It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means. It’s #IWSG Day! The question this month is… What pitfalls have you encountered on your journey to publication that you can share with others? Well, uh… hmm. I don’t actually know of many pitfalls from direct personal experience. To date, I …
It took two ridiculously long posts to cover all the fun of ReaderCon 2018, but I gotta say, I had an incredible time. If you’re a fan of science fiction and fantasy stories, you have to get to ReaderCon. You won’t be disappointed.
I went for three days without seeing the sun. Not best practice in terms of health, but it tells you something about how busy I was at ReaderCon this past weekend. Quick disclaimer: This is going to be a long post, as will be the part 2 follow-up. I’m trying to paint a clear picture …
If you’ve ever watched an Olympic sporting event like the floor routine in gymnastics, you might have seen shots of athletes preparing to compete. They stand to the side, eyes closed, twisting their bodies around in odd ways. You know what they’re doing. They’re envisioning their routine, imagining the jumps, the turns, the tucks. The same thing happening to those athlete’s brains as they pre-visualize their routines occurs inside readers’ minds when they read. Provided, that is, an author uses a few key neuroscience tricks when they write.
I did it. I graduated. I am a creative writing “master,” which is a little weird to write. The title “novice” would probably be more accurate. But, two days out from having received my handshake and diploma (not really, just a certificate. The diploma will arrive in the mail a month from now), I am feeling most grateful for the people I met and the relationships I forged.
Regardless of the quality of the actual story being told, the writing can either engage us or bore us. Understanding the neuroscience of reading can help you grab readers by the brain and engage them more effectively.
It’s been said, names have power, and an evocative title is step one toward hooking your readers. Yet many of us spend little time giving thoughtful consideration to either. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of the online name generators. Here’s a better way to approach naming your characters and titling your story.
When’s the last time you did anything to refill your creative well? Making art is active, and focused, and intentional, and draining. Tapping into your creative mind is tiring, though many of us don’t notice that we’re fatiguing until we’re lying face down like a stick of butter that’s been left out on the counter in August. Try scheduling activities into your life that will nurture your creative spirit.
Countless talented artists wander into the creative forest with good intentions and never make it out again. They get lost, hit that moment of doubt and despair, give up, and die. The thing is, getting lost is a hazard of living a creative life. In some ways, getting lost really is inevitable, because the creative path is not well-travelled. I’d argue that if you’re doing things right as an artist, you’re blazing a new trail through the deepest, darkest woods of your own psyche.
There are a gazillion writing apps and programs out there in the digital world, some that cost money and some that are free. Of them all, I’ve tried a handful. However, after two years in grad school, chasing the dream of getting an MFA in creative writing, I’ve come to rely heavily on one in particular: …