Will writing nonfiction help your fiction writing skills?

Absolutely… to a certain extent. Fiction emphasizes creativity and imagination in order to construct believable characters, dialogue and plot. Nonfiction prepares you to write other elements of the novel, such as, narrative, description, or scene, and to blend them together seamlessly into a story. Nonfiction writing also prepares you for novel writing when you want to add layers or to increase the depth of your scenes.

However, if you pour too much of your nonfiction skills into your novel, it will take control of your fiction elements. I am guilty of making this mistake. Here are some symptoms to look out for when nonfiction writing has invaded your novel: Read more

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What do sports and writing have in common?

Marathon

What do sports and writing have in common?

What does playing sports have to do with writing a novel you may ask? After all, sports are physical activities, and writing is mostly mental. The only limbs writers move are their fingers, when they are on the keyboard, and their jaws, when they munch down cookies. However, a writer can relate to athletes who endure training to prepare for the competition with one goal in mind: winning. Plus, paraphrasing Yogi Berra, 99% of the game is 50% mental. A writer or novelist also has one goal in mind: to complete the novel.

What writers can learn from sports?
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Do you need a Creative Writing degree to be a successful writer?


Skepticism about whether to obtain or not a creative writing degree is a never ending debate. If you want to be a successful writer and plan to pursue a teaching career, you’ll need a degree in creative writing. Even if you just want to be a writer, it’s better to have a degree in creative writing—if you have the opportunity to do so.

The benefits of getting a degree in creative writing:
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How to write a novel

How to start a novel

You’re reading a novel and not soon enough, you find yourself criticizing the hero or heroine. You don’t like them. You stop reading because the story is awful and you’ve thought how you prefer the novel to be written. Your ability to identify what made you stop reading is a sign that you’re a writer at heart. Even more so, if you decide to write a novel.
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How to create residual income from your blog


In my last article, I wrote about residual income. I noticed how popular this term is right now and I thought I’d like to explain more about it. Residual income is defined as passive income generated from certain activities. Say, if someone publishes a book, the royalty he or she receives is considered residual income. Another source of passive income is from investments, rental property or websites.

Speaking about a website, you can generate a residual income from blogging. Isn’t it great you can do what you love and get paid at the same time?

Here are the steps to turn your blog into money making machine:

1. Open an account with Google AdSense to set up your ad campaign. It’s free. All you need is to create ad units;

2. Copy the codes and paste them into your blog page or the page where you want the ad to be seen. This step requires an understanding of your blog’s template construction. Otherwise, you can get a blog template with built-in Adsense section or you can get AdSense plugins;

3. Monitor your AdSense campaign and continue improving your blog content to attract online visitors.

You will feel a great sense of enjoyment writing on topics you love and watching them generate passive income.

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Updating an Old Blog Template

Blogging againI had stopped blogging for several months in order to reconnect via Facebook with some friends I hadn’t seen in eons. Also, this was the chance for me to take a break from blogging after more than 200 articles. But, now that the novelty of the social network starts to wind down, I’ve finally returned to my blog. The last time I posted, my blog was using an old theme. It’s kind of outdated, so I search for some interesting templates with three-column features with Adsense optimization. I found it. It’s called ProSense template.

Why ProSense theme?
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…blame it on Facebook

Photograph source from www.guardian.co.uk

Exactly. I’m supposed to update my blog, yet I’m busy on Facebook, exchanging news with friends I haven’t met since high school. Not soon enough, more friends requested to be on my list of friends. Before I knew it, I started searching for more old friends. Now my list is bulging.

Then, the news spread like fire, my former editors (which I’d worked with my young adult novels written in Bahasa) found me. Or rather, I found them. I was beyond excited. After exchanged pleasantry, I stuck around. I started to write more in Bahasa. My writing in English has turned secondary. So do my novels I’d written in English…

Currently, I’m writing my new WIP in Bahasa while conversing in English in my daily life. My brain is busy adjusting between these two languages—back and forth, back and forth, what with the different grammar structures, etc. And it has messed up my writing.

Gah.

So, I’m going to blame Facebook for what happened to my writing adventure. But, no matter what, I’m still writing—in both languages.

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I’m still here

I’m not dead. Yet. Yipeee!

Well, I’ve been on hiatus from blogging for more than a year. And now I’m baaacckkk!

I just completed my YA novel and right now I’m polishing it. Soon, I’m going to change my status from being a wannabe writer to a business person—shopping my novel to super awesome agents. One step at a time.

While doing that, I’ll be hanging out more around here so, stay tuned.

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Why the hero is attracted to the heroine?

hero.jpg

The DH, my fierce beta reader, had hammered me with this one particular question: “What made the hero attracted to the heroine?”

He had been a loyal beta reader and critic to my MS for quite sometime. Every time he critiqued the characters or the plot, it always stung; it was enough to retaliate by not cooking him a meal for a day. Mweh, I wished he could write his own novel to see how difficult it is to write fiction.

“Oh, I know that. The chemistry thing,” I said. “She’s pretty and funny.”

His eyebrows lowered giving me that salted fish look. “Oh, no, no. That’s not enough.” He wagged his finger at me. “Think again. What makes the hero attracted to the heroine? I haven’t seen it yet.”
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Writer’s best friend

I have to admit. I procrastinate. My manuscript has been sitting for weeks now, waiting for me to continue writing. Not only that but I’m also far behind in updating my blog. And I blame this latest gadget I just acquired for my procrastination… The AlpaSmart word processor.

I’ve been dreaming of sitting and writing in the park this coming summer. I hated my notebook computer because there are so many games on it and I usually end up playing them when bored or ehem… an excuse to procrastinate. Then I also hate the battery for it can’t hold power much longer when I need it.
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