I have shifted to dropping daily writing tips because I have given all the time management tips I live by. I will now be posting writing tips to make your life this month easier if you are attempting to do the NaNoWriMo competition. It is highly important to get at least 7-8 hours of … Continue reading »
Tagged with research …
Research and the Period Novel
I spent the better part of six months researching biblical end-times scenarios, possible ways that the world could fall apart geopolitically, super-viruses, and another six months outlining my novel to incorporate all of that knowledge. One of the biggest problems that period novels have is when the research takes over the novel entirely. For example, … Continue reading »
Google Zeitgeist: How a Writer Uses Trends
As a fiction writer, it is important to know your audience. If you have never done any research to discover what demographic your proposed novel might reach (or not reach) then you may be wasting valuable time writing a novel that no one will read. Google Zeitgeist is a fantastic engine created to show researchers … Continue reading »
The Quill Pen: What Writers of the Past Can Teach Us
If I look around my “writing area,” I find several tools at my disposal to help me write a novel. I have a Macbook Pro with software like Diary, Scrivener, Mindnode and Pixelmator that help me go from ideas jotted down in my daily Diary to a finished novel complete with a self-designed cover. I … Continue reading »
Imagery: Beyond “Show Don’t Tell”
I am sure that if you have attended any creative writing courses at all , you have heard the old addage “Show, don’t tell.” This is referring to the idea that amateur writers often tell us about the action in their narrative rather than “showing” events through imagery, figurative language and good description. Over the … Continue reading »
Feeding Squirrels: Taking AP Students to Do Research at a College Library
Yesterday I took my AP students to the University of Oklahoma Bizzell Library to do research for their critical perspectives paper. Their assignment is to read a canonized novel of their choosing and then write an analytical research paper viewing that text through a critical lens (i.e. Marxist, Feminist, New Historical). Each year I take a group … Continue reading »
