write practice | Phil Giunta – Paranormal, Fantasy, & SF Writer

This week, PJ Parrish weighs in on the proper use of metaphors while editor Beth Hill delves into the differences between showing and telling. At Writer Unboxed, Kathryn Craft discusses enhancing dialogue through misdirection and modulation, David Corbett provides two methods of motivating your protagonist, and Lynne Griffin advises us to knot up our stories with conflict and tension.

Jonathan Vars offers tips on creating time-bomb plots and effective use of settings, and Kate Coe reviews the etiquette of editing another writer’s work.

All that and little more… Enjoy!

Do You Dare to Eat a Peach? Finding the Perfect Metaphor by PJ Parrish

Bring Your Dialogue to Life by Kathryn Craft

Motivating the Reluctant Protagonist by David Corbett

Dying to Know, Afraid to Find Out: Building Tension in Fiction by Lynne Griffin

Building an Author Website: The First Step to Publishing by Joe Bunting

12 Tips to Get Unstuck and Finish Writing Your Book by Lorna Faith

Showing and Telling Particulars by Beth Hill

3 Tips to Creating a Time Bomb Plot Device and How to Create a Setting from Nothing in 5 Steps by Jonathan Vars

Editing Someone Else’s Work by Kate Coe

About This Writing Stuff was once a weekly feature on my blog until April 2015. As life became increasingly hectic, I was unable to maintain that schedule. I revived it briefly on New Year’s Eve last year and kept it going for about a month or two into 2016 before I again became overwhelmed.

So, let’s try this again. I can’t promise to be consistent, but I’ll do my best.

About This Writing Stuff is a collection of interesting articles from the writing and publishing world. Most are instructional, meant to provide helpful tools for writers. Some are merely news or updates, but all are meant to inform with no bias on my part. In other words, I don’t always agree with every article, but I welcome your feedback and opinions.

This week, we start with a pair of “How To’s” as Patrick Ryan provides excellent advice on the basics of short story writing, and over at Digital Book World, Penny Sansevieri wants to optimize your Goodreads giveaways.

Jami Gold helps to improve your productivity and strengthen the stakes in your story while W.B. Sullivan has something urgent to discuss. Janice Hardy and Candace Robinson offer fuel for your writing while Eileen Cook builds conflict with dialogue.

We then get down to the business of publishing and promotion with James Scott Bell, Anne R. Allen, and Barbara O’Neal.

All that and a little more. Enjoy!

How to Write a Short Story with Clarity and Economy by Patrick Ryan

How to Make the Most of Goodreads Giveaways by Penny Sansevieri

Increasing Our Productivity: Why It’s Not Simple and Strengthening Stakes: It’s Not About Going Big by Jami Gold

6 Ways to Cultivate Urgency That Will Captivate Fiction Readers by W.B. Sullivan

5 Reasons Your Plot Stalled by Janice Hardy via Jody Hedlund

4 Ways to Use Experience to Fuel Your Writing by Candace Robinson

What Authors Need to Know About the Publishing Industry Today by James Scott Bell

Selling Books on Social Media: 4 Steps to Less Wasted Time by Anne R. Allen

Money and the Writer by Barbara O’Neal

I Can’t Believe You Said That–Using Dialogue to Build Conflict by Eileen Cook