Author: Victoria

Every year I write a series of NaNoWriMo posts like the bizarre and inexplicable 5 Ways to Make Your Novel Unforgettable, 5 Ways to Make Your Novel Helplessly Addictive, and 5 Ways to Make Your Novel Inescapable. Last week we looked at Running into the Jaws of NaNoWriMo. And for… Read more“3 Essential Guidelines for NaNoWriMo”

We’re talking about the joy and fullfillment of writing. We’re talking about how to find gratitude through writing. And today we’re going to talk about how we find community through writing. It’s not only about the words. It’s not only about the readers. It’s about all of us. . .being… Read more“How to Find Community Through Writing”

Joy and fullfillment. Yes. Are you grateful for your life? I am. Are you grateful for just being alive? I am. How does writing help me find that gratitude? I’ll tell you a secret: it’s whole the reason I do it. Gratitude. Because we only get this one mortal coil…. Read more“How to Find Gratitude Through Writing”

Today we’re going to go to my all-time most-often-viewed post: 10 Things to Do to Become a Better Writer in 10 Days. Now, I’m not entirely certain why this particular post has garnered as much interest as it has. Maybe it’s because we love to idea of becoming substantially better… Read more“10 Things to Do to Become a Better Writer in 10 Days”

This topic came from @__Deb, and it’s such a good idea I’m going to extrapolate from it for two more weeks, covering all three aspects of scene: description, action, dialog. “Show, Don’t Tell.” Write scenes, not exposition. Description is important because: Details create the life on the page If there… Read more“3 Reasons Description is Important, 3 Reasons It’s Not”

You know how everyone’s always telling you “Show, Don’t Tell”? Well, that means “Write Scenes, Not Exposition.” So we’re spending three weeks covering the three aspects of scenes: description, action, dialog. Last week we did description. Next week we’ll do dialog. And this week we’re doing action. Action is important… Read more“3 Reasons Action is Important, 3 Reasons It’s Not”

We’re talking about the pros and cons of the three aspects of scenes: description, action, dialog. Now, as we all know, dialog is the mainstay of modern fiction. Raised in a world of television, radio, and telephones, we as an industrialized race are familiar with nothing if not the power… Read more“3 Reasons Dialog is Important, 3 Reasons It’s Not”

Now, you all know who Shirley Jackson was, and if you don’t you can find out from last week’s post about Stephen King. She was most famous for her story “The Lottery,” in which the citizens of a small American town draw an annual lottery to stone someone to death—a… Read more“5 Things I Learned from Shirley Jackson”

I love ghost stories. Particularly the whole gothic genre of the nineteenth century: intense questioning of reality layered with beautiful houses and dramatic landscapes and sometimes hilariously-dated kitsch. I’ve read all of Mrs. Radcliffe. Whooee! I especially love the whole concept that my love for ghost stories is the other… Read more“7 Things I Learned from Stephen King”