I took this photo without being able to see my phone screen while I did it. Right!?! I think sometimes I try too hard. (I can hear you all pretending to be shocked.) When I first started writing, I didn't worry so much about everything. Then, I started to take it seriously, and my feelings … Continue reading Without Trying
Tag: creativity
MAPS!
I was lounging in The Chairs at Miscon 32 with a friend, Jeff Howe. We hadn't seen each other in a year, so we were catching up on each other's lives. He mentioned he was going to use some old National Geographic maps as story prompts. Enamored with this brilliance, I told him I'd be … Continue reading MAPS!
Collaborative Brainstorming
This was a new panel for Miscon 32, and I loved the honesty of it. Rhiannon Held, urban fantasy author, and Krista Wallace, author/actress/musician, spoke and acted. They listed ideas and then modeled behaviors - ones that opened up creativity and others that closed it down. My notes are practically illegible, but here's what I … Continue reading Collaborative Brainstorming
World-Building, Part II
The world-building panel at Miscon 32 moderated by Brandon Sanderson was crammed with ideas. This is Part Two. On designing governments, Sanderson said he's fascinated with the push/pull of who is said to be in charge versus who is actually in charge and who makes law. He recommended C.G.P. Grey's Rules for Rulers. He added … Continue reading World-Building, Part II
World-Building, Part I
This panel at Miscon 32 was full of people saying things from brains that aren't my own. It was wild. You know what I mean by that, right? Someone says something, and you think, "Whoa. What a cool way to view the world!" And your viewpoint shifts as if they pulled aside a blue veil. … Continue reading World-Building, Part I
Lily’s Contract
*throws confetti* This is the last installment! It's been 52 weeks! An entire year! I wrote the first draft of a novel by writing 500-800 words a week. You can do this, too. The draft needs a lot of work. Revising. Editing. Layering. But the bones are mapped out for me whenever I decide to … Continue reading Lily’s Contract
Catching Up
Penultimate - the last but one This is the penultimate post in my experiment with writing an entire first draft in public. I read on the twitters today that whistling in a theater is considered good luck because sailors were often employed as stagehands. They whistled to communicate, and their whistles kept the actors safe … Continue reading Catching Up
Old Friends
For most of the story installments, I've been able to cut the scene where it counts. Not so this time, so know that I know, and I'm sorry. This one lands with a clunk rather than a bell chime. First drafts are wild and unwieldy. The added restriction of trying to make each entry bite-sized … Continue reading Old Friends
Make It Rain
This is week 50, and I've got 51 & most of 52 written. I'm not happy about the dangly bits at the end of the story, and I'm having trouble bringing that last scene to a satisfying conclusion. That's the hazard of a first draft where I can't go back and tweak the past to … Continue reading Make It Rain
A New Job
Chewing the furniture. Wandering in circles with wild hair and wicked untrimmed toenails. That's a first draft, man. It is what it is, and if you can write a cleaner one, I dare you to do it. This one's about done, and it's been fun. I think I might be able to see the end, … Continue reading A New Job
