Columns: Tag – Writing
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Writing Quips and Tips
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Writing Quips and Tips
In Search of a Sensitive Man
Allaboutlove is constantly on the look-out for good column material for you, our beloved readers. Our assiduousness in this regard is confirmed yet again by the following correspondence with a world-renowned columnist.
*Please note: his name has been changed since we absolutely refuse to give him the slightest recognition until he has accepted our extremely reasonable conditions.
Writing Quips and Tips
What makes a good writing class?
“As for myself,” says Stephen King in his wonderful book On Writing, “I’m doubtful about writing classes, but not entirely against them.” What I want to insist on in this article is that writing classes – or seminars, or workshops, or writing circles, call ‘em what you will – can be
• Inspirational
• Motivational, and
• A spur to action and
that Mr King would do well to approach the subject a tad less sceptically.
Writing Quips and Tips
How Journals Help Writers
Oh, I know you kept a diary when you were fourteen. Your awful brother probably picked the lock and read steamy passages to his friends. But even so … a journal kept properly can help your writing in many ways.
Writing Quips and Tips
Preparing for the writers life
I sometimes imagine all the unfinished novels in drawers. All the characters who will never finish their journeys; the stories that will never draw to an end. Perhaps that in itself could be the starting point for a story. (Just an idea.) But why is it that so many people start out on their first novel with such enthusiasm, put so much effort and time into it, and then …?
Writing Quips and Tips
Writing Romance - Five Tips
Many people think Romance writing is a bit like knitting. There’s a pattern to follow and, even if you’re a bit clumsy at first, you can knock off a finished product in a few afternoons while the kids are out playing.
Writing Quips and Tips
Writing Romance - Five More Tips
Good Romance relies on good characters. We need to believe in them. They should be strong and complex enough for us to identify with them.
Writing Quips and Tips
Romantic Fiction Writing - How to find ideas
Characters generate their own stories Some writers of romantic fiction regard ideas as the gems on which their fortune will be based. I believe, on the contrary, that ideas are a dime a dozen, available in such profusion that you’re never likely to run short of them. If this proposition sounds ludicrous to you – if ideas, or the lack of them, are the stumbling block in your creative path – then this short series of articles is for you.
Writing Quips and Tips
Romantic Fiction Writing - How to find ideas through daydreams
Daydreams as a source of ideas
We’re discussing four different sources of ideas that you, as a writer of romantic fiction, can milk at will. Ideas that, elaborated and complicated, will give you original stories that’ll form the backbones of your novel. In this piece, I’d like to tease out how much of a creative engine room your own day-dreaming can be.
Writing Quips and Tips
Writing a novel – how to keep going
No first draft was ever perfect. Most novels need rewriting and extensive editing. But if you never finish writing, it, there’ll be nothing to work on. Writing four published novels, I’ve learnt one or two things about how hard it is – and how to make it easier on yourself.
Writing Quips and Tips
Writer’s Block - Managing those pesky writer’s blues
I don’t believe in writer’s block.
Every day I ever sat down to write, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. I always sit down sweaty-palmed, wondering if I’ll be able to get a word on paper.
That’s why I believe writer’s block is another way of saying “fear”. And it’s just another excuse for not pushing through it.
Writing Quips and Tips
Characters and how to lift them beyond the cardboard cut out
A friend of mine is a fine writer, whose first book was a great success.
His characters were beautifully drawn and tugged us into a poignant memoir. But he had always longed to write a novel. I couldn’t wait to see it.
When he showed me a draft, I couldn’t believe it. The characters were cardboard stereotypes.
Writing Quips and Tips
Dialogue is real speech but better
Everyone recognises good dialogue when they see it. But few people can write it. So here’s a quick guide to really good dialogue:
Writing Quips and Tips
Writing dynamic dialogue
You’ve written a really crucial dialogue that will end your characters’ marriage. It should be dramatic and poignant, but instead it seems flat, unreal or, worst of all, dreary.
What’s wrong with it? It will change your characters’ lives. Why doesn’t it affect the lives of your readers?
Here are a couple of quick hints that will lift a plain or dreary dialogue and give it dynamism:
Writing Quips and Tips
Show, Don’t Tell and how to use detail effectively
His desk was bare, but for a human skull, with a cigar clamped firmly between its grinning teeth.
Immediately, we know a huge amount about this person, without anything having to be explained.
By now, the concept of “showing” rather than “telling” is pretty much accepted. But in numerous writing workshops, it’s become clear that people may accept the concept, but they’re often unsure how to to put it into practice.
Writing Quips and Tips
Book research is like make up
Research is like good make-up. It should make you look better, without drawing attention to itself.
As a writer, you have to do far more research than you’ll every use in your book. But once you’ve done it, you’re tempted to show it off. Resist the temptation.
Writing Quips and Tips
Romance, Lesbian vs Straight
Both straight and gay Romance writing is about love. Both involve the intensity that we long for in our humdrum lives. They make us believe – that great love is possible, and that Romance is alive and well.
Writing Quips and Tips
Online romantic fiction writing courses
Sign up for one of our online romantic fiction courses. You have until 14 February to take advantage of our special launch prices.
Writing Quips and Tips
Writing Sex and how it can change your life
Every scene, even a sex scene, should take the story forward and develop your characters. Before your characters have sex, ask yourself why. Sound familiar? Probably because it sounds like your mother: “Before you leap into bed, dear, ask yourself why on earth ...”
Writing is Easy...
Gail Gilbride-Bohle
Gail Gilbride-Bohle is a dedicated reader of allaboutlove.net, and a keen writer of romance. She has written several short stories, some of which can be found on our site. She has completed our Preparation course, our basic Romance Writing Course and is busy with our Advanced Guide. With our feedback, she has already written five chapters of her first novel.
As an incentive to other would-be writers, we are introducing her to you here – perhaps you will identify with her triumphs and her struggles, as she tries to make herself the best writer she can possibly be.