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Dear Friend,
Publishing is a blanket that covers a myriad of hidden trap doors, sand pits of quicksand that suck time and aggressive publishing services telling you they're the golden ticket to the bestsellers. In among it all, people lose their drive to write, because the need to publish takes over. We not only forget how good it feels, but we also forget the need to constantly hone our craft, because all the marketing in the world will not help a good book float in a turbulent sea of word-sharks.
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This month I'm honing my writing craft with the help of the book Dear Writer Revisited at my other blog, The Original Fantasy (yes, there is a second one!). I've set myself a 6 week challenge, to blog my way through this book every second day in an effort to improve my prose and give my slack-arse self a kick up the bottom. Every second day I will blog about a new technique I have learnt to tighten, tone and tan my prose into top shape. Each Dear Writer post will be interspersed with the final blogs on what I learnt from Isobelle Carmody, so you should have your full PDF by the end of the 6 weeks!
I've already been going for a week, so here are some posts to sink your teeth into!
Dear Writer - Start Your Engines
In which we discuss THE PLAN, setting up a Writing Cave and Writing Truths. There are also posters for you to print out for said Writing Cave.
Know Where You Are - Filling In The Details Of Your Story
We all have those filler phrases in our first draft "and then there was fire, then Kate exploded, then shit went down". This post is all about filling in the details during the dreaded rewrites-of-death.
Stop Trying To Be [Insert Famous Writer's Name Here] - Dear Writer Letter One
Where we talk about avoiding imitation. If you can't get published, and you can't get traction self-publishing, then you're looking for your stories in the wrong place.
Merging Characters - Cull Your Robot Clone Army
Sometimes we create more characters than we need, little character clones running around with a different name and face but essentially doing the same thing. Here we talk about why those characters need to merge into one super character.
To Add A Word Or Take A Word, That Is The Question - Dear Writer Letter Two
While some writers can use adjectives and adverbs to great effect, chances are, you're not one of them. Sorry. *Not sorry*. It's ok, I'm still learning too. In this blog we explore how to polish that description until it shines.
Hope these help you in your writing journey!
On a more personal note, I’ve finally recovered from the wonder that way Genrecon, held at the QLD Writers Centre, not only did I get to meet the lovely John Connelly, Kathryn Fox and Chuck Wendig, but I also got to have dinner with them! Even got a mention in Chuck’s blog.
Warmly,
Emily
(e) ebookrevolution@yahoo.com
(b) http://theoriginalfantasy.blogspot.com.au
(b) http://ebookrevolution.blogspot.com
(w) http://www.emily-craven.com
(t) http://twitter.com/ecfantasywriter
Fiction:
***The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain is out now! A YA comedy set in Facebook***
(w) http://www.madelinecain.com
(t) http://twitter.com/TheMadelineCain
(f) http://www.facebook.com/GrandAdventuresOfMadelineCain
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