Category Archives: Balance
Overcoming Negativity Bias
As human beings and writers, we all struggle with maintaining a healthy balance between the positives and negatives of life. A disappointing review, a less-than-successful launch, critique feedback that wasn’t what we’d anticipated, a manuscript disfigured by an editor’s red strokes—it’s so easy … Continue reading
Personality Traits: Building a Balanced Character
If writing the Positive Trait & Negative Trait Thesaurus books have taught me anything, it is that compelling characters are neither good nor bad, perfect or fundamentally flawed. Instead, they are all of these things. Each has a set of … Continue reading
Emotional Description: 3 Common Problems with Show & Tell
Writing compelling emotional moments is the lifeblood of any story and the key to building a relationship between characters and readers. Yet steering clear of the show-don’t-tell pitfalls requires practice and skill. I’m reposting this from where it originally appeared … Continue reading
The Path To 10K In Sales: Strategy, Luck & Mistakes
I’ll admit my mind is blown knowing there are over 10,000 Emotion Thesaurus books out in the world. Becca and I are thrilled, and so appreciative to all the writers and teachers who took a chance on it. As aspiring … Continue reading
Do You Need a Social Media Intervention?
It’s drilled into us by the Publishing Powers That Be: platform, platform, platform. Embrace Social Media. Blog. Get on twitter. Engage. Network. Connect. Start early, think ahead, get a platform in place before the deal. And because we want to … Continue reading
Description 911: Over Expressed Emotions
Because this blog is all about flexing our descriptive skills, I wanted to touch on something I see from time to time when I critique: too much emotional showing. Emotions can be the most difficult to convey (this is why … Continue reading
Guest Post at Writer on the Side
Hey people! I’ve been working on a post idea that’s near and dear to my heart, but since Critterpalooza is still going strong and the cause is too good to be derailed, I’ve decided to accept Stasia Kehoe’s gracious offer and … Continue reading
Setting Description…Writing More Than Just What You See
Today’s Question: What is the best way to describe a place in a really special way, without sounding too visual? I like this question, because it’s what the Setting Thesaurus is all about. As writers, our first reaction is to … Continue reading
Seven Deadly Sins for Novel Writing: Sin #VII
Sin #7: TMI (Too much information) We’re all guilty of this sin at some point during the writing process. The trick is finding the correct balance by the time we reach the final draft. Nothing will turn off the reader … Continue reading
Seven Deadly Sins for Novel Writing Sin # VI
Sin #6: Dialogue Disaster Pick up any work of fiction and flip through it. In fact, flip through several. How much of the novel is dialogue? With the exception of a few genres or older works, I’m betting your estimate … Continue reading