by Stephanie Morrill | May 4, 2022 | Description, Editing
Writing descriptions has never come naturally to me. My first drafts are very scant on any sort of description, and I have to work hard in edits to fill in those gaps. Stephen King has a great quote about description: “The key to good description begins with clear...
by Stephanie Morrill | Nov 10, 2021 | Editing
Shannon isn’t here today because she’s on the brink of turning in her edits for Winter 2 (SQUEAL!!!) and needs to focus on that. While I know many of you are focused on first drafts right now since it’s NaNo season, as I was thinking about articles...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 29, 2021 | Characters, Editing, First Drafts
I have a tendency to create overly large casts of characters. I never intend to do this, but I frequently have to spend time in edits pruning away needless people from my first drafts. One technique that has really helped me is to think through each character’s...
by Jill Williamson | Mar 17, 2021 | Editing, Grammar, Punctuation, The Craft of Writing, Writing Tools
Today I’m going to get nitty-gritty with some English grammar. A few years back I did a series of these types of posts that I called Punctuation 101. This led to my little book Punctuation 101. So, if you’re curious, check out some of those posts....
by Jill Williamson | Feb 17, 2021 | Climax, Editing, First Drafts, Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Mailbag, Plot, Story Structure
Today’s GTW Mailbag question comes from Isabella. She asks: Hello! Could you please write something on what a strong v.s. weak plot looks like, and what makes a strong plot? Also, how do you take a weaker plot, and make it stronger? Thanks! This is a great...
by Jill Williamson | Jan 20, 2021 | Creativity, Editing, First Drafts, Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Learning from Other Authors, Plot, Writing
Last fall, my husband stumbled upon a YouTuber that he greatly enjoys. His name is Ryan George, and he makes short Pitch Meeting videos for the Screen Rant YouTube channel that make fun of the plots of popular movies. You should check them out sometime. You’ll...
