This week, we’re sharing what we’d wished we’d known when we started writing. It’s a hard question. While I tell people I didn’t start writing seriously until about age 36, I’m realizing that’s not really true. The first story I remember writing, all the way from start to finish, was a pirate adventure. I wrote it when I was nine, I think. I can’t remember the details, but there was…
I have long been a hoarder of quotes. I keep files and files full of them, some organized by theme, some separated by source. I genuinely miss the days when I could show them off and use them to express my current mood in AIM away messages or in LiveJournal subject lines. This week, the Debs are sharing some of our favorite quotes about writing, books, stories, all of that….
Are you struggling to come up with cool, original names for your characters? Here are some solutions. If you’re writing about your family members and you don’t want them to know, switch their names around. For example, if you have a husband named David and a dog named Tucker, reverse them. Have a toxic ex-boyfriend in your life? Cleanse yourself by naming the worst person in the entire fictional universe…
This week’s topic is about the Debs’ fears when it comes to someone reading our books. Besides the “please don’t hate my book” fear, I’ve got a big bag of fears as both a fiction and nonfiction author. I’ve got a few books in the works. Next year the follow up to BECOMING BONNIE releases. That one, called BEING BONNIE, is also fiction and completes Bonnie Parker’s story, diving into…
Many years ago, I wrote a novel that takes place in Longview, Texas. It was originally titled RODNEY PEED, but I changed the name for obvious reasons. The novel remains “in the drawer,” and although I know it’s flawed, I really do hope one day to rework it. As part of our week on “scenes that didn’t make the cut,” I present to you the opening of my unpublished novel, SEPARATE…
This week’s guest to the Debutante Ball is Katherine Sherbrooke, the author of the novel, FILL THE SKY (SixOneSeven Books) and a family memoir, Finding Home. She is also the proud owner of the Hemingway House writing retreat in SouthEastern MA. She lives outside Boston with her husband, two sons and black lab. Her novel, FILL THE SKY is about three dear friends, one whose cancer has exhausted the reaches of…
This week the Debs are going to talk about one of our most favorite topics, books! I have been reading since the age of two, which may seem a bit ridiculous, but it’s true. I was never one for dolls as a child. I wanted to read, to explore the world through stories. Throughout my life, I have always sucked down books like they were candy. On average, I read…
I’ve heard it said that all writing is autobiographical. Even if you’re not writing the true story of your own life, the assumption goes, you’re inflicting your life experiences on the people you make up, or writing their relationships to mirror your own. One way or another, your purportedly fictional story is really a blueprint of your own darkest desires, fears, and memories. It’s true that many fiction writers do…
(This discussion assumes you’re writing in first or close-in third points of views. That is, you’re filtering the story though one or more characters’ worldviews.) I’ve been thinking about how description gets a bum rap in many corners of the fiction world, especially in my world of crime, thriller and suspense writing. Even my mom wants nothing to do with description. My mom! (By the way, she’ll never read Kilmoon….
As a novice writer, especially one in search of an agent, we swallow every writing and industry rule hook, line, and sinker. It’s understandable when we’re dying to get our foot in the door. And sure, most of those standards exist for a reason, but those books that BREAK OUT, often break the laws of fiction. I’ve stomped all over plenty of rules, just like Natalia. (See her Tuesday post…
