Literary agent Donald Maass has a great post about the bigness of a novel on the Writer Unboxed blog. We’re all trying to write novels that resonate — that feel big to the reader — and Donald guides us what our books should have to create that bigness. As you might expect, it’s a lot…
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Revision update: Nada! I’m away on vacation, but I’m going to get back to it soon. Anita Nolan posted a link to character questionnaires from the Gotham Writers Workshop. They’re very useful, and I plan to bookmark the page, but it made me think of how we get to know our characters. I read about…
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Just a quick post today, because I don’t have much that I can add to the post I’m pointing you too. Upstart Crow Literary’s Michael Sterns posted a great list earlier this week from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers: “List of Attributes That Make a Good Children’s Book.” Reading these, you’ll probably say, “Yeah,…
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Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re celebrating. Although eating lots of turkey and stuffing, etc., is a good enough reason by itself to have Thanksgiving, I particularly like the spirit of being thankful. This year, more than ever, I’m grateful for writing. I’m grateful for the worlds I get to visit, the characters I come to…
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Revision update: Couldn’t get up early this morning, so nothing new. Oh well. Must do better tomorrow. Luckily, it’s a holiday. 🙂 I read a lovely interview with author Susan Patron today, on author Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s blog, and love that Susan originally got her inspiration from a laundry basket. (Susan is the author of…
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Revision update: I feel as though I’m finally making progress. Phew! I’ve revised the first 10 chapters and am happy with the changes I came up with. All in all, I’ve cut about 14 pages in my reworking so far, and I think the story is the better for it. I took the revised first…
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Revision update: I got some good stuff done today, and I feel like I’m finally getting a hang of these first few chapters, like things are finally starting to fit into place. Fingers crossed. My father-in-law is coming to stay with us tomorrow, so, naturally, tonight I was cleaning up. As I put away all…
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Revision update: Still slogging through the first eight chapters, this time with a fine tooth comb looking for word choices, etc. I’m also keeping an eye on Anita Nolan‘s series on beginnings on her blog. Yesterday she had tips to hook the reader, and the first was keeping them curious. This is a good tactic…
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Revision update: I got some good stuff done on Saturday, but nothing Sunday, and nothing yet today. Uh oh. I am still working on my beginning, the first eight chapters, which essentially makes up most of act one. Beginnings are very important, from the crucial first sentence, first paragraph and first page that must draw…
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Revision update: Too many late nights, and I haven’t moved forward. I must get up earlier tomorrow! Today, Day By Day Writer is thrilled to be participating in the blog of author Therese Walsh, who’s debut novel, The Last Will of Moira Leahy, was just released. Therese has written a fabulous guest post on research…
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