Fight Scenes: A Break in Action

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fight-scene

How long does a movie’s intense action scene last? It’s not just “Bang, pow; kick, punch, roll, jump,” without pause; movies throw in little “breathers” of comedy or surprise so that the audience can take a breath or laugh to relieve the build-up of tension. Then they go back to building it up again. This way the audience’s excitement doesn’t peak and then fall, but rather is built up in smaller increments, like an up-hill hike. You might want to run the whole distance, but you’d end up burning out without breaks. However, if you time your breaks strategically, you can build up your momentum and finish with a feeling of accomplishment, rather than collapsing in relief that you’re done. So how do you do this in fiction?

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How to Find the Right Literary Agent

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pexels-photo-165226-mediumHow to find The One.

If you have no clue about how to find the right agent, go on this journey with me to find the one…

I want to develop a career as an author, say, for the next 30 years, so I’ll want to take researching an agent seriously. It’s not as easy as buying a pair of new shoes or I’d have one already, but it’s not as involved as getting married –somewhere in between. And, with all relationships, there is a bit of risk involved, but there are also ways to narrow down the search to agents that seem like a good fit.

So. Where do I start? With agents that represent books I like and genres I write.

I read about them on query tracker and publishers market places, writers blogs, and interviews. I do the research. Make sure their agency is legit/established and operates with integrity. Find out if the agent has a good track record. Pubrants has great thoughts on this.

Go deeper. I reflect.

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How to Confidently Name Your Characters

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names

Names. They’re usually the first piece of personal information you learn about a person. And they have so much power. As parents, the names we give our children (real or hypothetical) shape an essential part of who they ultimately become. It could ruin their lives.

Is that a slightly dramatic assessment? Maybe. But I’m a writer. And a theater nerd. Being dramatic is part of my DNA. Continue reading →

Author Interview: Nicole Castroman

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Pen Friends~ Welcome Nicole Castroman as she talks about her debut novel Blackhearts, her hauntingly beautiful take on Blackbeard’s origins.

SP: Can you tell us a bit of who you are and when you started writing?

Let’s see, a little bit about myself. Well, I am a twin. We are still very close and wish we could live closer to each other. I love learning about different people, languages and cultures and I speak fluent German. I know enough Spanish to get myself into trouble and can still read the Cyrillic alphabet from when I studied Russian. Continue reading →

5 Ways to Write Killer Descriptions

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When crafted well, descriptions are a powerful way to draw the reader into your world by making it realistic, believable and lovable. When done poorly, readers skim over the paragraph or worse, close the book and doom it to that dark corner of the bookshelf. All your hard work, coffee, sweat and tears are gone in an instant.

Writers tend to fall into one of two camps. Overloading the senses with trivial information, or on the other hand, not adding enough realistic detail. According to Robert McKee in his book Story, “At one end of reality is pure fact; at the other end, pure imagination. Spanning these two poles is the infinitely varied spectrum of fiction.” Where do you find your own writing?

Here we will cover five ways to span this infinitely varied spectrum to help you develop your craft.

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Waiter, There’s Some Reality in My Fantasy Soup

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sick-little-girl

Being sick in reality stinks, as I’ve often had opportunity to learn while living overseas. And since the last few days were spent recalling just why being sick is the worst, sickness is a good place to start on a new section of writing tips: keeping the annoyances of real life in your writing (Part 1) for the sake of authenticity, plot, characterization… you get the idea.

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Author Interview: Josh Lacey

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Pen friends,
The Spinning Pen, (Nova) had the pleasure of meeting British Author Josh Lacey at the China Bookworm Literary Festival and asked him to share his thoughts on writing, publishing and his books!

SP: Welcome Josh! Can you tell us a bit of who you are and when you started writing?

I have to admit I don’t really like talking about myself. That’s probably one of the reasons that I write fiction: I like to step out of the photograph, or hold the camera, rather than smiling into the lens. I’d really prefer to follow the example of Henry Green and Lemony Snicket, two of my favourite writers, both of whom would only be photographed from behind.

But I don’t want to be difficult, so I’ll will certainly tell you a bit about who I am. Continue reading →