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Welcome, Tiffany! It’s nice to meet you, and nice to know there’s another busy mom on here. Not a lot of time to write with all the busy little people, but way more fun!

That’s cool you write romance. I do, too! It’s fun because it is such an interesting character study…

@mischievous-thwapling, I can see why it would be frustrating/annoying to have your story misinterpreted like this, but in a sense, that’s a big part of the fun of being a writer who actually has readers. Once your story is out there in the world, it’s not entirely yours anymore–suddenly you’re sharing it with loads of people you’ve never met,…[Read more]

First you have to ask yourself, “Why am I writing?” Don’t worry–there’s really no wrong answer to this question.

If you’re writing to express yourself, to work through a tough idea you’ve been mulling over, to practice getting better at putting thoughts down on paper, then I’d say it doesn’t matter if your friend didn’t like your story. You…[Read more]

Yeah, isn’t it cool, @mischievous-thwapling? When I learned this, it was a real breakthrough. No more “Ahh, where was I going with this again?” scenes. And it’s really pretty much how real life works, if you think about it. Definitely easier to see when laid out in a tidy little chart, though.

I don’t really know anything about your story, but just off the top of my head, some possible solutions might be–make them all siblings (or like @the-fledgling-artist suggested, cousins could work too, in some cultures.) Or you could make all three characters guys. Or girls. Unless having them be different genders is vital to the story. Good luck!

I actually find it easier to write about sweet/adorable characters. Maybe because most of my friends are sweet and adorable, and I’m very much that way myself (or not.) But anyway, the thing to remember is, even the best people–the coddling grandma, the sensitive husband, the devoted mother–have their flaws, insecurities, inconsistencies. The…[Read more]

@edmund-lloyd-fletcher, if your blog is just a way for you to share random tidbits and thoughts, it’s perfectly fine that it’s a bit of a grab bag. However, if you’re planning to use it for marketing your books, you might want to rethink a bit…maybe create a new, book-specific one, or add a new page dedicated to your books? That’s what I have.

Nice to meet you, Anna/Fledge! Creating comics sounds really fun, but doubly hard, as you have to have good pictures AND a good story. I used to make comic books for my cousins…sadly, the last installment in the series said “To Be Continued” but it never was. Life happened.

Totally random, but do you like Herge’s Tintin comics? They’re old, but…[Read more]

No worries, @mischievous-thwapling. I’m glad your parents are very conscientious. Would you be willing to share your thoughts on writing inspiration, even if you don’t get a prize? I’d love to hear from you!

I know the conventional wisdom is, “Write What You Know” but I think this can be interpreted very broadly. You may not have lost your entire family in war, for example, but most of us have experienced painful loss–the death of a friend or relative, or even a beloved pet. You may never have been “in love” but you’ve probably seen people around you…[Read more]

Wow, this is great! So many talented people…I’ve successfully followed you all (I think) and if anybody else posts, I want to follow them, too.

The Google Doc it’s in appears to be locked.

Very cool! You all have put some great thought into this…now I need to start thinking.