From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted my novel Dark City to have a very strong sense of place. I wanted the city to be alive, like Camorr or The Shire or Sin City in the graphic novel series. I wanted my book to have a noir aesthetic, a kind of Gotham vibe. … Continue reading How to make a setting come alive
My novel Dark City (which you can read about here) is reaching the final stages. That means that right now, I’m waiting for a few beta readers to get back to me before I jump into the last round of edits. While I’m waiting, I’d like to start a new project, but I’m struggling to … Continue reading Finding the inspiration to start your novel
I've been a professional writer for about three years now. If you're curious what my typical workday looks like, I've done a guest post for Allie May at Hypergraphia. It contains, among other things, pictures of my cats, and a word I can't spell to save my life. Check it out here!
This post is the second in a series on writing effective character descriptions. In the first post, I studied a passage from Jim Butcher’s novel Storm Front. Today, I’ll be doing a careful reading of a character description from Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind. This excerpt is from near the beginning, and describes the … Continue reading How to describe characters: The Name of the Wind
One of my New Year's’ Resolutions for 2016 is to review more books. I’m doing this because reviews are an excellent way to support other authors, and we authors could use all the help we can get. If I love a book, I want to tell people about it, and I want the author to … Continue reading The importance of book reviews
Every writer gets the blues from time to time. You know what I mean: the pervasive feeling that what you’re writing isn’t any good. Even the best writers suffer from this ailment from time to time. Self doubt is part of the process but that doesn’t mean it’s fun. When I start to really struggle … Continue reading How to overcome the writing blues
Instead of dissecting the symbolism and thematic significance of a poem, this series is meant to be a practical discussion of what fiction writers can learn from poetry. Because a poem uses so few words, each word must be meaningful and carefully chosen to have the impact the poet desires. In The Love Song of … Continue reading Portraying character in fiction: Lessons from J. Alfred Prufrock
As I go about my days, I come across a plethora of helpful articles on writing and the publishing industry. I use a handy app called Pocket to save them all for when I get a chance to sit down and read them. Every so often I like to share the resources I’ve found. Here … Continue reading What’s in my pocket? Resources for writers!
Creating effective character descriptions can be difficult. You can bore the reader with too much description, but if it’s used effectively, it can be a powerful tool. In this example, Jim Butcher uses character description to build tension, illuminate his characters, set a consistent tone for the novel, and tell us about the protagonist. This … Continue reading How do I write effective character descriptions? (part 1)
The present tense is a controversial subject among writers. You’ll hear people who love it and people who vow never to read anything written with it. If you write present tense, however, you’re not keeping bad company. Haruki Murakami, John Updike, and Margaret Atwood have all written wonderfully in present tense. They’re not the only … Continue reading Should writers use the present tense?
Sarah Kay Moll 