writing

Writing Time Blocks, Timers, and Crapware

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While at the beach, I did some writing. I noticed that during my writing session that I got distracted. I decided to specify a writing time—say 1 hour—as a hard limit. The idea is that during that time, I’d write, knowing that there’s a hard limit. To help with this, I searched for Windows timer … Read more

Writing Update

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This is a quick update on my writing efforts. A few weeks ago, I submitted a short story, The Curse of Rachael’s Crest, to the Loudoun County (Va.) Library’s writing contest. I worked on this story on and off for the last three years. Finally, I’m satisfied with how the ending plays. I’m preparing to … Read more

The Ultimate Writer’s Critique

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All writers face criticism eventually. Some of it is written, some oral. Some of it is presented positively, some harshly. But, I doubt anyone has seen a critique presently like this: What really happened isn’t that bad. My wife laid the story next to the stove. She started making supper and came to see me … Read more

True, But Too Strange for Fiction

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Create a character, named Anthony Weiner who is a congressman. Have him take pictures of his genitalia and send them to young women. Have it become public because he made a mistake with Twitter. Have him resign. Already, the scenario sounds unrealistic because of his name. But, wait, there’s more… A year afterward, have him … Read more

Character Infodumps

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Recently, in a weekly critique group that I belong to, I’ve seen several submissions where in the first few chapters, the author stops the story cold to provide description of a person, surroundings, or both. In one case, in the first chapter, the story stopped to get complete (multi-paragraph) backstories on six characters. Literally, we’re … Read more

Scene Comparison from Freedom’s Fires

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I’m working on a new novel, tentatively titled  Freedom’s Fires. Below is a scene that occurs early on. It’s main goal is to introduce the primary protagonist, Ryan Freeman. He’ll be one of three protagonist characters that the story will explore deeply. The scene’s secondary goal is to further introduce the reader to current living … Read more

Elevator Pitch, Part 4 of ?????

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Once again, I’m working on the elevator pitch to Shifting Mars’ Sands. The revision below more accurately reflect the contents of the story, hopefully highlighting the compelling aspects of it. Fresh off the end of her marriage contract, Gretchen Blake is unable to get archaeology work on Earth because her last dig leader refuses to … Read more

Story Engineering by Larry Brooks

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Recently, I finished a writing book, StoryEngineering, by Larry Brooks. This book isn’t some new fangled writing process that promises the writer a magic bullet to get the story published. There is no magic bullet. There’s only imagination, creativity, and hard work. I found that the book informative and engaging. His examples are practical and … Read more

An End, a New Beginning

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I’m overdue making a blog post. And after the last week (the terror in Boston and the tragedy in West, Texas), I don’t feel much like writing an entry. I wrote the below entry a couple of weeks ago, so I’ll put it up now. * * * At the beginning of April, I submitted … Read more

Completed! – Shifting Mars’ Sands Critique with Writers’ Group

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Yesterday, I completed a chapter-by-chapter critique of my novel. The picture below shows the Loudoun County Writers’ Group’s critiques of Shifting Mars’ Sands as well as my edits in preparation for each meeting. You may notice the yellow sheets of paper, which are hand rewrites of scenes that were too off base to edit in … Read more