by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 6, 2020 | The Craft of Writing, Writing
Like every being of light, Canaan hates fear. It has little effect on him, but humans can’t make such a claim. Only Celestial eyes can see it for what it is. Black and thick. Like tar, but icy and alive. It clings and oozes. It weighs down its victims until they are...
by Shannon Dittemore | Jan 24, 2020 | Author Life, Characters, Encouragement, Writing Life
I have a gold medal in puppetry. It’s not something that makes the author bio, but my years spent entertaining children taught me a lot about storytelling. Puppets are a useful tool for teaching children, and the reason is simple. One of the best ways to learn...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jul 8, 2019 | Characters
I’m home from Alaska, but I got in VERY late last night! This week’s post is part two of last Monday’s post. Before we talk about how to go about changing your characters at the heart level, I want to touch on how the logical path that we talked...
by Stephanie Morrill | Jul 1, 2019 | Brainstorming, Characters
I’m still in Alaska, so here is another post from the archives! One of the biggest struggles of starting a new story is feeling like you don’t know these characters yet. Just like how in real life there’s no way to magically understand someone the...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 22, 2019 | Antagonists, Characters, First Drafts, The Craft of Writing
**Today is the last day to enter the 100-word contest! Get your entries in by 9pm central. Details here.** Recently, I’ve come across something in a few different young adult and middle grade books that’s bothered me: The child character is absolutely...
by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 8, 2019 | Characters
Happy Friday, all! I am off on an adventure today with my husband. We’re celebrating 17 years of marriage this weekend, so if I’m slow to reply to comments, I’m sure you’ll understand. The post below is a reprise–originally published here...
by Jill Williamson | Feb 6, 2019 | Writing
*This is a Retro Rewrite of some posts I wrote in 2013 and 2017.How do you come up with names for the characters in your books? Do you make them up on the spot? Do you name them after people you know? There are lots of ways to find lists of first or last names for...
by Jill Williamson | Jul 18, 2018 | Summer Panels
We’re back with S.D. Grimm. Before we get to today’s question, I want to tell you about about her Children of the Blood Moon series. Scarlet Moon is the first book in that series. I own this book (it’s gorgerous!), and it’s been hovering right...
by Jill Williamson | Feb 21, 2018 | Brainstorming, Characters, Grow An Author, Writing
Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books in lots of weird genres like fantasy (Blood of Kings and Kinsman Chronicles), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). She has a...
by Shannon Dittemore | Feb 2, 2018 | Writing
Shannon Dittemore is the author of the Angel Eyes novels. She has an overactive imagination and a passion for truth. Her lifelong journey to combine the two is responsible for a stint at Portland Bible College, performances with local theater companies, and an...
