Motherhood. Moving to a new state. Finishing the final draft of BEYOND THE GATE. These are things that have occupied my time in the last year. I say “the last year” because it has been, to my surprise, a year since I wrote a blog post. Time gets away from you when your life changes….
Active vs. Passive Voice
If you’ve ever written a research paper or essay, you’ve likely heard your English teacher mention active and passive voice. As an English major, this is one of the writing rules my friends ask me about the most. If you’ve ever been intimidated or confused by active and passive voice, you’re not alone. But never…
Overcoming a Lack of Motivation
I know I cannot be the only person who has been completely drained by the events of this year. No matter where you live on planet Earth, 2020 has been a tough contender. It’s no surprise that I have heard this phrase “lack of motivation” come from multiple people including myself. Even though many countries…
How I Planned My Novel: Step Away
National Novel Writing Month starts Sunday. It’s a big goal to write 50,000 words in 30 days. Even if you’re not participating, writing the first words or even the next words of story is a brave and worthy endeavor. You’ve been planning and preparing for so long, and now it’s almost time to start writing….
How I Planned My Novel: Schedule and Routine
Last time, we discussed adding extra supplemental materials like a glossary and maps to augment your story-writing. We’ve spent seven weeks talking about your story, but now it’s almost time to start writing. Before you do, I think you’ll thank yourself for setting out a writing schedule and routine. Set a reasonable schedule and routine…
How I Planned My Novel: Supplemental Materials
So far we’ve been talking about crafting a story — getting to know the characters, the story world, and planning out the plot structure. But before you get started writing your masterpiece, there is a different kind of preparation I think will help you tremendously. That’s the mental and organizational preparation that we’ll be talking…
How I Planned My Novel: Allies and Opponents
Supporting Characters We’ve talked about the protagonist and the antagonist — the hero and the villain, but as we all know, a story with only two characters is a little dry. I’m looking at you Waiting for Godot. A good story has a lot of characters, and all these characters should play a supporting role…
How I Planned My Novel: Antagonist
Hello, Halflings! I’m writing this, the fifth part of my HIPMN Series, on Hobbit Day! I started the day with crocheting and watching The Two Towers, and now, I think there is no better way to continue the day talking about the one character everyone loves to hate — the antagonist! Where would Frodo be…
How I Planned My Novel: Plot Structure
Last week, we talked about finding inspiration for your story’s setting or story world. This week, we’re looking at how I planned the plot structure of my novel. There are many ways to do this, but this is what I did. It may not work for you depending on how you learn, so try it…
How I Planned My Novel: Story World
Last week, I shared how I planned my protagonist based on my initial idea statement. Nora Clark happened organically from that statement, and this week, I’m sharing how my story world developed from there. Story World I knew I wanted to create a story world that would have a touch of realism even though it…
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