Recently, I went to an event with the amazing Victor LaValle and we talked about the course in introductory novel writing that he teaches. What stuck out to me was that he said that many beginner writers lack focus in this work. There’s an . And I realized that that was totally true about my work during the first draft, way back in college when my writing was actual trash.
It’s International Women’s Day and I wanted to draw some attention to five women and girls that I met in recent reads. They’re pretty different from each other and I wanted to compile them into a helpful list for fellow female-lead story writers such as myself to draw inspiration from. From women who can rule the world to kids looking for companionship, this list has some of it all.
This is my contribution to the fact that it is Valentine’s Day today. I’m going to focus on three couples that are almost formative in my idea of what romance is.
Where I am in my story, weather doesn’t play a huge factor. I use phrases like “biting cold,” “oppressive humidity,” and “sunny” to get an atmosphere going. After this weekend’s Winter Storm Jonas, it gave me fuel for thought as my characters do more traveling as the tale goes. Here are some tips for navigating the weather of your realm.
You need to watch this.
I spent my New Year’s Eve with the boyfriend and my best friend from high school watching One Punch Man (2015), an anime about a bored of his super hero career because he can kill any enemy with one punch. So, what’s the plot? Well, let me tell you.
Back to the editing board. This time, my book is on a diet to shed some excess words. And it’s working! I got rid of 8,000 so far and the plot hasn’t changed yet. I have, however, gotten to the point where some chapters just have to go. And the first one I got rid of was chapter 1. It came down to one thing.
I sent off my manuscript to some agents so I’m taking the liberty of taking time to work on hobbies I’ve neglected. It just so happens that drawing is one of those things. I had been into art since I was a little Jo and it’s nice to get back into it a bit. That’s not to say writing isn’t art, but you can’t hang writing on a fridge to admire later. And the improvement curve isn’t necessarily as obvious.
Photo by Sophia Marilyn. Click the picture to go to her Tumblr.
Here another writeworld exercise post. Here’s the prompt from the Tumblr:
Writer’s Block
(Artist’s Tumblr)
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block!
Your fantasy novel sucks if no one dies. There, I said it. Someone has to die for a story to be a great adventure. It can be as personal as The Hobbit or just a wanton massacre of side folks like A Song of Ice and Fire. Someone’s gotta die and I just got a little bit of literary trigger happiness and killed 30 in one chapter.
Art by Wenqing Yan. Click the picture to go to the artist’s DeviantArt.
There’s a great Tumblr called writeworld which posts images for writers to help their inspiration. Try to do them every once in a while, which I will share here. Here’s the prompt from the Tumblr:
Writer’s Block
(Artist’s Tumblr)
A picture says a thousand words. Write them.
Mission: Write a story, a description, a poem, a metaphor, a commentary, or a critique about this picture. Write something about this picture.
Be sure to tag writeworld in your block! Continue reading
Jo Writes Fantasy 