Did a little of everything this week. Finished beta-reading a book for one author and am halfway through another book for a different author. Read one of my chapters to my local crit group and received some great feedback. And I forced myself to go back to some of my earlier chapters and make some hard decisions about scenes that I've been putting off for a year (or more).
Hope your week was just as productive. Have a great weekend!
ChemistKen
15 Must-Have Website Essentials
Blurbs that Bore, Blurbs that Blare
The Art of Writing Back Copy: Boiling Your Book to its Essence
Why Should Anyone Help Your Protagonist?
5 Keys to Book Cover Success
Self-Publishers Aren’t Killing The Industry, They’re Saving It
How to Find Your Character’s Breaking Point
Website of Ken Rahmoeller -- fantasy author, chemist, and lover of all things Hogwarts (Photo Courtesy of Scarluuk)
I think I already broke my character...
ReplyDeleteHa. I guess that's what we do as writers. No wonder there are so many stories based on the idea of our characters coming alive and exacting revenge on us.
DeleteThe fourth one is especially interesting to me! I just came to the revelation this morning that two helpful and kind characters in an old manuscript of mine -- one that failed to sell to a publisher -- may have scuttled the whole book. I love those characters. So did most people who read the manuscript. But their helpfulness ruined the central conflict of the story. They should have been antagonists. They should have been a huge part of my protagonist's problem.
ReplyDeleteI had long since given up on this story, considering it trunked. But I'm toying with the idea of killing those helpful characters and replacing them with self-serving ones. Hmm.
That's great to hear! Always good to bring back projects that you loved before, especially when you figure out what was wrong with it in the first place. Hope the story comes together for you.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to head on over and read a couple of those. Sounds like just the thing I might need. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteHoly… you ARE being SO productive, Ken! So, so, so awesome. It takes time to beta, so you are a generous friend! I'm glad you've been able to fit in your own work too. And thanks for the links!!!
ReplyDelete4th try. 3 posts, and Blogger won't keep my comments. 1st link gave me a pretty good list to use on Wordpress. Now that Wordfence has stopped the hackers from getting in, I need to buy a good theme. Might be Velocity or Souffle, both reponsive and retina ready, with ecommerce for selling books once I get the author co-op going.
ReplyDeleteYou have been busy, and it sounds like your making progress on your book. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteI noticed you're reading Storm Front, I've read several of Jim Butcher's books. They're always a good read.
Hard choices is what writing is about. This coming from a woman who has painted herself in a corner for the third time this week. *sigh*
ReplyDeleteAnna from Shout with Emaginette