by Jill Williamson | Sep 24, 2020 | Brainstorming, Discovery Writing, First Drafts, Go Teen Writers Books, Story Beginnings, Story Endings, Story Ideas, Story Middles, The Craft of Writing, Writing Life
Today is the day! We are revealing the book cover for Go Teen Writers: Write Your Novel. This is a book that Stephanie, Shannon, and I wrote for beginning writers. We know it’s hard to finish a first draft. We know it’s hard to stay motivated to write ONE...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 23, 2020 | Brainstorming, First Drafts, Scenes and Scene Structure, Story Structure, Writing
An outline is a general plan. For a novel, that can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. Some writers outline every single scene of their novel before they write. Some only outline a little bit. Some write a synopsis as an overview of the story they’re planning to...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 21, 2020 | Beginning Writer's Guide To Finishing A Novel, Editing, Scenes and Scene Structure
Let’s imagine that your manuscript as a garden. When you wrote your book, you put each seed in the soil where you imagine it should go. When finished, you took a break came back to a blooming garden (along with some weeds that somehow wound up in there!) The...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 18, 2020 | Brainstorming, Characters, First Drafts, Learning from Other Authors, Plot, Story Beginnings, Story Ideas, Story Structure
Brainstorming: Idea and Genre My stories always begin with a kernel of an idea. Something I’m intrigued by or curious about. When I’m in that early brainstorming phase, I tend to carry a notebook around with me everywhere. I try to come up with an original premise,...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 16, 2020 | Author Life
I had a bit of a crazy week, which included getting a teaching job offer (Hooray!), which meant I needed to rearrange to create a more visual home office (Eeep!), so I will be posting Friday instead of today. Because right now my chair is not anywhere near by desk....
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 14, 2020 | 100-for-100
We are super proud of everyone who signed up for this year’s 100-for-100 writing challenge. Just signing up for a writing challenge can take courage! Especially during a year of a global pandemic when many of us are facing extra uncertainty and stress. And these...
by Shannon Dittemore | Sep 11, 2020 | Characters, First Drafts, Writing
Side characters are a staple in stories of every kind, but some side characters are asked to be a little more involved in the protagonist’s journey. In order to reach the end goal, sometimes a hero needs a crew. A team. A squad. A company. A troop. Tolkien’s...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 9, 2020 | Author Life, Creativity, Encouragement, Learning from Other Authors, The Craft of Writing, Writing, Writing Life
My first year working in a public school brought to light many differences in how authors write fiction compared to how students write for school assignments. I asked my fourth graders, “How many sentences does a paragraph have?” They were quick to answer: “Five!”...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 7, 2020 | Writing
Today in the U.S. is Labor Day, a holiday that exists to mark the end of summer and give people a day off from their laboring. This year for our family, Labor Day marks the end of a looooooong weird season. The last day my kids went to school was March 12th, and they...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 4, 2020 | Editing, Guest Posts
Our guest today is McCall Hoyle! McCall is both a lovely writer and lovely human being. Because we had the same publisher and editor, I had the opportunity to hang out with her at two American Library Association conferences. And even though we’ve eaten several...
