By Ronda Simmons Writers spend months, even years, building the worlds where their stories take place. It’s so hard not to include every detail because let’s face it, we’re kind of proud of ourselves. We created a world!
Author Archives: ncwwritingbug
Headshots. Not Only For Zombies.
By Brian Kaufman In my novel, Dead Beyond the Fence, headshots were a pretty big deal. The ambulatory dead kept coming unless you wallop them above the shoulders. My protagonist used a tool formerly used to open crates or pry apart boards. This prompted one kind reviewer to comment, “Kaufman is the new king of theContinue reading “Headshots. Not Only For Zombies.”
The Words Matter
By Eleanor Shelton On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain. The Declaration was actually adopted on July 2, and a clean copy signed by the congress on August 2, 1776, but let’s not quibble about a couple of days when theContinue reading “The Words Matter”
High Stakes
By David E. Sharp Stakes are all about what’s on the line in your story. But the only thing really at stake is your reader’s attention. It’s part of our job to readers invested in our story. If we do it well, we might even keep them on the edge of their seat.
Summertime Writing Productivity
By Ronda Simmons It’s been decades since I was a student, yet when the weather warms up, and the grass is green, I have difficulty focusing. I’m always looking for a hammock somewhere to enjoy a good read. My writing goals tend to suffer, and I would be willing to bet I’m not alone.
A Great Pitching Practice
By Brian Kaufman The editor from a New York publisher just wanted to go to the bathroom. The author, attending a writer’s conference in Colorado Springs, blocked the way, promising to be brief. And he was straightforward, delivering his pitch, no windup. Having agreed to look at the first 30 pages of the novel, theContinue reading “A Great Pitching Practice”
Under The Provincial Sun
(Or I’m Bored. I think I’ll write a book.) By Eleanor Shelton My mother and father have been living in Turkey stuck after the pandemic shut everything down. A Covid vacation, if you will. During my last phone call with my mother, she said, “Well, I’ve read all the books I brought. I might asContinue reading “Under The Provincial Sun”
Palimpsest in The Modern World
By Ronda Simmons What is a palimpsest, you ask? It is defined as a manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely scraped off or erased and often legible.
There’s A Word for That
By Brian Kaufman We all have them. In some sort of order or disarray, a growing pile of TBR. It’s a compulsion. Getting groceries. Pick up a book. Going to the movies. Slip into Barnes and Noble while you wait. At the airport. Oooh, new best seller. Maybe during the pandemic, we’ve slowed down, butContinue reading “There’s A Word for That”
May The 4th Be with You
By Eleanor Shelton It was recently May 4th. Don’t mock. An argument could be made that it is a more appropriate holiday than the following day. George Lucas has said that he was inspired by of the earliest Celtic stories of Arthur and the paladins in The Mabinogion and reimagined it as a space odyssey.Continue reading “May The 4th Be with You”
