So, in December, I got an email letting me know that the WriYe boards were being refreshed for 2019, and it was a weird blast from the past. Do they send these emails out every year and I’ve just ignored
Epcot and Expectations
Happy Tuesday, squiders! I am so glad to be home! (Although I am behind on everything, but what else is new?) You see, last week we took the smallish, mobile ones to the most expensive happiest place on Earth. I
Why Science Fiction/Fantasy?
I was ditzing around the blog and discovered a variety of draft posts that never got written, for whatever reason. This is the earliest, from 2010, right after I started this blog up. No reason to let things sit around
Using Outlines for Revision
A lot of people consider outlines as something you need before you start writing your first draft, but I would argue that they’re a much more important tool for the revision phase of a project. That’s not to say that
2018 Books in Review
So, if you’ve been around for a while, squiders, you know it’s time for me to do my nerdy reading stats for the year before. This year I barely eked out my 50 books on the last day, whoops. Books
Looking Back at 2018 and Ahead at 2019
For the last few years, I’ve had a spreadsheet with a general idea of what I want to get done for the year and the general time frame in which I think it’s going to get done. There’s a lot
Types of Outlines (Part 3)
Soooo…hi? Sorry to leave you guys hanging for so long, but, alas, holidays and so forth. Now we’re getting into the really meaty outlines, meant for people who like to know exactly where their story is going and what is
Types of Outlines (Part 2)
Last week we discussed basic outlines, really more of a way to explore backstory and get a feel of your world and characters than a “true” plot-based outline. This week, we’ll get into more plot-focused outlining methods. Again, I’ll include
I Finished My Draft!
Hooray! Happy day! My space dinosaur story is done! Well, the first draft is. It will need some work, like most first drafts do. But structurally it’s in pretty good shape, which is frankly a miracle because pacing is not
Types of Outlines (Part 1)
All right, squiders! (Oh no, they’ve changed the blog interface and now I have to figure out where everything is again, argh.) Today we’re going to look at some basic forms of outlining (with examples) to give you an idea