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Justine: Throwing a Rock
Back in the McDaniel days, Jenny Cruise once told us a story about a book she was writing that wasn’t working. She had her friend Lani Diane Rich read it, who said the main character, Liz, just...
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Jeanne: Layering Motivation
The best single workshop I attended at RWA 2014 was on character motivation by New York Times best-selling author Madeline Hunter. According to Madeline, you can escalate the tension in your novel...
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Kay: Getting Rid of Helga
I’ve been revising my WIP for some weeks now, incorporating the comments I’ve gotten from my critique partners and the other Ladies. It’s been going fairly well, all things considered. I have a lot of...
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Michaeline: Hocus Pocus
Zan Zig, magician, has a lot of flash and creativity and color going on, but lacks something in the structure departure. Does it matter? It’s still beautiful. And yet . . . . (Via Wikimedia Commons)...
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Justine: The GMC, Ma’am, Just the GMC
So I’ve been in judging hell this week. Last week, I’d spent a bunch of time totaling scores for the contest I’ve been managing…this past week, I’ve been reading paranormal entries for the 2015 Golden...
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Michille: Favorite Characters
One of the reasons that I like reading and writing romance is the character-driven nature of the stories. I like character arc. One of the reasons that I don’t usual watch TV series is the lack of...
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Justine: Conflict. Wait…What?
Trouble is coming. Or is it conflict?Image (c) 1950 Disney Animation Studios. I’ve spent a lot of time in the last week reading through the second half of Three Proposals (and highlighting á la Margie...
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Justine: Fiction Fundamentals, Part 3: Conflict (First Installment)
Welcome to Part 3 of Fiction Fundamentals. In Part 1, I discussed character goals. Last time, in Part 2, I covered a character’s Motivation…the “why” of what they want to do in your story. This...
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Justine: Fiction Fundamentals…Writing Great Characters
Welcome to Part 3 of Fiction Fundamentals. When I approached the topic of writing great characters, I didn’t realize how much information you, New Writer, should know about what really makes them...
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Michaeline: How to Start a Story
Make it at home! Or make it on a train! Or on a space ship! (Image via Wikimedia Commons) Usually for me, I start with a character, and usually, the character brings a setting along naturally. Rachel...
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