I have a date every Thursday evening. My writing group meets do read, dissect, critique and applaud our works in progress. Each member has their own unique strengths which I'm finding really helpful with my work in progress. In the past I have used beta readers and professional assessors. Some have been good, others not …
My writing group
I'm part of a novelist writing group. Every Thursday evening we meet with copies of the next scene from our manuscript. We read it out loud while our fellow writers follow along, making corrections and notes. Then we workshop, and sometimes debate, certain aspects of that chapter. While I'm no spring chicken, three of the …
I’m writing Romance
This is new to me. Well, almost. I have written two Romance novellas before (see images below), which were guided by a couple of years of binging Sex and the City. There were mixed reviews, making it clear the Romance purists weren't impressed. But at least those who loved them, really loved them. This time …
Fictionalising my life
Stop fictionalising your life! This was advice a friend's psychologist told him to tell me. Both me and my husband are talked about often during his sessions, and his analyst has read my books to gain a better understanding of his relationship with us. In a recent writer's hashtag, someone wrote: Trying to get my …
Writing Tin Men and Scarecrows – Part 4
This project gets bigger and bigger. I started a second draft before I finished the first, and even this draft is getting rewritten in ways which would normally happen later. My desire to complete this draft as close to perfect has come from using The Snowflake Method (see link at bottom of the page). It …
Writing Tin Men and Scarecrows – Part 3
I've had a break from writing. I'm recovering from surgery and, as I still haven't put the first draft of my current work in progress to bed yet, I keep thinking of new plot twists to make it better. At the moment it is around 3200 words less than my ideal length, and while I've …
Review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Exploring 'what might have been' should make good fiction. Charles Dickens made Scrooge a better man just by showing him who he was, and what his fate would be if he continued to be the person he is. In the movie It's A Wonderful Life, kind hearted George Bailey gets to experience how depressing his …
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Manuscript Assessments
I've had several assessments done on two books. One was very recently. The others were for my first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, more than ten years ago. This process should be eye opening. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. With my first book, a woman who was recommended to me provided three assessments …
Writing Tin Men and Scarecrows – Part 2
I've just completed the first draft. Well, kind of. The final scene has been written but I haven't reviewed the manuscript yet. I'm about five thousand words less than my ideal word count, which is common for my first drafts. I'm considering adding a flashback sequence which will give more depth to the flawed relationship …
Feedback from my Writers Group
Recently, I searched for a writers group. I wanted one with writers more experienced than me, and I now meet monthly with a group that includes two screenwriters with three decades of experience each, and a published non-fiction author. I submitted the first two chapters of my current WiP for review. I hate anyone reading …
kevin klehr 