Camp NaNoWriMo is approaching fast. It’s fun, and highly motivating, writing alongside other writers from around the world to hit a goal in 30 days. While NaNoWriMo, held in November and awesomely amazing, is quite restrictive about what you can write and how much, Camp NaNoWriMo is much more flexible. You really can write your way. You don’t even have to be writing...
In preparation for the upcoming July session of Camp NaNoWriMo I’ve been looking for some great new music to help me through this challenge. In particular I’ve been listening to movie soundtracks, which are always excellent for painting moods and emotions. One I’ve been quite enjoying is the soundtrack for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Now, I’ve never seen the movie, but...
It’s Tuesday again, and that means another edition of Top Ten Tuesday, the awesome link-up where bloggers get to share their favourite things. Today is special, because it’s the 5th anniversary of Top Ten Tuesday. Hooray! In honour of this momentous occasion, this week we’re sharing our top ten favourite Top Ten Tuesday topics ever. I’ve been participating in Top Ten Tuesday for...
I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had trouble grasping the concept of irony. I hear people saying ‘that’s ironic’ all the time. But is it ironic? I wouldn’t really know. Well I didn’t know until I did some learning (I highly recommend that if you want to know things). Now all the secrets are mine. And now I want to share...
What’s better than one piece of writing music? Why, it’s a whole list of them of course. This week I’ve rounded up some of my favourite songs that are just perfect for romantic inspiration of all kinds. You probably recognise most of these musicians by now, and I promise I have some musical variety coming up soon, but these songs are all so...
I love a good story. Whether it’s written down in a book, drawn out in the complex threads of a TV show, or played out before me in movie form, I’m drawn to interesting plots with well-crafted characters. For me, characters are one of the make or break elements. If I don’t like the characters, you can bet I’m not likely to finish...
Editing is like being a magician. You start with a pile of words and end up with a book that will make readers laugh and cry. Line edits are one of the most important part of this magical process. This is where you take a good plot and turn it into great writing that will keep people glued to the pages until 2am....
Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted a Writing Music post. But while it’s been on hiatus, I’ve been busy discovering plenty of new music, as well as many other amazing writing resources too. Today I thought I’d share a song I’ve been enjoying recently, and also some of the most helpful or interesting links that I’ve discovered over...
Our experiences colour the way we see the world. When we’ve had a bad experience with something, it takes on a negative association in our minds. And when we encounter something new, we view it in terms of what we already know. In the same way, how our characters see the world should be coloured through their experiences. It can be as simple...
It’s been quite a while since I took part in a Top Ten Tuesday, a literary link-up hosted by TheBroke and the Bookish, but this week’s prompt was too good to pass up, combining two of my favourite things: books and movies. This week I’m listing ten books that I think would make awesome movies. If this were a perfect world and the...
Line edits are where the real magic happens. You’ve got the plot and characters nice and solid, the setting’s good and your scenes contain plenty of action and conflict. Now, in line edits, you get to give your writing the polish it needs to really stand out and grab readers. Today I’d like to share five quick line editing tips to help your...