Lesson #1: Introduction to the Craft of Writing Well, this is it. The adventure begins. Some of you have signed up to follow posts from The Write Nook at the beginning of our journey; some of you will follow along later, as we move forward. In either case, welcome to the adventure! If you’re reading […]
Editing
Lesson #3: Introduction to Plot
Plot. Plot. The word that sends tingles of excitement and fear up and down your spine. This month (March, 2016) we’ll be covering the ins and outs of this frightening-and-simultaneously-exciting facet of creative writing. First, we’ll discuss plot as a whole (lesson #3 and lesson #4). Then we’ll get into the nitty-gritty and discuss beginnings […]
Lesson #6: The 3 Best Hints for a Fantabulous Beginning
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning (A Very Good Place to Start) In Lesson #5, we talked about the elements of Act One, or the beginning. The beginning of your story is the best – and often the only – place to hook your readers, grab their attention, and make them care about your story. […]
Lesson #11: Show Versus Tell
We’ve crossed the threshold… Now that we’ve finished our “overview” of the Three Acts and basics of plot, we’ll dive into some of the foundational nitty-gritties during the month of April. In Lesson #11 and Lesson #12, we’ll talk about Show Versus Tell. In Lesson #13 and Lesson #14, we’ll cover Deep POV. In Lesson […]
Lesson #12: The Dangers of Showing and Telling
Check out the accompanying YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXWphbM160Q Mr. Show and Mr. Tell In Lesson #11, we talked about Show Versus Tell. In this lesson, we’ll cover the dangers of these two fascinating facets of the creative writing craft. Grab your story; if you’re new on this journey we’re taking through The Write Nook, please consider […]
Lesson #15: Setting and Research
We’ve all been there. You know you’ve been there. We read books set in such-and-such a place in such-and-such a time; we also live in such-and-such a place and have done our research about such-and-such a time. So it’s incredibly aggravating when an author writes inaccurate information. Or when an author uses unrealistic content. Or […]
Lesson #24: Introduction to Description
What is Description? We’re diving into description! What exactly is description? Some may say that description is the detail peppered throughout a story – we know that the curtains are blue and the octopus has a mutated tentacle, etc. Others may say that description is the “voice” of the story – everything we read is, […]
Lesson #28: Editing Deep POV into Your Manuscript
Kim and Kayla shared some previous lessons about this thing called deep POV. In case you’re scratching your head wondering what in the world I am talking about, check out the links for lesson #13, lesson #14, and lesson #27. How to edit your WIP (Work in Progress) for deep POV? Find any telling stuff. […]
Lesson #29 – Deep POV and SvT Working Together
I teach a lot of writing classes every year. But it doesn’t matter whether it’s a group of newbies, a fiction intensive at a conference, or an advanced group of published authors—Guess which ones I am asked over and over and over and over to teach? SvT – otherwise known as Show versus Tell Deep […]
Lesson #31: Sentence Structure
In this lesson, we’ll be discussing sentence structure. What is sentence structure? At first, you may visualize the page of a book; you’re keeping an eye out for each individual sentence’s beginning and end. Or you may see LEGO blocks making up a giant structure with sentences written on them, as I do (what can […]