Tag: writing tools

  • Keep Your Reader in Your Story: 8 Tips on Editing for Flow

    Whether you do much of your editing as you write (as I do) or you’re the kind of writer that gets the whole story down on paper before worrying about the craft points (which I wish I could do), sooner or later you’re going to face a final edit. By this point, your major plot…

  • When Creativity isn’t Enough: Tips for bringing out your inner disciplinarian

    While making up stories might seem easy enough, it’s damned hard work. Oh, the daydreaming part may not require a lot of effort (letting your mind wander away from boring places and people is never difficult!), but once you decide to take all those ethereal, randomly conceived scenes and string them into an actual story—a…

  • Mammoth Mandibles:The Benefits of Using a Thesaurus

    More than once, I’ve come across the suggestion that writers shouldn’t use a thesaurus, that they should keep their words simple and avoid “fancy” language. In my opinion, that’s nonsense. One of the things I love most about the English language is its nuances. A character can walk, stroll, strut, saunter, march, amble, wander, mosey,…

  • Listen to the Music: Using the power of sound to influence writing

    Once upon a time, I was a serious music snob. All through my school years, I shunned the groups to which my peers gravitated (yes, I was a major geek). My only connection with anything remotely modern was through the school band (I played the baritone saxophone) and my parents, whose rather eclectic tastes ranged…