Cynthia Harrison

Novelist

Category: Revision

  • The Ultimate No

    Yesterday, I posted about my experience with bending the “no internal monologue” rule I’d  been following with these past two books. What I didn’t say, that in breaking that rule, I also broke the cardinal rule of writing fiction: show don’t tell. The thing with rules is, they’re like the English language, there’s always an exception. And I’ve read lots of writers…

  • Clarifying Motivation

    The biggest suggestion I got from one agent was that my hero/heroine’s motivation was murky. She asked some specific questions to show what plot points and actions she had trouble deciphering. She said clearing up the motivation would smooth out the confusion and deepen the conflict between them. Great advice, right? I thought so, too. There was only one…

  • 28,028

    A little more than halfway there with word count on the WIP. Although word count doesn’t really matter on first drafts, getting the heart and soul of the story down is what matters. And I’m doing that. *2 Figured out how to correct the problem my critique partners had with my other story. It’s a pretty easy fix, too.…

  • Show Somebody

    Met with my critique group yesterday. Three (sometimes four) of us get together once a month to go over our pages. Being in a critique group is the most helpful thing I do to improve my writing. If you are writing a novel, show it to somebody. And not your mom, unless she is Nora Roberts. Show another writer or…

  • Personal Best

    Last July I came up with what I thought was a great idea. “I have three romantic comedies, category length but not Harlequin material, I want to put out as e-books.” It’s true I have three books I want to publish. Except they are not romantic comedies.  Only one is category length. And it IS Harlequin material. The e-book idea got stopped dead when I…