by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 29, 2010 | Uncategorized
A writer e-mailed me to ask, “How much of a plot do you need to write a book?”As writers, we tend to put books in one of two categories – plot driven or character driven. We consider books like The Da Vinci Code to be plot driven. I’m totally...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 24, 2010 | Uncategorized
I watch a lot of shows geared toward kids these days. As an adult, it feels like they’re beating you over the head with the message. Sharing. Team Work. How to be a good friend. Don’t hit, use your words. And so on.Your book should have a message too, but...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 22, 2010 | Uncategorized
A writer e-mailed me to ask, “How do you make time for writing with such a busy schedule?”I have yet to come across a writer for whom this isn’t an issue. And that includes professional writers as well. So whatever fantasies you may have about,...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
If you’re anything like me, this doesn’t come naturally. And it became especially difficult once I started learning writing rules because I didn’t want to break a single one of them. I wanted to be perfect from the get-go so editing would be a...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 15, 2010 | Uncategorized
I think this is a tougher question than meets the eye. We can talk a lot about stellar writing and larger than life characters and interesting plot. But sometimes it’s hard to express in words what makes a story work.This has been on my mind a lot because I just...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 10, 2010 | Uncategorized
Some writers appear to be completely addicted to craft books. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I often find myself reading the same advice over and over. A craft book has to really say something special to me, has to really motivate, for me to buy it and...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 8, 2010 | Uncategorized
Instead of doing my usual Tuesday thing, which is to address a question from one of you guys, today I’m asking the question. How do you choose character names?For me, character names are just kind of a feel, and I use all kinds of methods. Even within the same...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
Little annoys me more in a book than authors who tell me something they could easily show me. Or possibly worse is telling me alongside showing me. This is a silly example, but it’s the book I’ve read most recently, and it’ll work.In – er...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jun 2, 2010 | Uncategorized
While in a conversation with a GTW writer, I told them how awesome it was that they were taking classes in fiction writing. They said, “I wonder sometimes if all these courses might be stopping the ‘natural flow’ of my books, making them sound stiff,...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 25, 2010 | Uncategorized
With everyone busy with finals and end-of-the-school-year stuff, questions have been down, so I’m picking a question.At school visits, I’ve often been asked, “How do you write a book?”People tend to think if you’re gifted with writing,...
