Thanksgiving Break is a great time to read! I have compiled a list of books that are pretty awesome, and some are sort of mainstream but are still really good, and mostly have more books in the series. Stuff yourself full of turkey, sit down near the fire, and open that book up!
One last one… =D
All aspiring authors must visit this blog (crimsonleague.com) by Victoria Grefer, the author of the Herezoth Trilogy.
We authors–at least, authors who are like me–are always aware of a need to take a first draft deeper. To connect with the characters more, make them more alive.
This is particularly true in my case, as I have a simple, precise style and my first drafts are rather minimalist. (Are you that way, a fellow Hemingway? Or are you a Faulkner?)
But what does “going deeper” mean? What’s the difference between going deeper and adding fluff?
Writing is never easy, and it’s not something you can do alone: you will always need beta readers and editors to help you fill in holes and iron out the excess.
Still, there are general ways I find myself taking a draft “deeper” before I ever send it off to beta readers.
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Once again, a post which can really help you improve your story and deepen your characters as well.
Dialogue that really hits–that’s intriguing, and funny, and just sounds genuine–is one of the best things about a great book. Writing dialogue, though, isn’t easy.
One reason that writing dialogue is so tricky is that there is so much that goes into it, and also, there are just so many variables in play. Really great writing takes all of them into account. Now, I’m no dialogue guru or anything like that, but as a student of literature, I’ve noticed these are the things that really make me judge dialogue as excellent. Consider the following criteria when you’re editing:
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A must-read. Certainly helped me improve my writing!
I used to study literature professionally, so you could say I feel very connected with, and know how to appreciate, the psychological depth and intensity of fiction.
Don’t get me wrong: I LOVE books with heavy action, and I definitely believe writing should be about the characters. Some of my favorite novels–Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Les Miserables–involve deadly struggles or social uprisings. That means “ACTION.”
The thing about action, though: while it might work on its own for some people, it’s not enough on its own to attract me as a reader. I have to know the people who are behind that action and being affected, deeply, by what is happening as their world threatens to fall apart.
Otherwise, things feel cheap. I can’t invest in or care about what’s going on. And that’s what I mean when I talk about “following the characters” in my writer’s handbook:…
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Your Storybird Updater 