Tag Archives | craft

Open mike at Laura’s! Stop on by.

By on July 25, 2011 in Writing

Sigh. I love my followers. They are so gracious and full of wisdom.

That was my last comment on Friday’s post. We’ve been talking about Nathan Bransford’s attempt at self promoting, which did end up with sales. He reminded his readers and some of them responded very positively. #goNathan

You’ve been listening to me ramble on about agents, promotion, and the publishing industry. You’ve offered up your wisdom and opinions in the comments. I love that we all approach publishing from a different angle with different experiences. I love that we will all choose our own path.  #stillfiguringoutmypath

So, it’s your turn. What have you been thinking about? Have you read an awesome book this summer? What are your concerns with where you are at in the publishing journey? What are you doing this summer to grow as a writer? Tell me one thing you learned this last month concerning your writing? #plentyofquestions #answerone #noexcuses  #humorisallowed

Thanks everyone!

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“Unique concept + Voice + Craft.”

By on December 8, 2010 in Writing

Agent Sarah Davies tweeted this yesterday. “Unique concept + Voice + Craft.”

Isn’t this what we’re all searching for? Not only in our writing but in books we read? I know I am.

Unique concept:

From what I’ve read and from my own experience of scribbling down ideas, the most unique concept is not the first idea we get. We’ve all read to list ten, twenty ideas and keep going until our idea is unique.

 But then we hear that there is no new story.

  • Practice at coming up with unique ideas – even if you never write it.
  • Take a somewhat good idea and add a spin, twist it, mash it up until it is unique.
  • Take your idea and keep asking What if – over and over and over and over.
  • Don’t play it safe. Take risks. Be bold.
  • Read and know what’s out there.

Voice:

  • Practice, practice, practice.
  • Know your strengths and weaknesses.
  • Don’t settle for blah verbs and descriptions.
  • Know your characters inside and out. Be true to them.
  • Get rid of those clunky sentences.
  • Lose your self-consciousness.
  • Use sensory details.

Craft:

  • Read, read, read.
  • Write, write, write.
  • I love studying books with writing that I love.
  • Work hard and be purposeful in your efforts to learn craft.

If you haven’t read the Baker’s Dozen auction to see what agents bidded on – take a look. It didn’t surprise me at all that certain titles were in demand. It all came back to unique concept + voice + craft.

And I’ve happened to have  read a couple books this past week that fit the bill. More on Friday!

I challenge you to come up with three unique story concepts. Today. Even if you don’t write them. Go ahead. Do it.

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