Now that I’ve eliminated my intrusive voice, coaxed the plots and subplots to play nicely together, gotten control of pacing, and overcome my hesitance with love scenes, it’s time to complete the set of revision artifacts (outline and scene notes) for moving the plots toward their climaxes. I was very excited about getting to this […]
Flying down the freeway one cool June morning, we laughed and talked, enjoying each other’s company. It was my first trip through the mountains to his favorite beach. He decided to take the scenic route and turned off onto a beautifully picturesque two lane road. It was charming – until we reached the mountains. Far […]
I’m very excited. I’ve figured out how to make the sometimes revered, sometimes scorned, always discussed writer’s tool work for me. You know the one – the outline. I’d only begun using it because my editor advised that it was the next step for revising the story he’d critiqued. Now I’m outlining because it is […]
I’m sure that many of you will agree that inspiration comes from everywhere. Truly – it does. For example, the original thought for the scene that has become the short story, ‘Second Best’, came from watching a cat stalk a bird in our back yard. The cat wasn’t much more than a kitten and I […]
That’s the question I’m being asked after posting ‘Second Best’. It seems there are those who think I’ve given away the plot of my next novel. Yes, there is a murder – but it is the catalyst for the plot, not the crux of it. So I have to answer. No, no, no – nothing […]
These scenes were in my new novel. I found that removing them tightened the focus of the story. They are hugely relevant as backstory. I am happy to present them as a short. —————————————————- Today I’ll get him. Curtis waited and watched; his excitement feeding on the anticipation of long overdue revenge. Gonna shoot his […]
Dialogue. There are, I’m sure, millions of words written about it on thousands of sites across the net. Well here’s my five hundred words or so. 🙂 Why now? Because I’ve reached the first major dialogue scene in the first chapter of my new novel. Conversation starts early in the new book. First in the prologue, […]
At my keyboard, trying – and failing – to get back on track with SP2. Lots of writing – all false starts. Even so, I don’t throw anything away. I just file it in a folder labeled ‘FalseStarts’. I pace, I walk, I try to amuse myself with inane games, nothing works. Then I hear […]
