Thursday Thoughts Archives

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Writing and Publishing Are Full of Contradictions

Balance can be hard to find within the writing industry, especially as our publishing life is full of contradictions, leading to frustration and burnout.

Writing and Publishing Are Full of Contradictions

Finding Book Recommendations Beyond the Usual

If we don’t know where to go to get book recommendations beyond the “usual,” we might get stuck in a reading rut, so let’s share ideas for other resources to try.

Finding Book Recommendations Beyond the Usual

Do Our Stories Need More Conflict?

Out in the world, conflict is usually considered a bad thing, but our stories need it. How much conflict does our story need and how can we add more?

Do Our Stories Need More Conflict?

Can We Run Out of Stories to Read?

A tweet along the lines of “I ran out of books in my to-be-read pile” shocked me. How do we find books to read and how can we can expand our choices?

Can We Run Out of Stories to Read?

Romance Love: Happy Valentine’s Day!

It’s often not easy to be a romance author, and the time around Valentine’s Day can be especially trying. A whole day (or week) focused on love and romance brings out all types of naysayers for the romance genre.

Romance Love: Happy Valentine’s Day!

Creating Satisfying Endings without Clichés

A recent Twitter thread brought up problematic reader expectations with story endings. Can we find a balance between “fulfilling our story’s promise and our genre’s expectations” and avoiding a cliché ending?

Creating Satisfying Endings without Clichés

Love Reading? Easily Search for Books at Libraries

Like many authors, I started writing because I love to read. Of course, there’s no such thing as too many books, so I wanted to share this tool that might help save our wallets.

Love Reading? Easily Search for Books at Libraries

Brainstorming Your Story? Proactively Avoid Issues

After we finish brainstorming and start trying to assemble our ideas into a story, that’s the perfect point in our writing process to avoid major problems by questioning what story issues we might run into before we write too many words.

Brainstorming Your Story? Proactively Avoid Issues

Showing vs. Telling: The Power of Context

The implication of the advice to “show, don’t tell” is that showing is “better” than telling when our story actually needs both. Let’s explore what “show, don’t tell” really means when it comes to storytelling.

Showing vs. Telling: The Power of Context

Showing vs. Telling: Don’t Assume Showing Is Better

In the writing world, we often hear the advice to “show, don’t tell.” I’ve mentioned before that telling isn’t bad or something to be avoided at all costs, and a fantastic post by Cecilia Tan points out how the advice can actually be harmful.

Showing vs. Telling: Don’t Assume Showing Is Better

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