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Tag Archives: novel
First draft
I wrote for eight, nine hours a day, removed from distractions during a writers residency at the Weymouth Center for the Arts. When I emerged bleary eyed and triumphant, I left with the completed first draft of An American Terrorist. Continue reading
Posted in My Fiction
Tagged An American Terrorist, charlotte writers' club, novel, writing
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Persistence
There’s a lot of building going on in my neighborhood. Just yesterday, I saw a male trying to get construction materials into one of the new homes he was putting together for his mate. He was having a few problems … Continue reading
Posted in My posts
Tagged characters, critique, Gina Carroll Howard, gina howard, novel, persistance, revise, writing tips
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Falling in love again
When a friend recently said he had fallen out of love with his novels-in-progress, I could relate. There are days when I tire of Janelle or feel the plot is plodding. I want to tell the reporter to get a … Continue reading
Posted in My posts
Tagged characters, critique, Gina Carroll Howard, gina howard, novel, plot, revise, writing tips
1 Comment
Sweat the small stuff
We’ve all seen it – a bruise that moves from the left to right eye after a cutaway, a hat that flies off in one scene but is firmly in place in the next, a lamp broken during a struggle … Continue reading
Feeling the heartbeat
Ron Rash told the Charlotte Observer recently that a first draft is like “an ugly glob of clay on a wheel.” It is an apt metaphor. The best writers discard the unnecessary bits. They use imagery, actions and dramatic tension … Continue reading
Practice makes better
With the insecurities, easily hurt feelings and sense of not belonging, middle school is still the stuff of nightmares. Yet, much as we might want to have avoided those years, middle school experiences are rough drafts for later life. Fortunately, … Continue reading
Posted in My posts
Tagged bioterrorist, Gina Carroll Howard, gina howard, middle school experiences, novel, poetry, revise
3 Comments
Delete. Rewrite.
I was feeling pretty smug on Friday. I was going into the weekend with all my to-dos checked off and a little more than 2,500 words added to my novel, excluding revisions. But something wasn’t sitting right with me. The … Continue reading
Posted in My posts
Tagged characters, critique, dramatic tension, Gina Carroll Howard, gina howard, novel, revise, write
5 Comments
Filling holes
We were leaving our critique group last week, comments and suggestions duly noted, when one of the members began asking me more about my main character’s motivation. Easy questions. I had written her back story before I started the book, … Continue reading
Posted in My posts
Tagged characters, critique, Gina Carroll Howard, gina howard, main character, novel, plot, writing
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Bringing it home
Familial relationships are complicated. And they should be just as complex in fiction as they are in real life. With the oldest child an accused bioterrorist, the Blake family has more than its share of complications. In the ninth chapter … Continue reading
Posted in My posts
Tagged bioterrorist, Chicago Tribune, family, fiction, Gina Carroll Howard, novel
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What a character
I had a crush on Sherlock Holmes. Not the TV or movie actors with their pale interpretations of the great detective, but the man Arthur Conan Doyle revealed in the red linen-bound 1927 volume of The Complete Sherlock Holmes I … Continue reading
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