by Shannon Dittemore | May 17, 2019 | Scenes and Scene Structure, The Craft of Writing, Writing
As a modern fiction writer, your words have to do some serious heavy lifting. Shorter attention spans combined with endless entertainment options mean that we have a very condensed amount of time to hook a reader. On top of that, it’s just good storytelling to ensure...
by Jill Williamson | May 15, 2019 | Author Life, Encouragement, Writing, Writing Life
Jill here. It’s been a wild few weeks for me! And I must confess that I did not reach my goals for The Patternmage. 🙁 I did not finish the draft by the end of April, so I could not send it to my agent. It’s still hanging out on my computer, waiting...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 13, 2019 | Author Life, Writing Life
Last Tuesday, we shared the winners from the 100-word challenge on Go Teen Writers. Since I’m the person who sends out all the emails with the feedback, I’m the only one who gets to see all the entries as well as the responses from both the first and...
by Shannon Dittemore | May 10, 2019 | Goals, Mailbag, Writing
Today we have a fantastic mailbag question! Please keep your writing and industry questions coming. There’s a link at the bottom of our home page just for questions like this. Jill, Steph and I take turn answering them and it gives us a feel for where the...
by Jill Williamson | May 8, 2019 | Fantasy, Setting, Speculative Fiction, World Building
I’ve been slowly working on making YouTube videos of my old storyworld building posts. This week’s video post is on building a history for your world. You can read the original blog post here. Are you stuck building your world’s history? Do you have...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 7, 2019 | Writing Competitions, Writing Contests
You’re maybe tired of hearing me say this, but we are truly SO PROUD of every single person who enters one of the writing contests. Entering a writing contest feels fun and exciting for some, but scary and vulnerable for many others. We’re proud of all of...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 6, 2019 | 100-for-100
Summer is upon us! Depending on your season of life, maybe that makes you think, “Excellent! I’ll have so much free time!” Or maybe, like me, you instead go, “Ack! All my time is going to disappear! My routine will be gone!” Either way,...
by Shannon Dittemore | May 3, 2019 | Brainstorming, Writing Exercise
Back by popular demand, I have another writing exercise for you all! Do you know why I love writing exercises? Because introducing you to an exercise is like handing you a tool. My hope is that in trying a variety of exercises, you’ll find a few that work well...
by Jill Williamson | May 1, 2019 | Brainstorming, First Drafts, Mailbag, Plot, Story Structure, Writing
Before I answer today’s GTW Mailbag question, I just have to thank those of you who supported my Kickstarter. It is over this Friday, but it is not only already fully funded, we made the stretch goals to record ALL THREE AUDIO BOOKS! ♥ ♥ ♥ I am so excited, I can...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 29, 2019 | 100-for-100, Writing Contests
I’m excited to announce that the top 15 finalists from this round’s 100-word contest are (in alpha order): Amelie Johnson Ashley Schaller BeccaDLF Chalice Sleep Em Elizabeth Hadley Grace Hannah White Isaiah Myers K.J. Haakenson Katelyn Coker Kiersten...
