Alison Kent's Blah Blog

I’ve recently bookmarked a few writing articles to share, and since I’m determined not to fall behind in my daily word count – and I haven’t yet, whew, at least not without making it up the next day – this is all the blogging time I have at the moment!

1.) How to write a scene in a novel

Imagine a lustrous string of pearls. The first gemstone compliments the next which balances with the rest and strung together they lay upon a woman’s neckline to bring forth her natural beauty and give her a radiating sense of elegance. Now imagine that necklace where the jewels are a hodgepodge of odd sizes, hues, luster and even quality. All of a sudden we’ve taken the best of nature and the best of man and made them into something unpleasing. The same thing happens with your story if you don’t create your scenes as well as you’ve created your characters and your setting.

2.) Novelsmithing – Plot Conceptualization Revision for Novelsmithing

I ran across this blog via a Twitter link, and it’s a pretty interesting look at the author’s book – BUT the posts cost nothing, and there’s a ton of really good info available. I didn’t read the whole thing, but liked what I saw. If you start with the link above, you can move forward through each post. The first few were just announcing the book.

Author Holly Lisle has two super content intensive but work at your own pace courses, and both are available to begin today, though I believe both will have added material – and a higher price – when they’re back online in June. I’ve not taken either one, though I have gone through some of the lessons. Holly really knows her stuff. If you follow her Writing Diary, you know the number of hours she puts into these courses.

3.) How to Think Sideways

You CAN Write A Book That Draws From Your Loves & Passions, Your Hidden Brilliance, And Your Highest Aspirations—A Better Book Than You Ever Imagined!

4.) How to Revise Your Novel

Whether you wrote a 30-day NaNoWriMo novel or spent five years finishing your story, first draft was hard…but you made it! Only now you’re discovering revision is harder…MUCH harder… And…When Even The Pros Crash And Burn While Rewriting Their Books, How Are YOU Supposed To Get Revision Right?

5.) Myth – This will solve everything, Part 1 and Myth – This will solve everything, Part 2 – both articles by author Skyler White.

6.) Junkfoodmonkey’s Editing Recipe

You’ve written the first draft of a long story or novel, maybe as part of NaNoWriMo, or maybe as a year long slog. It doesn’t matter, it’s done. And it’s a first draft, which means it’s probably a bit crap and needs a lot of work. Don’t worry! That’s what it’s meant to be. No-one turns out brilliant and perfect first drafts. No. One. You gave it time to let it settle; long enough to get emotional distance from it and forget some of the details. At least a month for a long story is recommended. But now at last it’s time to start the editing.

Ingredients

* 1 first draft
* Writing materials
* Time
* Patience
* Caffeine (optional)

I absolutely loved this. And really need to adopt a whole lot of this to help me see the big picture – though the spreadsheet I’ve made in Google Docs does come close.

And saving the best for last, I ran across this article yesterday and was like, YES! I do ALL these things and I need to STOP!

7.) Writerisms and other Sins: A Writer’s Shortcut to Stronger Writing

Writerisms: overused and misused language. In more direct words: find ‘em, root ‘em out, and look at your prose without the underbrush.

*I am a Holly Lisle affiliate, though I’m not sure if I get a referral fee for the classes. I do, however, for the links to the Holly Shop for Writers products on the left sidebar.