Great advice and words to live by by rahirah Words of wisdom here

I love this. Many essays or lists on writing advice from well-known authors make me cringe. Yes, there are some things you should/shouldn't do, but in something as creative as writing nothing is cut and dried. There are no "musts", there is what works for you and your style, and for your audience. Anyone reading writing advice should learn to ( Read more... )

So, here I am again. Finally taking the time to compile some interesting and informative things submitted by RRU members (petzipellepingo and shakatany specifically). In the interest of getting them all out there and not forgetting anything, I’ve put them all in one longish document. Behind the cut you will find three entries taken from a writing blog by Constance Hale, ( Read more... )

A post by Todd McCaffrey that I thought might be of interest: http://todd-mccaffrey.livejournal.com/21568.html

Below is a quote from the journal of one of fandom's (BTVS and Merlin, anyway) writers. One of those who has also had success in publishing original fiction and is a great storyteller. Here is what she said in her journal:

To start off the year, I'm focusing on this quote from Seneca: If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is ( Read more... )

Behind the cut is the text of something I picked up off the Subversive Copy Editor's blog this morning. Some advice (from different sources) for writers on self-editing before you submit. It talks about things we probably don't think about as we write. Interesting and useful stuff. I recommend it highly.

( Read more... )

Today’s entry is courtesy of goldenusagi who posted the following on her journal:

You know, when your first chapter contains nothing but word for word dialogue from the show, it's never a good sign. But not only is it boring and unnecessary, it makes it even more glaringly obvious that your own dialogue is extremely OOCAnd then, after I commented (and asked ( Read more... )

We've all heard the claim that we should never end a sentence with a preposition. However, this is one of those "rules" that is often misleading and sometimes downright incorrect. Fowler's Modern English Usage (Oxford University Press) has a wonderful, concise discussion of this, including:

"The superstition that a preposition should always precede ( Read more... )

There’s an old expression - and I don’t know for sure where it comes from, maybe the theatre? or sports? or the business world? Anyway, the expression is “never let them see you sweat”. For purposes of our community, I’d like to twist it a little to “never let them see you writing ( Read more... )

Thanks to rahirah I have a wonderful doozy for today. Go to her LJ for a great meta essay on writing about conflict, particularly how it is used in writing about couples. Excellent stuff both for fanfic writers trying to keep Spuffy (or whoever) fresh after they are finally together; *cough, Patti, cough* or for those members who are tackling their own ( Read more... )