Have you ever been on a writer’s retreat? I’ve been on eight, so there must be something that keeps bringing me back. Is it the time to write? The networking? The input and mentoring? The fun and fellowship? The pool? Well, it’s all of those and more. What is a Writer’s Retreat? A writer’s retreat …
Author Archives: Nola Lorraine @nolalorraine1
Fixing Logistical Problems in Fiction
Just as Jilly was about to mount her horse, something spooked him and he started going round in circles. Jilly hopped along, one foot twisted in the stirrup and the other trying to launch off the ground. With a Herculean effort she leapt onto the horse, discovering too late that she was facing the wrong …
Know Your Genre and Audience
Do you have a favourite section in a bookshop or library? Maybe you head straight for the new-release novels or memoirs. Perhaps cooking, crafts, or art are more your style. You might be surprised to learn that I make a beeline to the graphic novels section to see if they have any retro collections, like …
Writers Life | Don’t Let Anyone Disqualify You from Your Art
‘Every child is an artist until he’s told he’s not an artist.’ When I saw this quote by John Lennon on a Facebook meme, it touched something deep inside me. Like most kids, I loved to get out the crayons and draw, trace or colour in. But by the time I was in high school, …
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In Defence of the ‘Light’ Read
When I was nineteen, I read the The Footsteps of Anne Frank by Ernst Schnabel. This follow-up to the famous diary gives more of the background about the people who helped to hide Anne and her family, what happened on the night the Gestapo found their hiding place, and the events leading up to Anne’s …
Writing Twisty Twists
There’s nothing like a good twist. Chubby Checker’s on the stereo and everyone’s writhing to ‘Let’s Twist Again’. No, wait! Not that kind of twist. I’m talking about those dazzling twists in novels that leave you gasping in amazement at the author’s brilliance. What about that twist in Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None …
The Description Sweet Spot in Fiction
I love reading novels where beautiful descriptive passages transport me into the story. However, description can also be a snore-fest that beckons me to skim to the exciting part. There’s no magic percentage that tells you how much description you should have in your novel, though genre can give a clue. If you’re writing fantasy …
Adult Literacy: So Much More than Books
If you’re reading a blog on this site, chances are that you love books. You enjoy reading or stringing beautiful words together. You have a to-read pile that seems to multiply of its own accord, you can’t pass a bookshop without going in, and you think of the characters in your favourite novels as friends. …
Review of ‘Elite’ by Kristen Young
Background to the Book ‘Elite’ is Book 2 in Kristen Young’s ‘Collective Underground’ series. Although there is enough backstory to enable you to follow the plot without reading Book 1, it will mean a lot more to you if you read the books in sequence. In Apprentice, the first book, Flick Kerr is one of …
The Decision Tree of Plotting
Have you ever read a book and been unhappy with one or more of the choices the author made? How could Bailey Flanigan marry that guy instead of the other one I was cheering for? How could Lucy Maud Montgomery kill off that character at the end of Anne of Green Gables? Actually, I read …