Write What You Know? Or Write What You Love?

September 04, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting

We’ve all heard the old adage, “Write what you know.” I’m not here today to debate this advice. In fact, I agree with it to the extent that I believe it is helpful to ground the emotions and feelings of your characters in emotions and feelings you know well, even if your characters’ experiences vary widely from your own. But the wisdom of “Write what you know” isn’t what I want to discuss today. I want to discuss the wisdom of “Write what you love.”

Falling Out of Love with Your Novel Idea

September 04, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting

It happens to every writer. An idea comes to you, and you are floating around the ceiling with inspiration. For a day or two, or maybe even a week, you’re ecstatic with the beauty of this concept. You write with an enthusiasm you rarely feel, until… the good feeling is gone. You fall out of love with your novel idea, and abandon the book.

Great Dialogue: Learn to Write It by Studying Plays

September 03, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Writing great dialogue is a skill that improves with practice. One way to learn how to write great dialogue is through the study of plays. By watching, reading, and breaking down well-written plays, a fiction writer can uncover techniques that help create vivid, realistic, and effective dialogue.

Inner Monologue: How to Use It to Reveal Character

September 03, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Inner monologue in writing is the revelation of the character’s thoughts in the narration, but not in the dialogue. It’s all the things the reader learns that the character thinks, feels, and believes, but doesn’t say out loud. It can be used to reveal a character’s inner truths, inner conflicts, or outward deceptions.

Researching Your Story--A Four-Step Method

September 01, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Research is essential to authentic, believable fiction. However, this isn’t to say that the author who does the most research writes the best book. So how do you know how much research is enough, and when should it be done? Read on to learn my personal four-step method of researching a novel.

Create Characters Who Keep Secrets

August 30, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Creating characters that are multi-dimensional involves knowing as much about them as possible. That includes knowing your characters’ secrets, and who they are keeping them from. All people keep secrets, and knowing your characters’ secrets will help you make them more well-rounded and add layers to their personalities.

How to Focus on Writing

August 30, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Do you find it hard to focus on writing? Focus is not an inborn talent, but a skill that can be learned. By making small tweaks to your routine, you should be able to improve your ability to focus and increase your productivity. For writers, that extra productivity might make the difference between finishing a book and giving up on it.

Perseverance for Writers

August 28, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Inspiration

Perseverance is a necessary trait for writers. Perseverance is defined as “steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” (dictionary.com) Because the path to publication is littered with rejection, perseverance is a trait all writers seeking to be traditionally published need to cultivate.

Rising Action of a Story

August 26, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Rising Action is the part of your story that begins after the inciting incident and ends at the story's climax. This is the part of the story where your main character encounters a series of increasingly formidable obstacles.

Pacing in Writing

August 26, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Pacing in writing refers to the rate at which a story unfolds. The narrative pace will change over the course of a novel, slowing and speeding up at different places.

Generally, a writer wants to keep the pace moving to keep the reader engaged. The last thing a writer wants is a bored reader! However, a relentlessly fast pace can hinder the connection between the characters and exhaust the reader.

Using Symbolism in Your Writing

August 25, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Symbolism is used in writing to add depth to a story. By looking at examples of symbolism from published books, you can understand how symbols work and learn how to use symbolism in your own creative writing.

This post makes a nice companion to my recent post on motifs.

Using Motifs to Add Depth to your Writing

August 24, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Motifs—What the heck are they and why should you use them in your writing?

I will admit that, as a writer, I have often been asked, “What’s your book about?” but I’ve never even once been asked, “What are the motifs in your book?” It would appear that no one really thinks or cares about motifs, so why would a writer care to include them?

The answer is simple—motifs can add a layer of depth and meaning to your writing without being heavy-handed or interfering with your plot.

Creating a Character through Details

August 24, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Creating a character requires that a writer pay attention to the details they share. Describing a long list of traits will not necessarily create a character that is memorable or vivid. A few carefully chosen details can be much more effective.

Creating Conflict for your Characters Using Conditioning Forces

August 23, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting, Revising

Creating conflict isn’t just about creating obstacles. Conditioning forces are one kind of obstacle that writers can use to create conflict for their characters.

The concepts in this post come from Uta Hagen’s great handbook, Respect for Acting, first published in 1973. Though Hagen’s book was written as a guide for actors, many of its ideas on creating a character can be applied to the art of writing.

Creating the Perfect Foil for your Hero

August 21, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting

Creating interesting and memorable characters—especially main characters—can be the most thrilling part of writing. When you create a fascinating character, it's sometimes difficult to find ways to show all of the traits that make your character so special. One way to be sure that your character's strengths and weaknesses are vivid and unmistakable is to match your character with a foil.

The Hero's Journey

August 19, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh in Drafting

All writers are storytellers. Today's bestselling authors share this with the creators of the ancient myths of human kind. In fact, the best stories seem to incorporate the principles of myth in ways that are dramatic, entertaining, and true to the human experience.

Write. Revise. Submit.

August 19, 2020 by Julie Eshbaugh

Hi friends! Some of you might know that I’ve been a contributor on the writing site publishingcrawl.com, AKA Pub(lishing) Crawl, AKA PubCrawl, since about 2010. (Before that site became PubCrawl, it was Let the Words Flow. Maybe you remember that site, too. I know some of you go way back with me!)