by Zoe M. McCarthy | Nov 1, 2018 | Writing
My guest today, Joanie Walker, gives hope to those who have always wanted to capture their life adventures into a novel. Joanie’s writing journey is a good representation of what writing hopefuls need to do to be successful. Read more about her novel, Drafted to...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Oct 25, 2018 | Writing
Deadlines are good. They help writers focus on completing book-writing tasks. Sometimes deadlines aren’t so good. Writers may carefully plan how they’re going to meet deadlines, padding their schedules for unexpected events. Then they discover the padding wasn’t...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Oct 18, 2018 | Writing
I’d never used word-count goals in writing, until my current manuscript. To complete my story by my deadline, I need to write a certain number of words per week. For the past month, what has helped me make my goal each week is a reward. I heed two rules concerning...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Oct 11, 2018 | Writing
You don’t need to use the actual place, but you could use the memories: • something you saw (good or bad) • a specific feeling you had (exhilaration, fear, sadness) • a general feeling you had (ominous, out of place, homey) • a person you met (friend, enemy,...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Oct 4, 2018 | Writing
A mix of older and newer names will make your story feel authentic to readers. You can give characters names popular to the year or decade they were born in. Most likely characters will have popular names from prior decades too. Boys often carry on family names. Below...