Sulu the book-reading black cat recommends:
"Ghostwriting: The Business of Writing for Other Authors" by Rayne Hall and Mariana Sabino.
As a ghostwriter, you write, but someone else – perhaps a celebrity, a bestselling author or a subject authority – gets the credit. For this service, you get paid, often handsomely.
mybook.to/GWr
“Writing Fight Scenes: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors”
Rayne Hall’s bestselling classic. Learn to craft realistic, exciting action scenes: duels, battles, riots and more.
mybook.to/eFight
Sulu the book-reading cat hasn't been in the mood to pose for photos recently, so I'm sharing an older picture. :-)
'Writing Vivid Dialogue' by Rayne Hall.
Do you want to write fast-paced, exciting, sizzling dialogue? This book reveals professional dialogue technique to characterise the speaker, carry the plot forward and entertain your readers.
mybook.to/Dial
Rayne Hall's Writing Tip:
To raise tension in dialogue scenes, use questions answered with questions.
Your main character has a pet. What kind of animal is it? What role does it play in the plot?
#writing #writingtip #writingtips #fictionwriting #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #novelwriting
#writingskills #writingcraft #writerscraft
#nanowrimo #nanowrimo2023
NaNoWriMo Prompt for Today
Your main character has a secret. What is it? Why does he/she go to great lengths to hide it from everyone else?
#writing #writingtip #writingtips #fictionwriting #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #novelwriting
#writingskills #writingcraft #writerscraft
#nanowrimo #nanowrimo2023
Sulu the book-reading black cat recommends: "Writing Vivid Plots: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors" by Rayne Hall.
mybook.to/Plot
The MC of the book I just read cusses *all* the time. Now, I don't mind swearies as such, but if your character swears in every other sentence, then you've got nowhere to go when you want to indicate the character is *really* up to high doh. It's called an 'F-bomb' for a reason. Let it off sparingly.
My new guest post is published: "Characters in Gothic Fiction"
I'd appreciate it if some of you could leave a comment on the post, perhaps about character roles you recognise from books you've read, or even from books you've written. (Yes, feel free to mention your own book.)
https://thegothicwanderer.wordpress.com/2023/05/21/meet-the-gothic-cast-a-guest-post-by-rayne-hall/
In sections of fast action, keep decriptions sparse and brief. Use verbs rather than adjectives, and focus on sounds rather than sights.
Examples:
'The door splintered with a crash.'
'Tyres screeched on the asphalt.'
@WordSlinger Yay! Thanks for this. You've made my day! 
Sulu the book-reading black cat recommends: 'Writing and Publishing Short Stories: Professional Techniques for Fiction Authors.' 
https://mybook.to/Sho
#writing #writingtips #writingcraft #writerscraft #writingskills #fictionwriting #shortstorywriter #shortstory #writingcommunity #writerscommunity #cats #rescuecat #luckyblackcat
#writingcommunityofMastodon #writerscommunityofMastodon
@amberlough @bookstodon it feels like a little death – or murder
I'm encountering the same scary thing in my current total rewrite of my work in progress: characters are being left on the cutting room floor. It's fine, I know it's going to be fine, because I've done this before.
Have you ever cut or been advised to cut characters? Did you do it? Why or why not?
#writersCraft #writing #amwriting #author #book #books @bookstodon #writingCommunity #FriendMe #Scholastic #middlegrade
I discovered that when I cut characters, it makes the other relationships so much clearer, but also more precious. I write #middlegrade, so I don't want to have a cast of thousands when my reader could be between 8 and 12 years old.
#writersCraft #writing #amwriting #author #book #books @bookstodon #writingCommunity #FriendMe #Scholastic
I did, and it worked out fine. The story got better. I cut the first 2800 words of my manuscript & more or less started at chapter 3. Yeah, it was scary. But my agent told me the beginning was still too slow, and she was right. (I love Arturo, who I hope makes it back into another story of mine one day.)
#writersCraft #writing #amwriting #author #book #books @bookstodon #writingCommunity #FriendMe #Scholastic
I'm going to talk about the hardest thing you might be asked to do to your manuscript -- cut characters. (A thread). I swear I never would have tried this with my debut FRIEND ME if I hadn't been about to go on a week-long writing retreat where I had the time to try this crazy thing.
#writersCraft #writing #amwriting #author #book #books @bookstodon #writingCommunity #FriendMe #Scholastic
"As soon as I added more backstory and sidestory and aroundstory for all the places and things, January started to feel more like a living place." I enjoyed this #onwriting from @charliejane via @stephanieburgis
https://buttondown.email/charliejane/archive/dont-just-create-one-big-story-build-a-mosaic-of/
#Writing #WritingCraft #CraftPost #amwriting #worldbuilding @bookstodon #writerscraft
Baptised by fire: today I tried to create a character illustration using #midjourney
An hour later - I’m going up the wall looking at four-eyed pups or oddly twisted dog-like-mutants. This AI thing makes me doubt my ability to describe shit. #writerscraft #VisualLanguage
