Tag: Better Writing
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My Least Favourite Trope: Resurrection
Friends, this was a close race. Just as I have a long list of adored tropes, the ones I don’t like are myriad. I don’t read Dubcon and I hate Born Sexy Yesterday. But the most commonly recurring trope that has the power to ruin a book or series for me until the end of…
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How To Handle Negative Feedback
Over the last two weeks, we discussed How To Review a Book, and How To Be a Great Beta Reader. Let’s chat about handling negative feedback today. This can be in the form of a poor review or comments from beta readers. Now, we’re all human here. There will always be that bit of feedback…
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How to Beat Writer’s Block – ADHD Edition
I’ve said this a million times and will likely never shut up about it, but we all just want to fit in, right? We want to know our struggles aren’t unique, and that someone out there gets what we’re going through. So, during the worst writer’s block of my life, I did what any run-down…
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Let’s Write Disgust
This addition to the Writing Emotions series is courtesy of Lindsay in Australia (hiya, Lindsay!) who reminded me these posts matter. I chose the topic of disgust because it’s a form of self-disgust (hello, impostor syndrome) that has been keeping me from writing posts like these. If this is your first visit to this series,…
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Let’s Write – Tropes
Ah, tropes. The building blocks of all the stories ever crafted. What’s a trope? Well, those themes and elements we find most often in novels, movies, games, or series. For example, a princess with a mean stepmother. A cop joins the force because their law-enforcing parent was killed in the line of duty (and they…
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Easy Self-Editing – Redundancies (Pleonasms)
The first draft of A Study of Ash & Smoke was riddled with redundancies, AKA pleonasms. My editor, Nerine Dorman, took to my debut manuscript with a kill-it-with-fire vehemence and likely mumbled a million curses at the ceiling as she removed them (among other issues) from my very *cough, cough* unpolished novel. I’ve said this…
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Updated Planning Methods
Planning a novel doesn’t always come easily. As a hybrid planner/pantser and an ADHD’er, I often find myself super excited at the beginning of the planning process, pouring myself into putting every minute detail to paper. Until the impatience sets in, at which point I must write. Once I’ve abandoned the planning, I hurl myself…
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Let’s Write – Dialogue
For many of us, the ultimate goal is to write good stories that keep our readers submerged in our stories. That’s certainly my greatest motivator whenever I write. But it’s so easy to include quirks that yank our readers right out of our stories and dump them back into the real world. I don’t know…
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Medical Resources for Writers
If you’ve ever had a character stabbed or shot and bleeding, this post is for you. Disclaimer: there is medical content in this post. If you might find that triggering, please stop reading now. “We must take out the bullet, Jack.” Jack poured rum over Mary’s wound. “You hold her down, I’ll cut it out.”…
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Three Easy Steps to Deep Point of View
Want to level up your writing? Want to connect with your readers? Want to submerge in your character’s mind? The good news is that all three things are super achievable in three easy steps. I’m serious! The title isn’t clickbait, just a tried and trusted method to grow as a writer. All we need to…
Yolandie Horak 