Showcase: Writer Growth through Reading
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How to Write like Leigh Bardugo
Let’s be honest — we’ve all, at some point or another in our writing journey, wondered if that pass on your query or from a potential critique partner wasn’t just about the story, but maybe something to do with the writing. After all, if we weren’t insecure about our own...
Lessons from Hollywood: Using Screenwriting Techniques to Improve Your Novel
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Kat discusses a coverage template in this interview. It is available to download here so you can follow along with what she's saying about it.]
How Movies Make Us Better Writers
Let me know if this sounds familiar: You read a fantastic book. You hear they’re making it into a movie. You gather all your cautious optimism and stand first in line for release day. When the credits roll, you get up—heart at your feet—and tell anyone within earshot that THE...
Fandoms and Fanfiction
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Using Your Book Idols to Grow Yourself As a Writer
When I was little my dad always used to say to me: “Writers write. Always.” It was a quote that he took from the Danny Devito movie, Throw Momma from the Train, and while I’m not sure that Danny Devito was one of my dad’s idols, he was certainly a...
Using Your Book Idols to Grow Yourself as a Writer
Writing Breakout Characters
(NOTE: If you haven’t read the Harry Potter books yet, SPOILERS AHEAD.) A year or two ago I was following along with one of Summer Heacock’s fabulous live-tweets of the Harry Potter movies on Twitter. We were on Deathly Hallows 2, at that part in the heart of the forest...
The Hollywood Touch: Turning Your Scenes Into Set Pieces
Let’s say I’m writing a YA thriller, full of twists and reveals. In my next scene, the protagonist will discover a terrible secret about her past. What’s the most exciting way for this to happen? Dialogue with another character. Discovery of a physical object. Exploration of a creepy place. Mental...
