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Featuring everything new and experienced authors need to develop creative and technical skills. Check out writing development articles, our Word of the Day, writing prompts, anthology opportunities and more!

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Writing Tips - Skills

Guidelines

Now...I know that there are authors out there (or artists of every kind, to be honest) who hear the word 'guidelines' and go into a state of immediate shock, shaking their fist like, "Oh nooooo! They're gonna try to take control and limit my artistic freedom! Don't put me a box!" Hehehe, I'm happy to say that I've never really been one of those people. That's not to say that I want to sellout or have my creative abilities to be bound and gagged in order to fit into a mold that was built by
Writing Tips - Skills

Word Connotations

One of the things that I regret from years ago was my complete inability to understand the language barrier or even the casual slang that people used in their emails or comments when giving me feedback to the newest chapters of stories that I put online. Hehehe, so my apologies if I misunderstood certain phrases or expressions of personal wit and took it as an insult or a criticism. Trust me, I don't do that anymore. Weird, right??? Comsie matured? Say it ain't so, Joe! LOL! Well...not
Writing Tips - Skills

Work Environment

For this article, I'm probably one of the LAST people that should ever claim to be an expert on this sort of thing! LOL! My room is a hot mess! And probably always will be! But I've got a few goodies to pass along your way, if any of you are interested! Hopefully, I can drop a few gems in your lap, and it'll help in the long run! So let's travel back down the rabbit hole, shall we? The thing is, most (if not all) think of writing as merely being a cerebral experience. And in a lot of
Comicality

Comicality in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

That First Paragraph

"I hadn't even realized how much trouble I had gotten myself into...until I felt that first punch land directly on the side of my left cheek...sending me reeling back against the high school lockers. I really should learn to keep my mouth shut." Now, I'm going to assume what the heck is going on with those past few sentences. Hehehe! Rightfully so. What is going on? Who just got punched in the face? Who hit him? And WHY? Well, as I've said in earlier articles, the answer from me as a writer
Writing Tips - Skills

Revisions

There are so many times when I look back at my older stories, or even just older chapters of stories that I started years ago that I'm currently working on...and there are SO many things that I wish I had changed or done differently. Details that I could have added, 'wordy' and repetitious sections that I wish I had edited out for the sake of brevity and a more potent race to the point, or mistakes that I should have corrected before putting it out there for people to read. Sometimes, I blame th
Writing Tips - Skills

Pacing

If I was in the back seat of a taxi (Or an Uber)...and the driver took a couple of suspicious left or right turns without asking me, or had a shortcut that I didn't quite recognize...my first question would be, "Hey, where the hell are you taking me? What's happening here?" If the driver was racing down the streets at breakneck speeds, or if they were slowing around as if I had all damn day to get where I wanted to go...I would be thrown off, and probably pretty frustrated. When it comes to
Writing Tips - Skills

Getting Started 2021

A big, heartfelt, hug to all of you fellow writers who tuned in today, right here, at Gay Authors! Welcome to a new brand new flurry of writing articles that I hope will be useful to all of you who are already massively talented in everything that you do, but are ambitious enough to still search for an added edge wherever you can find one! And also for those of you who are looking for that little 'push' that might get you started on your first project! Honestly, I'm no expert on any of this
Writing Tips - Skills

Moments

So...I want you all to take a few seconds, and think about your life in it’s entirety. Your entire life, as a whole. Childhood, adolescence, adulthood. How do you envision it in your mind? Do you think about that day you picked up some extra eggs and milk from the grocery store? Do you think about the night you sat on the couch and watched TV for six hours straight? Or maybe you’re thinking about that gas bill you paid, or that time you got a parking ticket? Hehehe, you might be, I don’t kn
Writing Tips - Skills

Don't Listen to Me

Welcome back, you guys! My apologies for the extended break with new weekend articles, but ‘life’ was calling in a major way. Not to mention that I needed some time to come up with more valuable topics to talk about. I always want to give everything my best effort. So, no ‘fluff’ if I can help it. Hehehe! But I’m glad to be back to sharing some of my little lessons with you all. Spread the word, tell a friend! Now then, that being said...when it comes to writing advice... Don’t listen
Writing Tips - Skills

Context

And then the pig drop kicked the goat into a meat grinder, and finally...he could rest easy, knowing that justice was served! Hahaha, WHAT??? Does that make much sense? Does it have any impact at all? I'm willing to bet that you guys are quite confused. Hehehe! As you should be. (Unless you're not...in which case, you should seek psychiatric help immediately...) Who? What? When? Where? Why? These are all questions that every writer should be prepared to answer in their projec
Writing Tips - Skills

Painting Yourself Into a Corner

You know, when I started the Comicality Library on Voy (http://www.voy.com/17262/), I found out that even when I tried to alter the length of the posts that were acceptable...my chapters were still a little bit too long to fit within the confines of the space that I was given. And I didn't want to put 85% of a chapter in one post, and a measly 15% in the second post, just to split them up to make them fit. That would have looked weird. And, to me, looking weird is bad presentation. As Stan
Writing Tips - Skills

Things and Stuff

Adjectives... The simple act of using extra words to further describe the sights, sounds, and feels, of the picture that you're trying to paint for your audience. A single adjective can change the whole perspective of the current scene that your readers are engaged in at the moment. For example, let's say they walk into their bedroom and there's a body laying in their bed. Ok, so what does that mean? The truth is...it can mean a LOT of things. An adjective will set the tone for th
Writing Tips - Skills

Suspension of Disbelief

It's a part of every story that you've read. A part of every movie you've ever seen. Hell...it might even be a part of the people that you come into contact with each and every single day when you go to school or to work. There's no way around it...at least to some degree. Hehehe, can you imagine what ind of existential crisis you'd be throwing yourself into if you couldn't get yourself to believe that any of this is real? How would you function in any effective way at all? This is all
Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: Those Pesky Words

Those Pesky Words by Cia I was having a discussion with an author the other day about words. Why do we pick the ones we use when we write? What should the focus be on, the words themselves or they image they are meant to convey? When I first started writing, I used a lot of formal language. For example, from my first story, The Price of Honor: The strange color registered with his consciousness but he continued to stare blankly about, trying to process the abrupt disloca
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: Research

Many of you noticed the little faux pas I made in the beginning of yesterday's blog. Oops. Well, I received some interesting feedback over it, including a shoutout to this little gem, so I thought I would share.... Cia on Research... So, I read an ebook recently. Big surprise there, lol. Several things jumped out at me as I read it that let me know that the writer was definitely NOT a resident of the state they set it in. Not only did they describe the summer weather as humid, whi
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip Joke

How about a Blast From the Past? This was printed in our 2007 Vol2 Ed 4 Newsletter under Jokes: How To Write Good 1. Avoid alliteration. Always. 2. Never use a long word when a diminutive one will do. 3. Employ the vernacular. 4. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc. 5. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary. 6. Remember to never split an infinitive. 7. Contractions aren't necessary. 8. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos. 9. One shoul
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: The Essential Writer's Reference

Today you are being brought a book selection. The Essential Writer's Reference is an outstanding resource if you can get your hands on one. They do come used, and very cheap. If you would like more books for writers, both old and new, there is a thread in the writer's corner where they can be found. The Oxford Essential Writer's Reference Berkley Press, 2005. This is an excellent writer's reference that is current and more relevant to the task of creative writing than the Little, Bro
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

0
Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: Head Hopping

How To Recognize a Head Hop Some of you may be asking, what exactly do you mean by a “head hop”. Head hopping is something that many of us have been accused of at one time or another. In this lesson we are going to look at how to recognize a head hop and ways in which to correct it. What is a head hop? A head hop is when you have a chapter or story that is from one characters point of view but you find that you have unintentionally included things such as thoughts of another character.
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: Revisiting "on-Hold" Stories

Revisiting "On-Hold" Stories By Renee Stevens As a writer, many of us may find times when we get stuck. Maybe we push a story to the back-burner and think, ‘oh, I’ll go back to it later.’ Then the time comes and we realize that we have no idea exactly where we want the story to go. Here’s just a few tips that might just help you get past the block and finish up some of those on-hold stories. Tip #1: When you finish a story and are trying to decide what to work on next, go back t
Trebs

Trebs in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: Author Advice

Tip Tuesdays is being lead off with a short article written by one of the hardest working editors on the site, Sharon. In the future, on Tuesdays, you can look forward to writing, editing, site, or other tips that we think you may find useful. If you have something you would like to share, drop a PM and let me know.   Good for you! But take it from a veteran editor and reader, it takes more than the desire to put pen to paper. Or keys to screen. Trust me…it took me two days to write t
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writing Tip: Structuring & Punctuating Dialogue

Everyone who has ever tried to pass eighth grade knows what a pain grammar can be, and one of the worst things in my personal opinion is punctuating dialogue. As many of you know, Cia edits for me, and one of her favorite things to do is smack me around for not putting proper punctuation around my speech tags. So, in honor of my favorite fallacy she agreed to educate everyone – enjoy! Important rules about structuring and punctuating dialogue: Definition of a speech tag: Any descriptiv
Lugh

Lugh in Writing Tips - Skills

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Writing Tips - Skills

Writer Evolution

There's an old proverb out there that basically says, "Instead of waiting on your greatness...understand that it is your greatness that is waiting on you." What does that mean, exactly? Well, I've always thought of it as a way to say that you always have a much higher goal to reach for, and you simply can't get there by being 'comfortable' with whatever it is that you're doing right now. Does that mean that there's anything wrong with what you're doing right now? Of course not. Take your ti
Writing Tips - Skills

Emote Control

And here we are, distinguished ladies and gentlemen! This is officially the 50th article in the 'Comsie Rambles On' series! Hehehe! I just want to take a quick second to thank you all for the likes and comments, and for offering your own touches and advice on the topics being discussed. I'm still learning too! So I love to see them! And now...let's take the first step taken towards Article #100!!! This weekend's topic took some extra effort, trying to figure out how to put it into words th
Writing Tips - Skills

Writer Confidence

The biggest trick that any writer can pull off when it comes to their finished product...is making it look like writing is easy. Hehehe, getting your readers to think that you just sat down at a keyboard with a cup of tea or coffee, and tapped into some level of genius to type something out from beginning to end. (Cue snickers and laughter from the writing community.) Obviously, this isn't true. Sure, it becomes easier through practice and discipline, and we get used to the habit of ex
Writing Tips - Skills

Taking Notes

As many of you guys already know, I grew up being a fan of Stephen King's writing. Something about it creeped me out, but more importantly...it spoke to me. The setting, the characters, the almost claustrophobic feel of the events taking place...I could feel it as if it was really happening at that very moment. So, I was, and still am, a fan. I remember watching an interview with him once as he was talking about his writing process, and he was asked if he actually sat down and took 'notes'
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