Libby Drew

Thank you. Eric is astute. Just a little damaged.

He is!

It's shocking to me how many people have never been on one.

It was probably me. It's usually me.

The story is there to push the characters along, the characters are there to guide and focus the story. Yep. Exactly. Flip flopping or having things happen without any prior set up or reason can be a bewildering experience for your readers, since they may not know the story like the back of your hand like you do. This part can get away from me from time to time, since I don't usually write a word until the players are fully formed and fleshed out in my head. I know my characters intimately, but as I work to make them known to the reader, I have to be careful not to omit relevant information about their thoughts, actions and motivations. Thanks for another great article.

Getting started now. It will definitely give Michael something to think about. Thanks for reading.

Me too. Everyone deserves a vacation now and again. 😉

Yeah, I think Pete is well aware of what's happening. But time will tell...

Eric had said once that he was an optimist, and Michael saw it more and more with each passing day. It left him part ashamed and part envious, that a person could reach such an age without the bitterness and lessons of the world beating him down at least a few notches. Or maybe the world had tried, and Eric was just indefatigable. Caught up in his thoughts, Michael didn’t notice they’d arrived until Eric turned the key and the engine died. He blinked, looking around. “Where are we?” “F

Writing: This was a hard one to teach my kids, because the desire to want to please and belong is partly innate. But living your life for others is neither fun nor healthy. Writing is the same. For each person you worry about pleasing, deduct 1% in quality from your writing. Don’t worry. No one stays at 100%. These days, I usually deduct 5-10% right off the top. (It used to be much higher. Thank you, formulaic fiction industry.) So who am I worried about now? All sorts of folks. People I don’t want to offend. People I want to please. Internet trolls. The list changes depending on the topic. I suppose that puts my recent writing projects at about 90% of the quality they could be. But I believe most people write at something around 40-50% quality. They’re concerned with saying what they think the world wants to hear. At having their characters do what’s proper and expected. At having their stories move in directions their audience approves of. So, this is my two cents for Sunday’s blog post: Stop doing that. Your friends, family, fans, clients, coworkers, etc. will love you more if you’re honest with them. Just as they would in life. Write what your brain and heart demand. Stand behind it. Know you can’t please everyone, nor should you try. Create your truth. Life: You know you’ve married your soulmate when you see a sign like this, and he offers to go down to the boutique, buy a bikini, and wear it to the restaurant, just to challenge some BS prejudiced convention this funny rule. Love you, babe.

Another great article, packed with good advice. There are times to edit and times to just let the thoughts flow. For those who can do both at once, I admire you. But mostly, creating is a multi-step process, and letting the scene flow onto the page while your inner editor takes a break might be the most important tactic of all. If there is anybody who isn't familiar with NaNoWriMo (-About | NaNoWriMo ), the model reinforces exactly what @Comicality is referring to above: getting the whole story on the page (at least 50,000 words in 30 days in this case), with little emphasis on content or SPAG editing. I've created a half a dozen novels this way, including Paradox Lost. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts. Very helpful!

So true. He really does.

Thank you! So glad you are enjoying it.

You just have to wait and see. ☺️

Two weeks of heaven. There might have been a time in his childhood when Michael had lived such a string of perfect days, but he couldn’t remember when specifically. He slept deeply and went to work with a smile on his face. The hours in between belonged to Eric. The following Thursday marked the end of his night turn, and he woke that afternoon looking forward to three days of freedom. Anticipation of a different sort had him pulling into the museum at barely three o’clock. “You’

Cute. In a creepy looking way. It does sound Mayan.

Thank you for reading them! And for the lovely compliment. 😊

I agree completely. 😊

It can be hard to break out of a mold like that, but perhaps he can. Thanks, as always, for commenting.

You have no proof these gentlemen aren't bendy.

Back in the day, thousands of people had called Hickory home. And there had been a hierarchy to go along with that population. Blocks and blocks of cookie-cutter American Foursquares, built barely ten feet apart, lined the steep streets that cut away from the southern end of the valley floor. Most of the roads had been brick-lined. Some still were, but the majority had been covered in asphalt decades ago. On the north side of town, the main drag gave way to wider, tree-lined avenues, filled

I, too, and waiting on chapter 2! That was awesome, and a really brilliant idea, actually. It sounds like something a poor college kid would do!

Great article. Thanks! I think writing the recent past is actually more difficult in some ways simply because there are people who are alive today who remember it for what it was. Your Stranger Things reference is a perfect example. That show was pure nostalgia for me, with just the right amount of detail to make it relatable. I'm sure it was for many people. But nobody today will have that connection about life two hundred years ago. So unless the reader is a history buff or professor (or time traveler 😉), the occasional inconsistency is easier to get away with. Not that research can be put by the wayside. This... The key is to have just enough era influence to give your story a certain flair and dated feel...but still keep those unifying core elements of storytelling present that will appeal to anyone watching, whether they have a personal attachment to the time period or not. sums it up perfectly.

"Why is your underwear in the swimming pool?" So THAT'S where I left it. Now you have to comment here on how to say it in German, because I need to know.

Thank you!