Writing Tips

PLOT & STRUCTURE:

Story question

Story question II

Plotting

Story length

Openings

First sentences

Inciting incident

Middles

Endings

Key scenes

Suspension of disbelief

DIALOGUE:

Dialogue tags

Action beats

Oblique dialogue

POINT OF VIEW:

Point of view

Head hopping and POV violations

Choosing a POV character

Is third-person limited limiting?

More POV violations

Authorial intrusion

Describing POV characters

Filters

PACING:

Pace

Pace — speeding up

Pace — slowing down

Pace — an example

Pacing and mood

Action scenes

SUSPENSE:

Hooks

Foreshadowing

SHOW, DON’T TELL & DESCRIPTIONS:

The golden rule

Showing emotions

RUE

Using the senses

Backstory

Infodumping

Flashback

GOAL, MOTIVATION, CONFLICT:

Goals

Motivation

External conflict

Internal conflict

CHARACTERIZATION:

Three-dimensional characters

Strengths and weaknesses

Creating characters: Astrology (sun signs)

Creating characters: Astrology II (moon signs)

Creating characters: Astrology III (ascendant, descendant)

Creating characters: Astrology IV (Medium Coeli, Imum Coeli)

Creating characters: enneagram

Creating characters: MBTI

Character arc

Contradictions

Naming characters

Antagonists

Dressing characters

GRAMMAR, SENTENCE STRUCTURE, & WORD CHOICE:

Stimulus/response

The serial comma

FAD

Feeling tense about tenses

The “Burly Detective” syndrome

Dangling participles

More participle problems

Pronouns

Word repetitions

Word choice in historical fiction

REVISING & EDITING:

Major revisions

Minor revisions

MS Word: readability statistics

MS Word: highlighting overused words

BETA READERS & EDITORS:

Disagreeing with beta readers

What I learned from the test-reading process

Layered beta reading

Track changes

OTHER THINGS:

Books on writing

Common mistakes in lesbian fiction

Things I liked in lesbian fiction

Writing months

Writing and learning style

Writing progress meters

The Gender Genie

Titles

Writing workshops