If your interest is in scriptwriting, rather than book writing, here’s some advice about hooking your viewers. It makes me wonder about writing anything in “five.” Five pages, five paragraphs, or five sentences. I heard the beginning of a novel recently and I knew in four poetic words that I was in Washington, DC, in the spring. The actual words aren’t mine to reveal, but I want to read the novel when it comes out. And I want to see the movie.
BREAKING IN: Following “The Five Minute Rule” – Script Magazine
http://www.scriptmag.com/features/breaking-following-five-minute-rule
Category: writer
Home can work
For years, I’ve wanted an office away from home, more than just a “room of one’s own” to work on my “extracurricular” writing projects. It hasn’t been an option, so I’ve done what I can from the house. Here are a few good tips to make working at home work. (Noise cancelling headphones, hmm…)
Get in the Zone: 5 Tips for Eliminating Distractions and Staying Productive When Working from Home – Social-Hire
http://www.social-hire.com/career–interview-advice/5201/get-in-the-zone-5-tips-for-eliminating-distractions-and-staying-productive-when-working-from-home
Learn from winners
Seems appropriate that the list of 20 finalists for a women’s fiction prize comes out during Women’s History Month. (So the prize is British and the month U.S. …) How many have you read?
Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction 2015 | Reading Agency
http://readingagency.org.uk/adults/news/baileys-womens-prize-for-fiction-2015.html
Details, details
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Zoë Sharp demonstrated self-defense (and, by way of set up, violent assaults) during tea time at the Love Is Murder writers’ conference in Chicago. In doing so, she not only gave her audience some useful real-life tips, but she also gave us some great writing tips. Accuracy is in the details, and here is some information to help you get your medical details right. (It’s part of a series, so look for the rest, too.)
Infusing Medical Details into Your Fiction
http://www.livewritethrive.com/2015/03/09/infusing-medical-details-into-your-fiction/
Sort of long
While “long-form” articles aren’t exactly novels, they are a way to practice writing that is longer than, say, a blog post. It’s also a way to turn research for a novel into something that a) you might be able to sell, or b) you could use to build an audience for your later work. This article has a few tips about “long-form” articles.
The Secrets of Writing Smart, Long-Form Articles That Go Absolutely Viral
sharon p. lynn 