Capturing Emotions by Using Personal Experiences

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about ways to capture character emotions. I briefly touched on using personal experiences. Little did I know I would soon face a situation that left me (and several of my neighbors) more than a little “uncomfortable.” Hope you don’t mind …

A quick Look at Books that Have been Challenged or Banned

  Hi SEers, John with you again. Happy Arbor Day. Hug a tree or better yet, plant one. The last two times I have been exploring the idea of sensibilities in books as it relates to race, religion, gender, gender preference, sexual orientation, age, and nationality. The first post raised the issue. The second asked …

Useful Writing Tools

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. You’ve probably heard the terms planner, plotter, and panster. Some writers must have a detailed outline before writing the first word of a novel. Others write by the seat of their pants and let the story (or characters) determine what happens. I’m somewhere between. When I begin a …

What to Do With Books That Are Insensitive to Social Norms

  Hi SEers, John here with you today. The last time we were together, I talked about sensibilities in writing. I made the point that authors should be careful when writing characters of a specific race, gender, age, nationality, and sexual orientation because of changing social norms. I also stated that I didn't believe writers …

Research – Love It or Hate It

Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today.  I have a confession to make. When I first began writing fiction, I hated to do research. I didn’t want to bother with such mundane tasks. Once I even wrote a blog post titled “Research, A Necessary Evil.”  I’m not sure why I had such an aversion. I’ve …