In my previous post, I reviewed On Writing by Stephen King. Next, I chose Evan Marhsall’s The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing. On the front cover it purports to be a 16-step program guaranteed to take you from idea to completed manuscript. I read user reviews on Amazon praising the content. At[......]
Category > Insight of a Born Again Writer-Editor
Writing Books – The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall
Writing Books – On Writing by Stephen King
In my last post, The Writing Books I’m Reading, I said that I had purchased 6 books on how to write that I would read and review. I decided to re-read Stephen King’s On Writing (A Memoir) first, a book given to me as a gift by a writer many years ago.
The 62-year-old author needs little [......]
The Writing Books I’m Reading
Over the coming months I will be writing a series of posts about 7 books that discuss the topic of Writing.
While adding books from Amazon to a section of the Perpetual Prose Book Store called Writer’s Essentials, I decided to purchase a few of them. Using the synopses and user reviews, I pick[......]
Nintendo Wii Equals Bestselling Author?
I know you’re wondering what the Nintendo Wii game console has to do with writing. If you look closely, there’s an important lesson you can learn from this Japanese video gaming giant.
But first, a quick history lesson for the uninitiated. Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Company Ltd. [......]
Social Media – Your New Best Friend
When Facebook and MySpace took off, I ignored them. Then came a slew of copycat social networking websites that attracted thousands and even millions of members. I ignored them, too.
As an individual, I’m an introvert and have no need for online interaction with my own friends or complete stra[......]
Flash Fiction Explained
Wikipedia describes flash fiction as fiction of extreme brevity, weighing in at 1000 words or less. Flash fiction is often confused with micro fiction, an even shorter style with a maximum word count of 100.
This writing form can be likened to a blog post or article where you are forced to employ an[......]
7 Keys to Being a Good Writer
In previous posts, I mentioned two essential aspects of a good writer in detail — Inspiration and Discipline. I would now like to add five more:
- Learning
- Research
- Knowledge
- Experience
- Perseverence
These round out the pieces of the puzzle as I see them.
Learning
This is the ongoing process of[......]
How to Protect Your Writing
A writer’s work is most precious to him or her. We pour our mind, heart and soul, and a healthy dose of blood, sweat and tears into our masterpieces. Like a mother protecting her newborn, a writer must protect their writing at all costs.
There are three occurrences of particular concern.
Loss [......]
Challenge Yourself to Write Other Genres
Reminiscing about my peak period of writing some years ago, I started thinking about genres. Despite displaying aptitude in assignments at school, I was never much of a reader or writer as a child. I read mostly novelizations of my favorite science fiction TV show, Doctor Who, and comic books like T[......]
Discipline vs Procrastination – Writer’s Tug of War
Every writer must battle the tug of war between procrastination and discipline. Procrastination is a dead-set killer. It places a barrier between writer and keyword or writer and pen. Discipline is the opposing force that shatters that barrier and drives the writer to do what he or she does best [......]
