Tag: Making Life Easier As a Writer

Setting Yourself Up for Success

Motivation and the Writing Life

 

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

This is another post in my series ‘making your life easier as a writer.’  This one covers how we can set ourselves up for a successful writing session with a little prep work.

We hear a lot about how to ensure easier mornings by preparing the night before (pulling an outfit out, making sure the kids have their school backpacks ready to go, picking up for 10 minutes in the evening), but the same thing goes for writing sessions, too.

I’m an early morning writer, but I think my tips can be adjusted for any writing schedule. Continue reading

Know Your Genre and Write in Series

Business of Writing

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Today I’m posting another entry in my series ‘making life easier as a writer.’  With today’s post, I want to add a proviso: this advice is only if you do really want to make life easier. If you aren’t writing commercial fiction or if you’re really wanting to pursue a one-off book, that’s definitely what you should do.

Genre:  Especially if you’re just starting out (but even if you’re a veteran writer), it’s easiest to write a story that fits perfectly into a particular genre…especially a genre that you’re very well-read in and acquainted with.Continue reading

Limiting the Number of Characters

Writing Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig 

This is the second post in a short series about making our lives easier as writers. One thing that I’ve tried to be more conscious of as the years have gone by is limiting the number of characters I introduce in a story or series.

With a cozy mystery series, for example, the field of characters is already going to be pretty crowded. You have a sleuth and a sidekick and around five suspects. And then you have recurring characters: friends and family of the sleuth and  some sort of police presence.

The more characters we add, the harder it is for readers to keep up.  And we run the risk of not having the space to make the characters more than one-dimensional.Continue reading

Beginning Close to the Action

Writing Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m running a short blog series on making your life easier as a writer. I’m planning on sharing a few tips that I’ve learned over the years (often through making mistakes).

Starting it out today is a quick tip for writers: get the central action of the story started as soon as possible.

Some writers advocate starting in medias res, or in the middle of the action.  This can work too, if you can handle a bit of backstory well later (how did our heroes get in this situation? Who are these people and why should we care about them? What’s going on?)

But starting in the middle of things comes with its own set of problems, too.  The stakes aren’t as high when readers aren’t yet invested in the characters.Continue reading

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