search of a snack, and found yourself staring at the inside of the fridge (for the…
A Writer’s Approach: Plotter, Pantser, Hybrid
Here’s a repost of my 2013 article from ThisNewMountain.com. It’s been said, and much debated, that there are two kinds of writers—those who outline and plan before starting a writing project (plotters) and those who dive in and write “by…
NaNoWriMo: How to Make the Time to Write a Novel in 30 Days
2015 will mark the 17th year thousands of writers from around the world begin National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) on November 1st. Few would argue this is a crazy journey—attempting to write a 50K-word draft of a novel in thirty days.…
Tagged with: NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, time management for writers
Posted in The Writing Life, Writing Advice
Posted in The Writing Life, Writing Advice
Speculative Fiction: Culture Lab
Speculative Fiction: Culture Lab by Betsy James Speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, horror, magic realism, and slipstream) gives voice to those who explore societal and technological change along with deeper considerations of underlying archetypes of human experience. ~ from the…
Tagged with: Betsy James, power of words, Speculative Fiction, speculative fiction writers, words change the world
Posted in Writing Advice
Posted in Writing Advice
Story Promises: What Readers Expect from Fiction
Like many readers, my main reason for reading fiction is to be taken out of my world and into someone else’s. Before I became a writer, I didn’t expend a lot of brain power to decide what stories to pick. I…
KL Wagoner 