9 Universal Tips for Describing Your Characters

9 Universal Tips for Describing Your Characters

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(Image credit: Leadershipcriteria Clipart) Character descriptions are one area where there’s no agreement on a single best approach.  Everyone has different desires and expectations.  Some writers paint vivid, exacting pictures of each character, down to eye and hair color.  Some readers love this, and have trouble “seeing” the characters in their minds without those details.  My approach, as a writer and reader, is the opposite.  I prefer to describe only what’s vital to understanding the characters and plot.  When I…

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Writing Good Intros: Don’t!

Writing Good Intros: Don’t!

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The most exposition any film ever needs- but this film was so well crafted that even if this crawl had been left out, you could’ve easily followed the plot. Think of your favorite movie.  Play out the opening scene in your head.  You can see it now: there’s the protagonist, crossing the room to sit down on a chair in the center of the set.  She/He faces you, then spends the next forty minutes explaining who s/he is, what her/his…

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The Terror of Being Read

The Terror of Being Read

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(Photo credit: David Niblack, Imagebase.net. Half-assed creepy filtering by me!) My stomach knots up. My chest constricts. I’m stuck in a permanent cringe of humiliation, and can’t bear to be in the same room. I  seek distraction from a book or video game, but the horrid, I-could-just-die anxiety doesn’t go away until it’s over. Am I on deck to give a big speech? Standing trial? No. My spouse is reading part of my manuscript for critique. It’s ridiculous. The whole…

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Dear Inner Editor: Shut Up And Let Me Write!

Dear Inner Editor: Shut Up And Let Me Write!

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(Now witness the full spectrum of Ellis’ Editing Pens of DOOM!) I don’t know where my 24×7, hyper-critical inner editor came from, but I have some theories. I’m super self-critical with everything I do, for one.  For another, I like spelling and grammar.  Although I chose an academic path rife with proofs, derivatives, and computer programs, I always scored higher on verbal aptitude tests than math or science ones. Also, I grew up in a house where one parent wasn’t…

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The Manuscript That Didn’t Kill Me

The Manuscript That Didn’t Kill Me

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(Artwork by über-talented Chris Howard) …but it was a near thing! I’ve been talking nebulously about this novel I’ve been working on for years, but guess what?  I finally have a completed first draft.  It’s a thing!  You can read it straight through (sort of)!  It’s really rough in some places, but won’t be for long! Time to introduce it to the world.  The book is called Blood’s Force, and will be the first of a series of books I’m…

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4 Tricks to Improve Writing Productivity

4 Tricks to Improve Writing Productivity

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(Photo credit: David Niblack, Imagebase.net) In my last post, I described ways I’ve freed up time for myself to write. Great- I should be churning out novels by the hundred! Well, no.  Two years later, I finished a handful of short stories, and kept treading water on my novel manuscript. Something still wasn’t clicking. Then, I joined a writer’s group for a few months, looking for feedback on said manuscript. While attending those meetings, I finished and brought in a…

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8 Tricks for Finding Time to Write

8 Tricks for Finding Time to Write

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For most of the time I’ve dabbled in writing, I truly was dabbling. It was a hobby I ran with when I had time and inclination, and let slide when I didn’t. Things got done when they got done, if they got done at all (I have a huge folder of things that petered out in 80 pages or fewer). And that was OK, for a while. Then I decided I wanted to get more serious- buckle down and actually…

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Everyone’s A Storyteller

Everyone’s A Storyteller

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Chances are good that if you’re here, you tell stories all the time. If you don’t think you do, you might think differently in a moment. Stories are, hands-down, the best way to communicate information in a way that’s engaging and relevant.  Whether you’re trying to make friends at the bar or land that huge account, science proves the benefit of being a good storyteller. Wired for the Narrative Before we could print and bind books, the human race gathered…

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Hello World 2.0 – At the Edge, Staring Up

Hello World 2.0 – At the Edge, Staring Up

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(Picture I took at the top of Mt. Evans, Colorado – June 2012) Once upon a time, there was a girl named Ellis. Sort of.  “Ellis” wasn’t her real name, but let’s overlook that for now.  Ellis was encouraged to do well in school so she could get a degree and a high-paying job, so she tore through 7th to 12th grade earning As in every class.  This was good, because it earned her a full ride to a nice…

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Hello world!

Hello world!

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I don’t know where this adventure might take us. I do know we need to start stepping.  Writing won’t be secondary or tertiary in my life anymore.  However, there’s a time to bury my head in drafts, and there’s a time to open up and offer my experience to a huge community of folks on the same journey. Some background: I’m an IT nerd who writes documentation and interfaces with customers via email on a regular basis. I’ve also been…

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