Short Fiction -

26Dec 2011 by diannagunn

Finished My Novel

Goal setting, Inspirational, Short Fiction, Writing

I managed to finish my novel last week, at around 120, 000 words. Once Nanowrimo was over and I stopped padding the word count, everything went along pretty quickly. To be honest, I kind of hurried through the last two battles because I wanted to be done with that monster draft. But I finished it, which means I get to spend my Christmas break creating a plan of attack for the next edit of Moonshadow's Guardian. For those of you still finishing your novels, keep going. Take advantage of whatever time you have off to squeeze in an extra half hour of writing in. No matter how much or how little time you have off, you can still take advantage of a slice of it to finish your novel. And…

23Dec 2011 by diannagunn

It’s Prompt Time

Inspirational, Prompts, Short Fiction, Writing

As promised, today I have a prompt for you that will hopefully inspire you to write some awesome short fiction. I won't be doing this one today because I'm really focused on finishing my novel right now, but it's on my list to write next year. So, here goes: The day I died Take that however you want, make it into whatever you want, and please share with me what angle you've taken on this prompt.

19Dec 2011 by diannagunn

Re-Evaluating your Writing Goals

Goal setting, Inspirational, Novels, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing: The Process

It's that time of year again. Everyone's after your money, the houses are all lit up with half a dozen colours, and people are singing in the streets. The new year is right around the corner and it's time to start re-evaluating our lives and deciding what changes we want to make next year. For us writers, it's important to look carefully at what we want to achieve in the next year. For those of you who are hobby writers and plan to keep it that way, you need to pick a goal that's reasonable and that fulfils your creative needs. For those of us who are aiming to become professional authors, we need to look even more carefully at our goals to make sure that they're really moving us…

02Dec 2011 by diannagunn

Introducing Penumbra

Reading Related, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing

Ordinarily my first post after the end of November would be something about what to do now that you've written your Nanovel, and while that post is coming, this year it's been made to wait. That's because I would like to introduce you to the other project I've been working on all month, the Penumbra eMagazine. Penumbra is the speculative fiction eMagazine run by Musa Publishing, the ebook publisher I've been interning with for the past three months. Since late October, I have been working with a team made up of all of Musa's interns to make December's issue of Penumbra the very best that it can be. It's been an amazing journey from raw story files to a polished and professional emagazine. Throughout the month we worked together to…

18Oct 2011 by diannagunn

5 Short Exercises to Develop Character

Novels, Prompts, Short Fiction, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Character is for many writers the driving force of their fiction. Knowing your characters thoroughly is just as important as knowing your plot. Sometimes, it's even more important. When character comes second to plot, characters often seem stereotypical and dialogue becomes wooden. In order to make your fiction come to life you must bring your characters, especially your main character, come to life for the character. I've compiled a list of exercises to help you develop your characters. You can do one of them or all of them for any and all of your characters. How much work you do to prepare for Nanowrimo is really up to you, but it's good to have a basic grasp of your characters, setting and plot before you begin. It helps to make…

05Oct 2011 by diannagunn

What to do with Your Dear Diary Project

Journalling, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Now that you've finished your Dear Diary Project, there are several things you can do with it. They range from hiding it in a corner in your basement to trying to turn it into something publishable. But before you do anything with the file or manuscript itself, you need to properly extract all the valuable information from it for later use. Extracting Information for your Dear Diary Project Now, I don't know about you, but my character profiles are pretty messy and I usually don't have much room left on the page by the time I've written a Dear Diary Project for that character. So I like to create a fact sheet, which is a simple list of facts about my character. Things like their favourite colour, what kinds of…

28Sep 2011 by diannagunn

Childhood Dreams

Journalling, Prompts, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing, Writing, Writing: The Process

Most of us, when we are very young, constantly change our minds about what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Even when we've thought we've decided on something, and we believe we've decided on it for a couple of years, our decision can still change. Some of the things that we want to do with the rest of our lives are perfectly achievable, like becoming a teacher or a nurse. Some of them are harder, like becoming a star ballerina or musician. Sometimes we change our minds because we hear about what it's really like from somebody who's been there, and we don't like it as much as we thought we would. Sometimes we just realize we can't do it, or that there's something else that…

19Sep 2011 by diannagunn

It’s Tough to be a Writer

Journalling, Prompts, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing

Writing isn't easy. Or perhaps I should say that writing well isn't easy, even for those of us who have an instinctive grasp of grammar and spelling. Fiction is particularly difficult, because you're creating new people and giving them new experiences. A good story is something like a tapestry--made up of many different elements and woven for hours upon hours upon hours. In order to write an amazing book, you need to have a strong setting, strong characters, and a good, non-stereotypical plot. And you're going to have to rewrite, because you'll probably realize that your characters aren't as tough as you thought they were, and your plot's got holes in it bigger than your windows. And after that, you're going to have to rewrite again, because on the first…

16Sep 2011 by diannagunn

And Now For Something Completely Different

Journalling, Prompts, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing, Writing: The Process

Today, or sometime this weekend, I would like you to do something completely different--something I'm trying for the first time, too--and write two Dear Diary entries. The interesting part? One will be the character whose diary you've already been working on this month, and the other will be a character of your choosing. It doesn't have to be somebody who will be in the main story you're working on. It might be more beneficial to you if it can be, because you'll get more used to their voice as well, but if it's not plausible at the time you're writing in, don't force it. On this particular day in your character's life, they've met somebody new and intriguing. Have them describe in as much detail as they usually would the…

12Sep 2011 by diannagunn

Staying Motivated When Life Interrupts

Goal setting, Inspirational, Journalling, Short Fiction, Workshops, Writing

The last couple of weeks have marked the beginning of school for many of us. Personally I'm very excited to begin the new school year, knowing that it moves me one step closer to graduation and from there I can begin the rest of my life. I'm also excited because I've got some great classes this semester--particularly Aboriginal Studies and Law--but all the excitement in the world doesn't stop me from catching sick. Which is, unfortunately, what happened to me last week. I spent most of the weekend in bed, so this is a very short post. Despite my sickness and not getting much done--I managed to forget my school binder at a friend's house on Friday evening because I was so out of it--I did manage to write a…