Studying Emotions in Life & Writing Through Friendly Fire

I woke in the middle of the night to the rooster crowing at the moon. Strange but true. Poor pea brained birds don’t know the difference between the moon, a bright light bulb or the sun! Later, and still before the sun had risen, I woke again to the sound of a single gun shot. [...]

Love Languages

Since this is the month of love and Valentine’s Day, I decided to post about Dr. Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages, which I recommend to read. I read an interesting book about the language of love we use. In the book, The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman was insightful and interesting. But most [...]

Emote!

People read fiction for one thing above all else–emotion. They want to laugh, cry, get warm fuzzies, be surprised, be scared, be so scared they pee their pants! The problem is that too many times writers don’t DELVE into their emotions. They say, “Clark was angry.” or “Clara was excited.” Well, so what? Those are [...]

Elements of Scariness

Scariness. I was going to use the word horror but from what I’ve read and heard through that proverbial grapevine, horror is a word that’s not held in very high esteem in CBA circles. Too worldly, too anti-Christian. But horror is simply scary, isn’t it? If you write a novel or short story that’s scary, [...]

Quick Fiction Fixes – Using actions to show emotion

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Character actions: (I already covered [...]

Quick Fiction Fixes – Using thoughts to show emotion

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Character thoughts: Your characters are [...]

Quick Fiction Fixes – Using physical reactions to show emotion

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Physical reactions: Psychiatrists agree that [...]

Quick Fiction Fixes – Using a focal character to evoke emotions

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Focal characters: Readers read because [...]

Quick Fiction Fixes – Evoking emotions with the words you use

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! The words you use: Certain [...]

Quick Fiction Fixes – Showing emotion with dialogue

We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Be wise in using dialogue [...]

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