by Jill Williamson | Jan 30, 2019 | Creativity, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
I made a new video! It’s been too long, partly because these videos are super time consuming. First, I must record them. And since I make many mistakes, I have to record several takes. Then I must edit the video into one coherent piece. This is sometimes easier...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jan 28, 2019 | Editing, Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Getting Published, Plot, Story Structure, Writing, Writing Life
Looking for the earlier posts? Click here for part one and click here for part two. The last couple weeks we’ve been addressing the question, “How do you know if your book works as a whole?” Links for parts one and two are up above, but as a very...
by Shannon Dittemore | Jan 25, 2019 | Author Life, Creativity, Productivity, The Craft of Writing, Writing Life
We are creatures of comfort, aren’t we? Especially when we’re tasked with doing something that stretches us. If we’re going to run a marathon, we need sneakers that fit perfectly and shorts that don’t rub in all the wrong places. When we’re going on a long road trip,...
by Jill Williamson | Jan 23, 2019 | Goals, Productivity, Writing Life
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural meeting of the Willamette Writers Vancouver Chapter. Our guest speaker was author Sage Cohen, and she gave us so much wisdom that touched on the things I’ve been writing about this past month, I wanted to...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jan 21, 2019 | Antagonists, Brainstorming, Characters, Plot, The Craft of Writing, Writing
(Did you miss part one? You can find it here.) This second part of this series is what I believe is the most critical component of if a story works or not: Character Motivation. Do you have plot holes? A theme that isn’t resonating? Flat characters? My guess is...
by Shannon Dittemore | Jan 18, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Writing Life
“Have you always wanted to be a writer?” When I’m out and about, doing author events, this is the question I get most often. It’s understandable; we all like to see lifelong dreams realized. It inspires hope in us, that the things we’ve always longed for...
by Jill Williamson | Jan 16, 2019 | Author Life, Writing Life
This year my life will change (I hope). If I get into grad school, I’ll then attend school, which means classes, student teaching, and trying to squeeze in my writing where I can. Some weeks and months, that will make writing (including blogging here on Go Teen...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jan 14, 2019 | Brainstorming, First Drafts, Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Plot, Writing Life
It’s funny to me that sometimes I start a blog post thinking, “I’ve learned this cool thing, and I want to tell others!” And other times, like today, I start a blog post thinking, “I wonder what I have to say about this.” As it...
by Shannon Dittemore | Jan 11, 2019 | Author Life, Creativity, Productivity, Writing Life
Hello 2019! A couple weeks back, Jill, Steph and I talked about our goals for the year—for ourselves, yes, but mostly for Go Teen Writers. The word “joy” came up a lot, and as one year turned into the next, I began to hear the word everywhere. After a very hard 2018,...
by Jill Williamson | Jan 9, 2019 | First Drafts, Writer's Block
Ideas have never been a problem for me. I have an entire file cabinet full of them. The problem is, I can’t write books as quickly as I get new ideas. And I love, love, love so many of my ideas. To keep from having a brain meltdown, I make folders for the ideas...
