Sometimes when you are writing fiction, you run into scenes that just don’t work. My advice when that happens is to just write the scene and worry about it in the revision process. That is the best thing you can…
Sometimes when you are writing fiction, you run into scenes that just don’t work. My advice when that happens is to just write the scene and worry about it in the revision process. That is the best thing you can…
The first draft of anything is never anything anyone would want to read. It can be choppy. It can be rambling, repetitive or have other issues. But it’s the first draft. Getting it done is what counts. What you do…
When you write something, you must edit your text. NaNoWriMo is all about writing. Forget the self-editing until you finish the first or rough draft done. Then you can revise what you wrote. Established authors say to let the work…
I hate revising. I need revision, but I abhor the job. No one ever wrote anything that didn’t need at least a little editing. My process is to read the work first and flag any problems I find while reading.…
Sometimes you need to finish revising one piece while starting revision on another. It’s easy to get confused between pieces. There are tricks to use to do so with relative ease. I use a project management app called Project Studio.…
The first step in any revision is to read the work first. Read it objectively. Approach the piece as though you’ve never seen it before. I usually like to wait a couple of days after I finish shorter pieces to…
I think daily revisions are important. I don’t mean revise as you write. That’s a delaying tactic and you will never finish a rough draft that way. I mean practicing. Yes, practice makes perfect is a cliché for a reason.…
I know how many words I have written each day. I also know when I have completed a blog and posted it. I also know how many words I have added or cut from a piece each day as I…
Pacing is important. If events in your story happen too quickly, or the story is over almost before you start. If they happen too slowly, your reader will get bored and abandon the story. You need action, exposition and back…
You need to know when you are giving yourself constructive criticism, the words that make your project the best it can be and when you are just running yourself and you work down. That’s the tricky thing. You are your…