All Blog Posts Tagged 'research' (27)

Jumpstarting Your Work

Dreaded writer’s block. Your muse has left you for another writer, the empty computer screen mocks you every day with it’s silent emptiness. Horrible, huh? Well, I have a confession to make. I know nothing about it, because it’s never happened to me. I’ve gotten too busy to write, or distracted with other things, or just been too out of it to get anything accomplished. But days on end where I can’t write anything? Nope. So here are a few suggestions to help on those days where your current WIP… Continue

Added by M.C. Peery on September 24, 2009 at 4:57am — 2 Comments

What's in a Line? Best First Sentances

Best First Sentences

The American Book Review has a list of the 100 best opening sentences of all time. I think they did pretty well, although I think they missed the boat by not including some of the great suspense/mystery openers, but by nature a list like this has to be incomplete. Only 100? With all the books that have been written that’s just a drop in the bucket. I have found this list to be endlessly inspiring, however, and so I present it to you (along with a few of my other… Continue

Added by M.C. Peery on September 20, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Writing Tools - New Project Worksheet

I have had way too many ideas that I forgot for lack of writing them down. So I have learned how to keep them. Even if I have plenty to work on right now, later on when I just can’t focus, I go to one of my folders and jumpstart my muse with them. When there’s a new concept I start on it right away, even if I’m busy with another project. At the very least I put the pertinent details down so they can be remembered. Now this is only true with pretty detailed ideas, anything very basic or vague… Continue

Added by M.C. Peery on September 10, 2009 at 4:30am — No Comments

Building Trust in the Reader (And How Not To Do It)

(Also posted on One Bite at a Time.)

I’m not a nit-picker when I read. I don’t care if there’s not really a door that opens directly onto Penn Avenue from Heinz Hall. Minor mistakes or changes can be lived with, so long as they don’t mess with historical facts (Germany can’t win the war, unless that’s the premise of the book), the author doesn’t get too specific (if you need a gun to have a safety, don’t specify it’s a… Continue

Added by Dana King on July 3, 2009 at 5:12am — 5 Comments

On Writing and Research (R)

I couldn't say which I enjoy more: writing or doing research so I can write. Whether it's silly trivia or serious research for an upcoming book, I jump in with both feet and can spend hours at it without realizing it.

A library pulls me in and keeps me all day, and suddenly I wake up and wonder whether I should have lunch, only to find that it's more like dinner time. I take ten times more notes than I can even use when I'm using a historical setting. There's just so much of… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on June 18, 2009 at 9:47pm — 3 Comments

Speaking of Research...

The more I learn about a time period, the more I want to know but the less I want to visit. Using powdered rabbit head for tooth cleaning doesn't appeal to me, but for the Tudors it was either that or honey.

I'll stick to minty-flavored chemicals.

More than the day-to-day oddities, I'd object to the overall likelihood of pain and death at an early age. The government, the entity formed to care for its people, could brand, maim, imprison, or even kill a person pretty much at the… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 19, 2008 at 10:22pm — 3 Comments

Research Now or Research Later?

You're whirring along at a good clip, the story is playing out in your mind just ahead of your fingers on the keyboard. Events happen that need to happen, and people act out their fictional lives at your command. Suddenly, you realize that you don't know if Character A could have done as he did. There will have to be research, and the question is, do you do it now, or do you mark that passage and come back to it?

Can't give a definite answer, because I'm of two minds. Sometimes I… Continue

Added by Peg Herring on December 18, 2008 at 9:59pm — 3 Comments