I saw this video on Facebook. It’s amazing, so watch it. If you scrolled without watching, allow me to summarize: many popular songs were written using the same four-chord progression. These guys crammed thirty-six (or so, I lost count) song snippets into five minutes without changing the four-chord structure. The transitions are seamless. They cross genres, including…
Everyone knows we feel better overall if we eat healthy foods and exercise. Or as Chuck Wendig said somewhere, we would do well to treat ourselves better than we would treat a bathroom at Wendy’s. Turns out there’s a reason for that advice. I’ve been admittedly lazy the past several months. For a little while I was…
One of the Great Truths in the Writer’s Bible is this: the cover can make or break the success of your book. Doesn’t matter how good the stuff inside is. If the cover isn’t intriguing (or worse, if it’s deterring), if it doesn’t compel the potential reader to buy/borrow, it hasn’t done its job. Period. Since…
Don’t worry, this post is still approved for general audiences. Though if you’re looking for the more adult definition, this is the interwebs. Just don’t be gone too long, because that might not help your career advancement. Anyway. This post is about writers who make it, the ones who find the magical combination of timing…
As I scrolled through my blog reader last night, I stumbled across a simple pic post on Pearls Before Swine. I loved it so much I stole the title (hope you don’t mind, Yecheilyah). Go check out her blog as a thank you. Below is the pic from the post. It gave me one of those whoa…
Today’s post comes courtesy of the lovely and talented Cathleen Townsend, who offers some insight into what she sees when she wears her critique-ing hat. Take it away, Cathleen! ***** Allison suggested a guest post on critiquing, and I’ve actually been thinking about it for some time. I could simply give you a checklist, but…
Yesterday, I read this great article by Nat Russo about how important it is for writers to master the craft before we start defending our style. Click on his name to read the whole thing (which I recommend), but here’s a chunk of it: You’ve heard people do this. When you offer constructive criticism, they’ll…
Every story needs certain elements to be a story. We’ve talked about characters, settings, and problems. If we’re following the mnemonic below, that leaves us with solutions to talk about. Cows = Characters See = Setting Pretty = Problem Sunflowers = Solution This works great for eight-year-olds learning the parts of the story they should…
I haven’t been an author for long, especially compared to the literary giants who have become household names. Most of those guys have been writing longer than I’ve been alive. But even so, having a couple published books under my belt has taught me some things – things I didn’t completely expect, though a couple…
I wasn’t planning to blog today, but then I saw this article on Facebook. Since nearly 100,000 others were talking about it, according to fb, chances are good that you saw it too. If you don’t want to read it right now (though I’d recommend doing so at some point) the premise is this: Life is…
Allison Maruska 