by Stephanie Dethlefs | Jul 6, 2021 | First Draft, Revision, writing craft
Have you heard the phrase “show, don’t tell”? Have you ever had a reader suggest that you “show” as scene rather than just explain it? And have you wondered what the heck they mean or how in the world to do it? The concept of showing vs. telling is really overused and...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | Jun 15, 2021 | First Draft, Planning your book, Revision, writing craft
There are three simple ways that we consider time: present, past, and future. Let’s think for a moment about how these impact the way we tell a story. If we tell a story about something that just happened moments ago, we are really still in the present with it. We...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | Jun 1, 2021 | Accountability, Mindset, writing craft, writing life
We are going to tackle a kind of sticky topic today: commitment. It’s sticky because to digging into this topic means really looking at what you are currently doing and what goals you have set for yourself, and noticing whether or not they are in alignment. And if...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 25, 2021 | Accountability, Getting feedback, Planning your book, Revision, writing craft, Writing schedule
Writers write, right? Isn’t that all there is to it? If we really look at what will provide growth and improvement in both writing and confidence, there are a few other activities that should be a part of all of our lives. Listen to podcast episode #35: Anatomy...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 18, 2021 | First Draft, Getting feedback, Revision, writing craft, Writing schedule
There is high value in revising along the way. What I mean by this is revising even while you are still writing your first draft. In the last post, where we talked about getting feedback at every stage, I made the point that writing is not a linear process, despite...
by Stephanie Dethlefs | May 4, 2021 | Revision, writing craft
Some might argue that what I’m going to talk about today, which is using active rather than passive language, is something that can be fixed later, in revisions and edits, and that’s definitely true. But let’s look at it as more of a mindset more than a craft...
