What's Up Wednesday #1

So I've seen a few other writing blogs that do a Writing Wednesday or a WIP Wednesday and I wanted to do something similar but different. So here you have the first What's Up Wednesday!

And what will I talk about in What's Up Wednesday. What's up with my writing of course. This is a writing blog after all. ;)

Well, I've given my current WIP a new working title of Moon Dragons. Sounds a lot better than Dragons in Space space space space! And I'm currently up to over 30,000 words out of about 70,000. I really have no clue how long this is going to be but I'm pretty sure I'm not quiet half way through the story yet.

I was hoping to get a lot more words on the page the last few days but I got caught up in the beginning stages of developing two of my main alien characters. At first I wanted to make them "simply evil" but after reading that character book I reviewed last post I realized that would not be a good idea. So I had to come up with some basic motivations and reasons for why they do what they will eventually do, which I'm not 100% sure of yet. :D

And now for a few lines from Moon Dragons:

Sonya looked over her shoulder at her teacher Master Abdul... “I don’t think I can do it, sir.”

“And why not?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m afraid of heights, sir,” she whispered.

Master Abdul let out a belly laugh. “You want to fly in space but you’re afraid of heights?”

Sonya shrugged. “There’s no gravity in space, sir. No falling down.”

Also, some links about writing awesomeness I'd like to share.

First, Chuck Wendig dispenses awesome writing advice. The first I'd like to share is this: 

HOW TO PUSH PAST THE BULLSHIT AND WRITE THAT GODDAMN NOVEL: A VERY SIMPLE NO-FUCKERY WRITING PLAN TO GET SHIT DONE (his title, not mine)

And this: 

25 WAYS TO BE A HAPPY WRITER (OR, AT LEAST, HAPPIER)

He's a smart man and he writes good books. I just reviewed one this week in fact. :)

And that is all for now friends! Have a Happy Writer's Wednesday!

Something New!

Oh my gosh, this blog does still exist! Haha.

So, if you read my regular blog, you know that I do a fair amount of book reviews. Well, besides loving fiction I also read a lot of writing reference books. I've never taken a creative writing class or anything beyond an English 101 and Business Writing college course. Everything I know about writing (and a tiny bit about publishing) I've learned from books. And I have a fair amount of them.

So I figured, since this is a writing blog I could use this space to review some writing books. As a note, I've gotten like 80% of my writing books from the Writer's Digest Shop*. It's a great resource. :)

And today we will start off with a review of Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint by Nancy Kress

5 STARS

*Images and book information from Writer's Digest Shop

The indispensable Write Great Fiction series continues with an indepth look at three of the most important tools in the writer's craft: character, emotion and viewpoint. With the tips and techniques in this book, you will learn how to:

Create compelling characters that readers believe in

Write scenes that deliver an unforgettable emotional impact

Distinguish among the many different kinds of viewpoint, and choose the one which is right for your story

Each chapter is filled with examples drawn from the work of successful writers, along with action-and-results excercises that help you take your lessons to the keyboard.

Nancy Kress is the author of 16 novels and three story collections, as well as Writer's Digest'sDynamic Characters. Her short fiction has won three Nebulas and a Hugo. In addition to writing the fiction column for Writer's Digest magazine, Nancy often teaches writing at universities. She lives in Silver Springs, Maryland.

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This book is part of the Write Great Fiction series. I bought the whole series a couple years ago at a great price and I've been working my way through them (life makes me a slow reader sometimes). 

As the title states, this book is all about characters. Kress covers a lot of topics in this. From choosing and defining your characters, to properly expressing their emotions, to deciding what kind of point of view is best for your story.

What I love best about this book, and the others in the series, is all the exercises at the end of each chapter. There's at least 5 per chapter and they include activities that have you building your own characters and ones that have you evaluating characters from other books. It really makes you think.

This book is meant to teach and it does a great job of that. And thus, 5 stars. :)

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Well I hope you've enjoyed reading this. If you have any suggestions of good books about the art and craft of writing, feel free to leave me a comment here, or on Facebook or Twitter.

Have a Happy Wednesday!