Some writing research ideas to get you started. Honestly, I don’t remember this category. Hopefully there is something here to help you.
Some say the first page of a novel is the most important and then there are others who say it is the first line. If you look back at the first line of what are considered literary classics you will find many great one liners and many not so great ones. [WpProQuiz 1] As writers…
Food is a large part of most cultures and one of the main guests at any celebration. A lot of our memories of growing up involve food: the smell of a roast on a Sunday afternoon, barbecues in the summer, and special cookies made at Christmas. Food and life are tightly interwoven. Food can serve…
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ~ Stephen King I begin with those words as a reminder that if we want to be serious writers, we must first be serious readers. Reading Methods There is reading for enjoyment, reading for analytical…
The Pros and Cons of Traditional vs. Self-Publishing The Process Time: Traditional publishing is not called traditional because they are old fogies. Traditional publishing is basically “always been done this way.” In other words, an author writes; an illustrator draws; an editor and an art director suggest revisions (often several times); a copy editor proofs…
Trying to format a draft for publication as an e-book can make you reach for the aspirin. Since the introduction of Amazon’s Kindle and Apple’s iPad, e-book sales have grown rapidly. This year Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo expect e-books to provide up to half their revenue in the United States and Canada. Popular…
Many writing workshops start their sessions on character development with a sheet detailing the hero’s name, age, eye color and hair color. They then move onto his job, his hobbies, and his family background. Next they might add a picture from the Internet or a magazine which looks a little like the hero, and perhaps…
The importance of libraries, even in this digital age, cannot be underestimated. If you need to do research for your current work-in-progress (WIP), the library may be a good place to start. With trained staff and a wealth of resources (reliable ones) at their fingertips, a library and a librarian are a researcher’s best friend….
Once upon a time, fantasy (FY) was (to most people) fairy tales, and science fiction (SF) was some weird geeky stuff about rocket ships and robots and aliens like giant mobile boogers. Neither, most of your parents and grandparents thought, was for grownups. You could go your whole life (well, decades on end) and never…