Ten Great Posts From 2012!
It’s yearly-round-up-time! I much prefer this way of celebrating the new year to keeping your neighbours awake phoning everyone you know and yelling “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” at them, then keeping your crappy party music going until four in the morning.
this adorwable image is by Ginnerobot on Flickr
Congratulations to all of us, we who have survived another year! And it seemed a particularly perilous one, didn’t it? Was it me or have we had a higher-than-average number of apocalypse predictions recently? Maybe it’s the economic crisis getting people down.
Were you scared? Did you huddle up under a table counting off your regrets? I should have been nicer to my fellow man (or woman. You know what I mean); I wish I’d been kinder to the environment; I wish I’d swam with dolphins; I wish I’d read more of Getmewriting…
Well, yes and who can blame you? But it’s okay, I forgive you, and what’s more, I’ve made it easier to catch up on the last year of content! Below you’ll find some of the best bits of Getwmewriting from twenty-twelve! I know, you don’t deserve it! But you know what your resolution should be now, don’t you.
Getmewriting in 2012
So, here’s the list. Don’t forget that you can leave a comment on any post you read – it doesn’t matter that they’re “old”, there’s always room for fresh discussion!
Death and New Beginnings
It happens in every writing career (maybe in every novel) – at some point a main character will die. How it is done may affect how your readers view the whole book. It may also determine whether they pick up another book of yours, or leave it on the shelf in disgust. How do you make a death worthwhile, and leave a character but keep your readers?
The End is Nigh!
In which I see that 2011 had its fair share of doomsday predictions as well. Will we never learn? Anyway, if there’s anything more likely to lose you a reader than a bad character death, it’s a bad conclusion. And conclusions are guaran-damn-teed to happen in every story (usually toward the end)!
Gender Swapping
We probably don’t talk enough about these issues on Getmewriting, but on this occasion I’d realised a stroy of mine had no women, so I took the controversial step of changing one of my male characters to a female one. Clickety-click to discover why.
5 Great Ways to Break up Dialogue
We like to be practical here, so this is one of those list-type posts the internet is so famous for. No cats though, lol or otherwise. But there is a horse!
5 Fool-Proof Ways To Put Your Muse To Work
As we’re on the subject of animals, this post has the best picture of a dog on the internet. And if that doesn’t get you clicking (maybe you’re here for writing tips or something, you weirdo), then note that this post contains everything I’ve learnt about generating ideas since I started Getmewriting. It’s a goldmine I tells ya!
In Their Shoes – Getting Point of View Right
So important. After all, this is the perspective the reader will be taking throughout your story, right? The point of view you choose colours everything, so you’d better know how to choose wisely.
Redefining Scenes – Why a Scene is Not What You Think it is
And you thought you had scenes all sewn up! Ha! Think again! Then read, read and know how wrong you were! Then pause and think about how useful this new perspective on scenes is. Then write a comment. I need comments.
Show Don’t Tell – a Rule Made to be Broken?
Ah, we were bound to get around to this eventually weren’t we. One of those “unbreakable” rules that gets broken all the time. So just how useful a rule is it anyhow, and should you even give it a blind bit of notice?
3 Steps to Give Your Story Focus
What? Hello? Why are you looking over there? The words are here! Yes I know there are at least fifteen other sites on the internet, but you clicked here, didn’t you? Pay attention! Focus! Now get your story to do the same.
What I Learnt From Failing
The subtitle of this post is “Part One of Infinite”. Because we’re always learning, and that comes from failing. And it behoves us from time to time to retread the basics. So, here are some learnings that reinforce the basics. Do yourself a favour and learn from someone else’s mistakes. Then go make them anyway. Because we are writers, and this is what we do.
So there you have it – ten fantastic writing posts for you to get your teeth into, if I do say it myself! What are you still here for? What, waiting for something witty? I’m not your performing monkey you know!