Well, hello! Long time, no blog!
I will do my very very best to get back into consistent updates, but for now I give you two things of interest:
1. The Polish cover for Odd Girl In (that's right, we're going global!).
My Polish is a little non-existent, but the translation, I believe, is This Girl is a Little Strange.
2. Writing tips! If you follow me on Twitter (@JoWhittemore), you've noticed daily writing tips I've been posting. If you've missed any, here are the first 30 in Tweet form:
DWT#1: Write like life. Avoid adverbs. You don't say, "Man, I ate that cereal hungrily!" You say "Man, I DEVOURED that cereal."
DWT#2: Unless the way your character does a common task is unique, there's no need to describe it. We all know what getting dressed entails.
DWT#3: Even a hot guy gets the occasional booger. Don't make your characters perfect. We all have flaws, and that's what makes us relatable.
DWT#4: The original solution for your MC's core problem will never work as planned. Why? It's based on who they were BEFORE their journey.
DWT#5: Conflict arises from differing opinions. Opinion reveals character. Even if your MC doesn't understand enemy motives, YOU should.
DWT#6: Shocking revelations require foreshadowing to be believable. Leave the reader thinking, "Holy...! Of course!" and you've won a fan.
DWT#7: The key to a great opening is intrigue. What is different about THIS day in your character's life?
DWT#8: Characters needn't shout to convey emotion. A soft "I'm going to kill you" can have just as much impact as "I'm going to kill you!"
DWT#9: Characters are like flower buds: closed off at first, revealing more of themselves over time. How long? All the way until The End.
DWT#10: If we don't know where your character came from, why should we care where they're going? A little backstory, please!
DWT#11: People have distinct ways of talking. Take away every characters' speech tags. Does the dialogue all look the same? Fix it.
DWT#12: A character's observations should differ by age & gender. No 10-year-old boy is going to describe the window treatments in a house.
DWT#13: Pay attention to the passage of time. It might take you 15 minutes to write a convo but only 2 minutes for your characters to say it.
DWT#14: Everything on the page should enhance AND advance the story, including description. Use what you need to world-build, then stop.
DWT#15: All drama/action, all the time is exhausting, both for your character and your reader. Allow for moments of downtime/reflection.
DWT#16: When revising, start w/ a read-through for story flow. Mark places where it gets muddled. Why pick at lint when the dress is torn??
DWT#17: Character strength comes from character weakness. People don't watch how you deal w/ positive; they watch how you deal w/ negative.
DWT#18: Often we start strong w/ character habits/quirks, but we forget as the story takes over. Keep it up! Those quirks may come in handy.
DWT#19: Conversations don't occur in a movement-free void. Do YOU talk while remaining perfectly still? Add some actions for real...ism!
DWT#20: Your words beat a rhythm on the page. If a sentence feels off, add or subtract beats by trying words w/ different syllable counts.
DWT#21: Even if a subplot is for a secondary character (the BFF), it should still involve the MC in some way. If not, save it for a spinoff.
DWT#22: When solving a story problem, don't think like you; think like your character. How can his/her skills, friends, surroundings help?
DWT#23: Books don't have mood music, so your pacing & word choice set the tone. Intense action, for example? Short sentences, sharp words.
DWT#24: Antagonists don't have to be evil. They can simply be at odds with your main character's goal or striving for the same goal.
DWT#25: A story's conflict can be Man vs. Man or Nature or Society, but it will also always be Man vs. Self. Character growth, people.
DWT#26: Your character should have something worth fighting for. That something should be revealed in the first couple chapters.
DWT#27: You write w/ a child's voice, but do you write w/ a child's wonder? Every new life experience is an adventure. Don't gloss over it.
DWT#28: You don't need fancy segues between transitional scenes. Sometimes "The next morning..." works just fine.
DWT#29: Highlight these in your story:
THAT, JUST, START(ED) TO, BEGAN TO, DECIDED TO.
Most aren't needed.
START TO DECIDE TO delete them.
DWT#30: You can't have a final conflict without earlier conflicts. They don't have to be against the Big Bad, but they MUST happen.
Add a Comment