The Next Steps in the Novel Challenge

Okay, in the last few days, we got the mechanical stuff set up for the novel. We’re about to really start our planning soon,…

Writing a log line for your novel

Loglines are essential to writing movies. There are entire books and seminars about writing log lines. Recently, I got a book from Writer’s Digest…

Getting your novel off to a right start

I’m of course always reading, studying, trying to improve. Experts tell us this is the character trait of a successful novelist and screenplay writer….

Starting your novel project in Scrivener

The first thing you’re going to do is get Scrivener, and then get the template. I’m probably going to try a mystery, because I’ve…

Six Important Keys to Scene Introductions

Years ago, when I was a kid, I remember my dad going off on intro lines to books. He made a big deal about…

Ten Essential steps you need to write your novel in one month

Sounds good, doesn’t it? What does it take to write a novel in a month? You and I just missed it, because Nanowrimo is…

Character Creation Sheets

Character Creation sheets run the gamut from “Name Height Weight Hair Color” to “At what age did your character first drink a soda?” I’m…

7 Common Dialog Traps Fiction Writers Must Avoid

One thing I have found out is that when you say, “They can’t teach me anything”, it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Even though…