Hmm…

Tag: writing

  • Getting It Right the First Time

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    harmamae
    in

    To Revise Or Not To Revise, That Is The Question… Recently, I’ve been hearing a barrage of arguments from two different points of view – those who believe a good writer will efficiently produce a clean draft on the first go, and those who believe in multitudes of revisions. They both make good points, but…

  • A Meaningful Universe?–Defining Fantasy

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    harmamae
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    Fantasy, according to Crawford Kilian, takes place in a morally meaningful universe, and that is why readers like it so much. “In fantasy, meaning is not something we slap on from the outside, it’s built right into everything from the rocks and trees to the political system.” I do love fantasy, possibly because I believe…

  • Half a Million Words of Garbage

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    harmamae
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    They say every writer has half a million words of garbage in them, and you need to get most of them out before really establishing a writing career. This makes me glad I started writing early. (My earliest memory of writing is sitting at the kitchen table, asking Mom to spell each word out individually…

  • Prolific Vs. Perfectionist – What is the Best Way to a Lasting Writing Career?

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    harmamae
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    Is it better to churn out hundreds of books that are mediocre, or just a couple that are really, really good? A few weeks ago, I mentioned how it is a general rule that writers need to publish around three novels before they establish their name in the industry. This means, of course, that a…

  • Travel? Research? – Getting Your Setting Right

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    harmamae
    in

    OR: Write What You Know, Or Risk What You Don’t Know  I always wonder if writers have visited or lived in the places they write about, and if they haven’t, how they feel comfortable enough writing about places they’ve never been. I’m always incredibly afraid of messing the place up and getting some hypercritical reader…

  • It’s the Readers’ Fault! Why Bad Writing is Called Good

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    harmamae
    in ,

    OR: Don’t Blame Them, They Didn’t Notice the Difference Anyway Authors agonize over metaphors. They might spend ages debating word choice. They careful revise their sentence structure. What would you say if someone told you readers rarely notice this kind of thing anyway? I’m a poor student, and like many a poor student I participate…

  • Update on the Splayed Novel

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    harmamae
    in

    As you can see from the picture, my organizational system for keeping track of the plot of my novel is getting unwieldy. (For comparison, see the picture in this post). On the plus side, I am one tenth of the way through! The trick now is to not bog down in the middle part, but…

  • Does Writer’s Block Exist?

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    harmamae
    in

    Lately, I’ve been coming across numerous writers who insist writer’s block doesn’t exist – it’s just an excuse for writers not to write. I can kind of see that point of view. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure writer’s block exists, because I suffered from it for five years. “Writer’s block is a fabrication,”…

  • Luck of the First-Time Novelist

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    harmamae
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    Conventional wisdom in the writing world says that it takes at least three published novels to establish your name in the public eye. Don’t even think about quitting your day-job until then. But then, while leisurely reading the morning newspaper, I come across the name of Shilpi Somaya Gowda, whose first novel sold 300,000 copies…

  • Death of the Em Dash?

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    by

    harmamae
    in

    Or, Why I Will Never Give Up This Bad Habit Never, never, never, I will not give up the em dash—even though I probably overuse it. Em dashes are not hyphens. They are not used to connect two words, but rather to connect two different thoughts, and they are longer than hyphens. I used one…