One of my blogging goals for 2016 is to “show my work.” Last week, I wrote about how to brainstorm a book idea; this week, I’d like to share how I create characters. Whether I write historical fiction, YA literary fiction, or short stories, my trademark is writing from multiple perspectives. So my first step […]
Craft
How To Brainstorm A Book Idea
People often ask writers how they get their ideas. I’ve read and listened to many author interviews, and most say that a character or place comes to them first, and they create the story from there. That’s never been the case for me. I’ve always needed to choose the structure first; that’s what inspires me, […]
Re-Post: How To Edit Like A Musician (and other links)
Note from Leanne: I’m choosing this post as the second in a series of re-posts not for its initial popularity, but because it’s a subject near and dear to my heart: cross-pollination between the practices of music and writing. All creative professions have a lot to learn from each other, and figuring out how my […]
How To Pull Off A Writing Boot Camp
Earlier this fall, I decided to focus on prepping my novel based on the Blizzard of 1888, with the goal of beginning the actual writing during winter vacation. I planned to take a break from the novel in December to write my annual Christmas short story about the Wallaby baking party (the sequel to Sugar […]
How I Research A Historical Novel
When I first decided to write a historical novel, the research was the part I most dreaded. I had written too many research papers in high school and college to look forward to the experience of doing it again, even voluntarily. Especially voluntarily: I thought that the research stage would suck the life out of my desire […]
You Have To Love Your Own Book
In the last few days, I’ve been obsessed with Waist, my historical novel that I finished back in July. Two things happened at once: first, I finally figured out the edits I wanted to make to my first two chapters (thanks in large part to beta-reader feedback); second, I got a total of nine requests […]