Category Archives: Plot
The Hunger Games–the Book Versus the Movie
I finally read THE HUNGER GAMES last week in anticipation of seeing the movie this past Friday. What surprised me most about the cinematic interpretation was its point of view. I won’t share any spoilers, but if you want to … Continue reading
First Snowfall
We’ve had a few days of wintry weather here in Portland, including a lovely, swirling blizzard-like snowfall Tuesday night. The next morning, though, we woke up to slush and rain. My husband and I talked about that little-kid feeling of … Continue reading
Interview: Speculative Fiction Author Duncan Ellis on NaNoWriMo Priorities, Plotting and Caffeine Consumption
In honor of National Novel Writing Month, and the bleary-eyed scribes who plan to hunker over their computers throughout November, today’s Seven Questions interview is with speculative fiction author Duncan Ellis. Duncan has completed NaNoWriMo seven times, which means he … Continue reading
Getting Lost in a Novel: Pat Conroy’s “South of Broad”
My mom doesn’t read much fiction these days. Because when she’s fully immersed in a story, she doesn’t want to do anything but read. Everyday obligations become obstacles. They keep her from the page, and the next page, and being … Continue reading
Giving Myself Permission to Revise
Once again I’m preparing to break the sacred first-draft rule: Don’t revise. I break this all the time, but don’t always admit to it. When I blogged about submitting my first draft to my critique group in mid-September, Jody Moller … Continue reading
The Barbie Jeep Method: Part 2
After writing in high gear for the past few weeks and finding myself stuck, I thought about the Hero’s Journey workshop I took with Stevan Allred and Joanna Rose this spring. We had homework–making a giant picture of our character’s … Continue reading
The Barbie Jeep Method of First Drafts
My 4-year-old is obsessed with a hand-me-down Barbie Jeep that actually runs. She floors it and races across our back yard, then drops her foot off the pedal at the last possible moment. By last possible moment, I mean she … Continue reading
Hitting the Send Button
I just submitted the first 85,000 words of my novel, LOST NOTES, to my trusty critique group. Now the waiting begins–two months’ worth, in this case. We’ll meet in mid-November for my critique. In the meantime, I’ll be working on … Continue reading
This Riot Isn’t in My Outline…
My outline failed this week, halfway through my historical novel. Until now I’ve been rowing along happily using my outline as the oars. I didn’t write down every scene, so there’s been a lot of invention along the way and … Continue reading
