Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Introducing "Dear Voracia"

 Just for fun, I've started a dragon advice column on Wattpad called "Dear Voracia."

 

 "Dear Voracia" is a magical phenomenon! The mysterious dragon columnist has been dispensing her wise admonitions and lethal stratagems for over a millennia now. Not sure if you should buy a cursed needle or a poison apple to hex your enemies? Ask Voracia. Arguing with your significant other over whether to add armored newts or battle guppies to your castle moat? Ask Voracia. Wondering if a pair of glass slippers is a fair trade for your soul?

Ask Madame V.

*You can read the first two letters to Voracia, "Human Pest Control" and "Happily Cursed," right now!


Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Summer's End

 Summer always ends too quickly! I'm never ready. 



Monday, July 31, 2023

Linear Perfectionism vs. the "Miyazaki" Method

Confession: so I have at least five novels where I wrote over 100 pages, and then I just . . . stopped. I am afraid I'm too much of a linear perfectionist! If I can't get my chapter outline ordered just right, all too often writer's block slams me and I just give up after awhile and trash my story. 

However, after reading an article about legendary filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki and his creation method for his animated movies, I decided to try something new in my own writing. Miyazaki doesn't begin with a perfectly written script. Instead, the genesis of his story begins with "visual storyboards," and then he builds the rest of the story around these powerful core images.

I was stuck on a chapter of my own WIP Agent Regalia that was very important and introduced a lot of key players in the story. But the more I sat in front of my computer and stared at the mocking blink of the cursor on an empty white screen, the more daunted I felt and the less I knew what I wanted to say. So, I thought about a future scene in the story that I could really visualize and filled me with excitement, and I wrote that instead. I skipped the line! I ended up writing a whole other chapter that actually helped me understand what I wanted to distill in the previous chapter. And now I feel a bit more confident about stepping back into the linear track and tackling the hard part . . .

I guess what this experience has reminded me is that there is no one right way to write. And that one writing method may help sometimes, and other times, perhaps a different ink hack will do the trick. Good luck with all your creative endeavors!