Editing a first draft into something polished and publishable is the real work of writing, and often what separates career authors from hobbyists.
Tiffany Yates Martin
Your job as a fiction writer is to focus attention not on the words, which are inert, nor on the thoughts these words produce, but through these to felt experience, where the vitality of understanding lies.
Janet Burroway
I’m not sure which is tougher: being an editor who knows good writing or being a writer who knows good editing. My blog is a way of attempting to maintain balance in the creative landscape. After all, they are two sides of the same coin. Of course, you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter The Editor–Author Perspective below for free tips in your inbox every first Tuesday.
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Organizing your story from the end to the beginning connects events in a way that your drafting (and especially your revising) stages become easier to reflect on one word at a time.
This week, I cover the misunderstood title of “pantser” in fiction writing. More importantly, I provide a few tips on how you can “pants” your way to a first draft without the internal panic.
The first ten percent of your novel is not where you want your readers to get entangled in the details. I provide advice on the best (and not-so-best) places to drop in information vital to understanding who your protagonist in at any given point in your story.
Introducing a reader to your novel isn’t just about the character’s external journey taking place. Readers need an understanding of your protagonist beyond their external goals.
Famous duos run through books, TV shows, movies, and all other forms of media and entertainment. Here’s just a few of those duos, why their connections run so deep, and how their roles should be replicated to your own fiction writing.
Your protagonist’s internal journey is only as strong as their external one. The environment the story is set in should be built up in conjunction with the character’s arc and the plot’s development.
