Avoiding Emotional Cliches

I came across this great piece of advice from Anne R Allen’s great blog. How to Avoid Cliched Emotional Responses We’ve all fallen into the trap at least once. Cliches are easy and sometime our brains just don’t have anything more to say about something. One of my favorite things is to mix up the……

5 Writing Rules I’ve Learned…

This is another one from the old RSS feed.  This post comes from Dena Dyer at the Wordserve Writer Cooler. These are all lessons I have learned though unlike the author of the post I learned them from other sources. Still I like the idea of learning from other media. I know much of my style and……

Developing Your Voice

While going through my RSS feed I came across this guest post on the Killzone.com blog. 10 Key Essentials for an Authentic YA (or Adult) Voice Developing a convincing voice is essential to your success as a writer. This article contains 14 tips that if followed will help you develop a natural voice that instantly……

Bending Time

I was reading and enjoying Melissa Marr’s spooky novel Graveminder when I came across several flashbacks. I had an idea that these events were in the past but to help that along the author chose to set them off by using italics. I have I already posted in here about my dislike of the overuse of……

Are Your Bad Guys Bad Enough?

I am sitting in my office thinking on how busy I’ve been this summer and looking at a poster on my wall. The poster is from a video game released in 2005 for the Sony Playstation 2 called Shadow of the Colossus. The premise of the game is that you control a boy who must……

Tips for Surprising Your Readers

When I read, I envision each sentence as a path carved out by the author. The path twists and turns and along the way I encounter different sights, sounds, emotions, actions. I stay on the path until I reach the end of the story, which usually coincides with the end of the path. This is……

Critequing the Critueqe Group

While strolling through my RSS feed I came a cross this article on Killzone. “Getting pecked to death:Are critique groups worth it?” I had the joy and pleasure of being part of an excellent critique group while I was living in Connecticut. They name of the group was Pentimentos and we met every other Wednesday……

Advice From a Master

This post came across my Facebook Newsfeed from the Lovecraft eZine. H.P. Lovecraft’s Advice to Aspiring Wirter’s, 1920 Lovecraft’s first point is the recognition of what judicious reading can do for the aspiring author. I would go so far to say that if you consider yourself a writer but right now are not in the middle of……

Using Depth to Make Your Scenes Vivid

I came across this item: 8 Ways to Add Layers of Depth to Your Scenes from The Kill Zone. One of the best compliments I ever received about my writing was that my world was so real. I pay a lot of attention to the scenes I create and have used some of the techniques mentioned in……

Start Your Blog – Grow Your Platform

This article came to me via one of my fellow Inkslingers, thank you Gale. I found it a great resource for writers just starting a blog or even those looking to refresh their current blog. I have heard many writers ask, “Where do I start with a blog?” The simple answer is, you start with the content. What do……