Getting inspiration from pets Pets are our constant companions. For a lot of people, their animal friends are their sole contact on some days. And they can inspire. Do you speak Dog? Humans first domesticated dogs back when we still lived in caves. They probably saved our species and certainly love us unconditionally. Dogs are […]
Working with covers Covers! Let’s say you aren’t working with a cover artist. Or maybe you are doing the covers work, and you have purchased the work and been given full rights to it, to do with it as you please. Or maybe your work is not selling, and you are looking to make your […]
Choosing an editor Choosing an editor can be tricky. Sometimes, you just end up with whoever is cheapest or whoever you know. But if you have a choice in the matter, consider it carefully. It’s a business relationship like any other Do yourself a favor, and write a contract. This is a sample copy editing […]
Descriptions All about descriptions Descriptions are a must. You need them for any type of writing beyond the barest drabbles. Involve the reader in the piece. And that means pulling descriptive prose out of your head. You must commit it to paper or pixels. Scenes Scene setting is covered elsewhere in this blog. However, that’s closely related […]
Creative Commons and Whether You Can Use Certain Images What is Creative Commons? Their story is best told by them: Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. But this is not copyright! Instead, the concept exists to work with copyright, in order to […]
Eavesdropping for fun and inspiration So, Eavesdropping? Eavesdropping really works, and it is probably a writer‘s best tool. Once you start listening in on conversations, you will open up a whole new world. Because real dialogue, interspersed with your created dialogue, adds realism. Subtlety First of all, you have got to be subtle. This means […]
I have written over two and a half million words (fan fiction and wholly original fiction combined). Holy cow!
Grab Some Inspiration from Friendship Friendship Friendship is as inspiring as the memory of old love affairs. Our friends can help us write. Sometimes it’s because of something we did together. And sometimes it’s because we want to honor them. Names For stories which need a lot of names, why not ask your friends whether […]
Grab Some Inspiration from Myths and Legends Myths and legends are perhaps the oldest stories we humans tell each other. They go back to before human beings were literate. They may go back to before agriculture, which would make them some six to ten thousand years old. Yeah, legends are that old. Myths We might, at […]
Libraries Getting into Libraries Libraries are the unsung heroes of the American (and other countries’) educational system. They are where people look for jobs, listen to lectures, or teach themselves all sorts of things. They are also a marvelous home for your newly-published book. Connections First of all, you probably can’t just write to or […]