beta-readers

How To Recognize When To Kill Your Darlings

Chapters Completed: 21

Chapters In Progress: 6

Chapters Not Started: 7

“Chronicling The Craft” is an article series where I share my experience with writing my current work-in-progress (WIP), which is a fantasy novel. Every 5,000 words, I let readers know what I’ve accomplished since the previous article and share advice, discoveries, techniques, etc. Besides the word count in each article title, a “chapter ticker” at the top also tracks my progress as I use the skip-around / “writercopter” method to write the novel. Today’s installment celebrates the book reaching 85,000 words in length.

After seeing my October schedule fill up, I took advantage of whatever free time I had in September to write, write, write. In some ways it was easy, since not much was going on offline. In other ways, however, it wasn’t. One weekend in particular left me ready to yank out my hair. Between an important bit of world-building I’d previously overlooked and revising a scene I’d previously written because its tone (not so much the content) needed to change, progress slowed to a crawl for two sessions. But that’s behind me now. It’s time to celebrate the new milestone – and then get back to work!

So, what’s happened with the WIP since the previous Chronicle? Continue reading →

Grub Street has published my new article “How to Offer Constructive Feedback that Writers Will Love” at their blog! This piece discusses the importance of critiquing other writers’ works and suggests possible questions to ask yourself when reviewing / critiquing / beta-reading someone’s manuscript. It also offers advice on more “administrative” areas such as sticking to deadlines, communicating with the author, and balancing tact and honesty in your response. If you’re considering critiquing or beta-reading manuscripts or getting ready to have others read your work, this article can help you prepare for either experience.

Click here to read “How to Offer Constructive Feedback that Writers Will Love.”

And if you missed it previously, click here to read “Hello, My Name Is…: Using Journal-Writing for Character Development,” which Grub Street published in February.

Also, many thanks to Sara Litchfield for letting me beta-read her novel The Night Butterflies and for inspiring this article! Her story offers a unique twist on dystopian science fiction, and I’m really looking forward to seeing (and re-reading) the finished product once it’s out. Click here to visit Sara’s blog / website, Right Ink On The Wall.

Coming Soon: Music Monday Reviews will return next week with my thoughts on Divided We Fall’s full-length debut CD Dreamcrusher.