Gambling was a part of life in the Regency Era. Card games abounded: faro, whist, hazard. Fortunes were won and lost on a nightly basis in the clubs, gaming hells, and card rooms of London. But I don’t want to talk about those kinds of stakes today. Moving forward again in Writing the Breakout Novel…
And with this post, I’m diving back into Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass. I didn’t completely abandon it over the last week, but I haven’t had big chunks of time to work without distractions, so this exercise has taken longer than usual. I think the title of this exercise is a little…
Just like a piece of music won’t sound good if it’s played at all the same volume, writing needs to ebb and flow in its power and intensity as well. This isn’t always about the plot and intrigue, but sometimes it’s about your characters. Are they always running full tilt toward those windmills you have…
Working along in the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass, now that I’ve supposedly gotten a good grip on who my characters are and what they want, the next exercise is to figure out how to make them larger than life and discover the one thing they’d never say, never do, or never…
I’m sure everyone is going to be sick of the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass by the time I’m done, but I’m finding it useful to think about these topics from outside the point of view of thinking only about my characters and I hope it provides someone else some insight along…
Today’s exercise that I’m working on from the Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maasshas to deal with choosing defining qualities. What makes your characters who they are and not someone else? While you may take the easy route ( I seem to do so often enough! ) and choose an archetype that represents…
I got the Workbook that goes with Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I read the main book a while ago, and I haven’t had a chance to read much beyond the first chapter of the workbook yet, but what I’m seeing looks like a lengthy, but worthwhile endeavor. The first exercise asks, “Who…
So, I got an reply email from DH after I sent him to let him know I fixed a couple things on his website: “Shouldn’t you be writing? ;)” Doh. Caught procrastinating again. He knows how I get when a puzzle is put in front of me. To be honest, I have been running a…
13 Questions for Hugh Leighton I decided to take Dana’s advice and put the reticent viscount on the spot. Now, I didn’t force him to wear pink or call him “Bo Peep”, he knows if he doesn’t cooperate, he might just be attending the masquerade dressed as such. I think the Duke and…
The exercise today on Romance Divas in their author of the month workshop with USA Today Bestselling Author C. L. Wilson is to take a scene we’ve already written and revise it so that it has a completely different tone. I’ve been thinking about which scene to use and am coming up with a blank,…