So, not too long ago, I was going through my Twitter followers and putting them into lists because I’d become overwhelmed by my feed (stream? why do I suck at knowing social media terms?) and hadn’t really touched it in
On the Fence with Nano
After Tuesday’s post, some of you guys asked why I was waffling on Nano. The answer gets lengthy, so I thought it’d be easier to just post it here and then everyone can be enlightened at once. I’ve done Nano
Using Nanowrimo for Second (and Future) Drafts
It’s October, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, Squiders, which means that writing communities everywhere have started to panic about the upcoming National Novel Writing Month. In one of my writing communities, a friend is debating working on a second draft
Stealing Mythology
Oh, Squiders, I love mythology. You guys know that. My friends know that. My family knows that. My husband definitely knows that because every time we go anywhere I come home with new folklore books. As a writer, mythologies never
With Great Technology Comes Great Responsibility
Good day, Squiders. I am out of town this week, and originally I was just going to abandon you to your own devices, but then a friend offered to guest post for me. So aside from this, you will actually
Troublesome Characters
Last week I was flailing around, trying to figure out what I should write about, and a friend on Twitter suggested I write about troublesome characters. Here’s the thing, though. Writing is a highly complex art, with many necessary skill
Creating New Worlds
I was out with some of the guys from my speculative fiction writing group the other night (and let me tell you how lovely it is to belong to a group where everyone writes science fiction and fantasy, though the
The Importance of Antagonists
Someone on Twitter the other day was asking the Twitterverse at large whether or not their protagonists had antagonists. Well, I certainly hope so. What drives story? Conflict. And what causes conflict? Having obstacles that your main character/protagonist needs to
Visualizing Characters
You know how you go to watch the movie-version of a book and you’re like, “This character doesn’t look anything like what I thought they would?” That rarely ever happens to me. I don’t know why, but when reading, I
Calm Yourself, Woman
I’m a mess, Squiders. My manuscript–the novel that’s coming out in December–is in my editor’s hands, and it’s the first time I’ve had a novel edited by an actual publication-process editor, and I desperately want her to love it and
