I wince at the memory of using each of these writing “no-no’s” in my early fiction (and critique partners still catch me in the act at times). Data dumping is fun for writers bursting to share their research or hard-wrought…
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3 Fiction Writing Terms: Data Dump, Filter Word, Head Hopping
Tagged with: 3 Fiction Writing Terms series, be a better writer, Cynthia VanRooy quote, D. Wallace Peach quote, eliminate filter words, filtering in point of view, head hopping vs omniscient point of view, info dump, information dump, Janice Hardy quote, Joe Bunting quote, point of view filters, quotes for writers, Stefanie Gaither quote, suspend disbelief in fiction, weaknesses in writing, writing advice
Posted in Fiction Writing Terms
Posted in Fiction Writing Terms
3 Fiction Writing Terms: Clichés, Point of View, Suspension of Disbelief
I start every post in this series by pointing out my early lack of knowledge of creative writing terms. As a wise writing sage once said, “Knowing is one thing, doing is another.” Or maybe that was Yoda… Study and…
Tagged with: 3 Fiction Writing Terms series, be a better writer, cliche characters, cliche descriptions, cliche dialog, cliche phrases, cliche plots, point of view as perspective, point of view technique, point of view violation, Polly Iver quote, POV violation, quotes for writers, Shannon Dittemore quote, suspend disbelief in fiction, the problem with cliches, weaknesses in writing, writing advice
Posted in Fiction Writing Terms
Posted in Fiction Writing Terms
3 Fiction Writing Terms: Foreshadow, MacGuffin, Red Herring
The writing business is one of the deepest oceans to navigate. Besides mastering book distribution, marketing, and promotion, writers must also learn a unique set of terms and techniques before deciding what to apply to their own work. When I…
Fiction Writing Terms: Active Verbs, Author Intrusion, Backstory
Every occupation has its own set of unique terms and slang. Musicians talk about riffs while machinists talk about welds. To a sailor, a floor is a deck and a wall is a bulkhead. And writers need to know about…
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…
10 Reasons Why You Should Write Fan Fiction
We write [fan fiction] because we love these vampires, Doctor Who companions, or demon hunters so much that we can’t stand not knowing what happened in those missing scenes or giving them the chance to make a different or better…
Anatomy of a Monster
Here’s a spreadsheet with points to consider when creating a monster character. Do you have suggestions for changes? If you let me know, I’ll update the spreadsheet and keep it on my resources page.
Tagged with: creating characters, creating monsters, Speculative Fiction, speculative fiction writers, writing advice
Posted in Writing Advice, Writing Fiction
Posted in Writing Advice, Writing Fiction
Confusion vs Curiosity in Fiction
I recently sat in on a talk by New Mexico author RJ Mirabal in which he shared some of the lessons he learned on the road to publication. He made the point that an author must write in a way…
KL Wagoner 