Is there an easier word to overuse than look? If you’re not careful, it’ll take over your manuscript. A judicious use of synonyms can help. Notice the qualifier. If your characters are using a synonym for look every other paragraph,…
Blog Archives
A Different Kind of Story Prompt
Today’s post will be short because I found out about this brilliant thing yesterday. There’s not a ton to say, but it’s really worth a post on its own. I discovered it on Twitter, and it seriously made all the…
Facing Fear
In some ways, it seems silly to write about this topic in connection with being a writer. What am I afraid of anyway? It’s not as though I’m going into battle. Nobody’s going to wave a sword or a gun…
Writing What You Know
This is common advice, along with write from your heart. But sometimes, when things are said in sound bites, it’s easy to become confused. After all, if we only write what we directly know, we could never have a story set…
Tagged with: Cathleen Townsend, character, research, setting, writing what you know
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Point-of-View–Which One Should I Use?
Authors have many options when it comes to choosing the character lens through which readers will view their stories. Each one has its own strengths and pitfalls. First person–this happens to by my go-to POV, the one that I feel…
Tagged with: Cathleen Townsend, first person, omnicient, second person, third-person limited
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Nat Russo on Adverbs and ‘Show, Don’t Tell’
I’ve seen many authors struggle with the adage ‘show, don’t tell.’ Some try to show everything, and their story gets so bogged down in description that the story takes place at a glacial crawl. And while I agree that showing…
Criticism: Friend or Foe?
Criticism can be either helpful or destructive, depending on the state of mind of the critiquer and the writer receiving it. Writing takes enormous amounts of both self-confidence and humility. You have to think your words are worthwhile, or you’ll…
Antagonist–What Kind Do You Have?
Your antagonist is extremely important to your story. The antagonist must be enough of a threat to bring your protagonist to his/her knees, to cause them to grow beyond what they could have ever done otherwise. Antagonists can be of…
Tagged with: antagonist, Cathleen Townsend, conflict, natural disaster, rival, self, villain
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
What Do You Do When You Hit a Wall?
If you’ve been writing for any amount of time, it’s happened to you. You’re cranking along, a blissful conduit for the story flowing through you. It’s awesome. It’s the most incredible feeling in the whole world. And then, SCREECH! It…
Tagged with: agency, beta reader, Cathleen Townsend, conflict, protagonist, story stalling, story structure, writing
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Cathleen Townsend 