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Putting Your Truth in Your Fiction

Feb 28 2019
Posted in:
Writing Life

In October 2016, I began working up the idea for a new story. It involved a dangerous race that started with the contestants entering into drug-induced amnesia. As you can imagine, memory loss was a big part of the story. Fast-forward to January 2017. My parents moved back to Pennsylvania from South Carolina because my father needed extra help caring for his wife. Although I knew my stepmom was having issues, it wasn’t until I […]

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A New Method for Antagonists

Feb 6 2019
Posted in:
Beginner Resources, Writers Toolbox, Writing Life

I’ve had the pleasure over the past few summers to teach at Duke Young Writers’ Camp. One of my favorite courses was a Dark Fiction class for middle grade students. It was an opportunity to walk young writers through fiction that really pushes the boundaries. Unsurprisingly, many of my young writers go a little too far. One infamous story featured a villainous assassin targeting a list of grandmothers. It was a great opportunity to talk […]

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Your Characters Should Want Things

Nov 2 2018
Posted in:
Writers Toolbox

A couple of months ago, I had the privilege of hearing Naomi Novik, author of UPROOTED and SPINNING SILVER, speak about fantasy and folklore at a local bookstore. She likened fairy tales to desire lines: those eroded paths in grass or woodland that form when many people seek out the same things—a shortcut, a nice view, a way around an obstacle. They can endure for centuries. Fairy tale characters are full of desires: they want […]

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Characters – then and now

Nov 18 2016
Posted in:
Beginner Resources, Writers Toolbox

At a book festival this week, I was on a panel about characters and how to develop them. One of the audience members had a fantastic question that was basically: How have your characters (and the way you develop them) changed from your first book to your latest book? I went from the first book I wrote, rather than the first book I published, because the first book I published was actually the seventeenth book […]

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Creating Character Voice

Oct 17 2016
Posted in:
Beginner Resources, Miscellaneous, Writers Toolbox

Hi PubCrawlers! Julie here, and today I want to talk a bit about Character Voice—that is, the pattern of thought and speech that is unique to each character. A strong and distinct voice will help bring a character to life on the page. I want to be clear in differentiating Character Voice from Writer’s Voice, or the voice you as a writer bring to your stories. JJ and Kelly have a great podcast about Writer’s […]

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