Hey Folks, Because dialogue comes directly from the character’s mouth to the reader’s ear, no other part of your story is more intimate with the reader. No other part of the story will do more to engage the reader directly. Dialogue dialogue consists of three elements: two parts narrative and one part nuance. The narrative parts are tag lines and brief descriptive narrative. Nuance is composed of the subtleties of implication. What your character says is … Read more
The Day Almost 3 when I rolled out this morning. Checked emails and weather. No rain, so I’ll walk this morning. Had a great walk. Only about 5.5 miles but at a good pace despite shooting a few pics. Got a couple cover pics so it’s all good. The guy on the left is a baby cotton tail and he was naturally curious. Hopped just off the trail, then stopped and looked while I took pictures. … Read more
The Day Rolled out at 1:30. Checked emails and weather. I don’t mind being up a little earlier this morning since I want to make headway on this novel but I also have to visit Sierra Vista today. If the place there doesn’t have what I need that will turn into a trip to Tucson. Ugh. Hope not. Started the day (after a waking up period) writing this post. Now, almost two hours after I got … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2, so back to normal. Checked emails and other things, including Dean’s blog for the past two days. I recommend reading his topic of the night Here and then Here. Great stuff if you want to see why I say you should NOT get an agent, and why you should publish your work and then leave it published. I also read a lot of the comments on Dean’s posts. Interesting stuff, … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 3 (yay, slept in). Checked emails and other things. Started today by writing a nuts and bolts post on dialogue for the Pro Writers series that posts every ten days. Guess I’ll be running through my core seminars again (briefly) in the next several posts over there. Had a good walk today. Planned to hit about 6 miles and wound up with 7.5. I was planning to take most of today … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2. Checked emails and other things. Had another short walk today, right at 4 miles. Looking forward to a good walk tomorrow. Sticking on one scene in Book 8 for some reason. Standard, average, typical day for me. Topic of the Night: Eating an Elephant There’s an old joke. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. That’s how you write a novel, too. One word, one sentence, … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2. Checked emails and comments on Facebook (posted some things about the trip). I did walk today, but keep it short at just over 3 miles. Had a trip to Sierra Vista for two new tires and an oil change for the pickup. Ugh. But it was necessary with a long trip coming up. Stopped in at the mall and talked very briefly with the Marine recruiter, a young veteran of … Read more
The Day Rolled out about 2. For some reason, still recovering from the camping trip. I might not walk tomorrow, or keep it short. Today again I messed around the house a bit, went for a walk and got some pics. I also posted a video of the place where Dan and I went camping. It’s a calm video, between rainstorms, to show people why we go there. Also posted a few pics from the trip. … Read more
The Day Rolled out just before 3 a.m. Back to reality. Still recovering from the camping trip. For a full day and the better part of a night, Dan and I were alternating between the low of being exhausted and the high of repeated adrenaline rushes. That sort of thing wore me out when I was 30. I’m a little older than that now. (grin) So I messed around the house a bit, went for a … Read more
The Day Rolled out just before 4:30 (Arizona time) in New Mexico, north of Lordsburg. No checking email. No Internet. Just reality. Great trip, but Dan and I experienced three days of excitement and adventure in about 8 hours. Topic of the Night: Refilling the Well I write from experience, as do most of us. Or at least near experience. I experience things, then put my characters in those situations, then extrapolate out from there. But … Read more