Writing -

09Feb 2016 by Dianna L. Gunn

Investing in your writing career: when, why and how much?

Let's start with a fact we all know: building a writing career is hard work. It's hard to become a freelance writer and it's much, much harder to become a successful fiction writer. Even the best and brightest among us put years of hard work into their craft before they see any measurable success. The few who do manage to become popular with their first published novels often wrote several others first; those who get the first book they wrote published have often spent years writing short stories. Luckily we live in the internet age, which means there are thousands of resources to help you speed up your own career. You can learn about how to get excellent freelance jobs from Linda Formichelli of The Renegade Writer or Sophie Lizard of Be a Freelance…

26Jan 2016 by Dianna L. Gunn

Writing Fight Scenes by Marie Brennan

Book Reviews, Reading Related

If you're anything like me, fighting scenes are among the most challenging. Even if they flow when you're writing them, they sound wooden when you go back. You spend twice as much time on fight scenes as any other scenes in the book, sometimes more than that. So you might be pretty excited about the title of this book. I know I was. In fact, it was one of the most exciting titles I saw in the Writer Tools book bundle. Marie Brennan is an author who has not only written many fight scenes in her time but who also has some practical experience in both martial arts and fencing. She uses examples from her own work and life as well as some well known books and movies including The Princess…

05Jan 2016 by dlgunn

Writerly Goals 2016

Goal setting, Increasing productivity, Writing

Last week I shared my accomplishments of 2015 and--in the interest of both accountability and education--today I'm going to share my goals for the year of 2016. This year I've actually also divided the goals into quarters and even figured out how far to progress on each goal during the first four months of the year. Of course, this is always subject to change, but I'm pretty proud of the way I've broken things down: 1. Submit Good Bye to 30 publishers(or until I get a contract) -- Good Bye is actually a novella so this is a somewhat ambitious number, but it's totally doable. January: Finish editing Good Bye and edit the synopsis/query(queries will be customized but the blurb will be the same for each one) 3-5 times. Submit the initial batch…

28Jul 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

What is this creature?

Uncategorized

The final image I'll be sharing in London. What is this creature? Is it actually a plushie holding a plushie holding a plushie? Or is it some kind of spirit? Let me know what you think in the comments section below!

09Jul 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Special Author Spotlight: Devorah Fox

Writing

An author I interviewed last November contacted me recently and let me know she's going to be in an awesome anthology--coming out in just a few days! I normally don't do two interviews with the same author in such a short period of time, but Devorah's excitement is contagious so I've decided to bring her back. Please give Devorah Fox a warm welcome. 1. We last spoke in November 2014. Can you talk a little bit about where you were in your writing career at the time? November 2014 I was deep into National Novel Writing Month, endeavoring to write 50,000 words in 30 days. This was my fourth NaNoWriMo marathon and I'm pleased to report that I was again successful. Those words are the start of "The Redoubt," Book…

30Jun 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

13 Inspiring quotes from awesome authors

Author Interviews

Every week for most of this blog's lifetime I've interviewed a different author. After four years of regular interviews, The Dabbler's archives have become an invaluable resource, filled with advice on every part of the writing process. So I'm making an ebook. This ebook will be a compilation of quotes from various authors I've interviewed over the years. So far the ebook has 22 quotes from more than 10 authors--and I've still got more than 30 interviews to go through. This ebook will be my next subscriber freebie, so if you want to see it when it's finished you should take a moment to sign up for my newsletter. In the meantime, here's a preview--13 of the quotes I'll be including in this awesome ebook. What authors have to say about planning…

11Jun 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Author Spotlight: Michelle Mogil

Author Interviews

Today's author writes science fiction and fantasy, short stories and novels. She's also got some interesting thoughts on what it takes to be a writer. Please give Michelle Mogil a warm welcome. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your most recent novel? The Melancholy Man is the third novel in my Love Eternal Series. The Blurb: Esther Blackwell thought she had written works of fiction: two novels about a middle-aged couple who, through an odd series of circumstances, become blood-sucking creatures of the night. Then, her characters start showing up in her life and stirring everything up. Esther finds herself drawn into their surreal world by one particularly long, lean ancient Irishman who can't seem to keep his hands — or his teeth — off of her. It…

02Jun 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Why patience is particularly important for writers

Novels, Writing: The Process

[caption id="attachment_2170" align="alignleft" width="450"] I waited 10 years to get back to Scotland and it was totally worth it![/caption] To write a great book, one that leaves emotional impact, you need a great many tools, but one of the most important tools is patience. In fact, patience is as important as passion. Why is patience so important? Well, I think this quote explains it nicely: “A good book isn’t written, it’s rewritten.” ~Phyllis A. Whitney Rewriting is a natural part of the process, and every book needs a different number of rewrites to be transformed from a first draft into a great novel. Even the best writers sometimes go through seven or eight rewrites. And these rewrites often take varying amounts of time. Your first rewrite might take six months and…

26May 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Great writing isn’t about structure, it’s about emotions

Novels

[caption id="attachment_2159" align="alignleft" width="200"] I read this book in London![/caption] What separates a great novel from a good one? What makes one book stand out in your mind forever while countless others drift off to be forgotten? What keeps you coming back to an author, time and time again? Your first instinct is probably to say something very writer-y. Something about the kind of plot, the worldbuilding, the characters. But it isn't really any of those things. I mean, it is--these things are all important--but these are the superficial things. What really makes a great book stand out from a good one is deeper than that. It's emotion, the emotion being poured out of the book and into you. The best books can make us laugh in one chapter…

14May 2015 by Dianna L. Gunn

Author Spotlight: Ben Hennessy

Author Interviews

Today I'd like to introduce Ben Hennessy, author of YA fantasy novel Queen of the World. He is also one of the final authors to be featured in my series of interviews spotlighting Inspired Quill Press. He'll be sharing his journey to publication and some key advice for writers still on the quest. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your novel, Queen of the World? Queen of the World is the story of a young girl named Sarene, who lives in a world where peace is maintained by the word of the Four, all-powerful mages with the ability to do anything they wish. The rulers of each nation act according to a single rule: if they wage wars with their neighbours or mistreat their people, the Four will punish them.…