Writing Roots

It's a waste of time to tell trailblazers, dreamers, creatives that they're going the wrong way. We know. That's the point. We don't want to go where the current path leads. - Thema Bryant The post S50E7 – Your Unique Journey: The Path appeared first on Writing Roots.

Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow. - Kurt Vonnegut The post S50E7 – Making the Choice to Monetize appeared first on Writing Roots.

The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear, then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist. - Steven Pressfield The post S50E6 – Arming Yourself with Writing Tools appeared first on Writing Roots.

In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him. - Ralph Waldo Emerson The post S50E5 – Get Yourself a Writing Community appeared first on Writing Roots.

My advice for beginning writers is… learn not to take advice. Look to yourself. Make yourself worthy of trust. - William H Gass The post S50E4 – Take Advice With a Grain of Salt appeared first on Writing Roots.

You can always edit a bad page. You can't edit a blank page. - Jodi Picoult The post S50E3 – Write Now, Edit Later appeared first on Writing Roots.

The world needs your story in order to be complete. - Anne Jackson The post S50E2 – Don’t Give Up appeared first on Writing Roots.

The book that will most change your life is the book you write. - Seth Godin The post S50E1 – Addressing Common Excuses appeared first on Writing Roots.

Thank you for listening to another year of Writing Roots! The post S49 Bonus – Writing Roots Blooper Reel appeared first on Writing Roots.

​For all forms, writing dialogue is almost like writing music. I pay close attention to rhythms and tones. - Sefi Atta The post S49E8 – What Do I Do If All I’m Writing is Dialogue? appeared first on Writing Roots.

Engaging in the literary world and discovering what books are out there is always beneficial. Consider the comp hunt both a rite of passage and a learning opportunity—and may the odds be ever in your favor. - Star Wuerdemann The post S49E7 – How Do I Determine Comp Titles for My Book? appeared first on Writing Roots.

Good writing is good writing. In many ways, it's the audience and their expectations that define a genre. A reader of literary fiction expects the writing to illuminate the human condition, some aspect of our world and our role in it. A reader of genre fiction likes that, too, as long as it doesn't get in the way of the story. - Rosemary Clement-Moore The post S49E6 – If I Want to Be a Career Author, Should I Stick to One Genre? appeared first on Writing Roots.

In writing fiction, the more fantastic the tale, the plainer the prose should be. Don't ask your readers to admire your words when you want them to believe your story. - Ben Bova The post S49E5 – Why Does My Writing Seem Basic Even When I Have a Big Vocabulary? appeared first on Writing Roots.

Since childhood, I've been faithful to monsters. I have been saved and absolved by them, because monsters, I believe, are patron saints of our blissful imperfection, and they allow and embody the possibility of failing. - Guillermo del Toro The post S49E4 – What is the Difference Between a Complete Monster and a Regular One? appeared first on Writing Roots.

World-building can be as complicated or as simple as your story needs it to be. - Moriah Richard The post S49E3 – How Do I Build a Military for a Spec Fic Story? appeared first on Writing Roots.

With third-person limited, we want to ensure that the character's beliefs are reflected in the narrator's description of things. Not by necessarily telling us what the character thinks, but by coloring in their fictional world - setting, people, events - with the character's perspective, informing the words selected. - Peter Mountford The post S49E2 – Is Having Multiple POVs the Same as Head Hopping? appeared first on Writing Roots.

In teaching writing, I'm learning new things about writing. - David B Coe The post S49E1 – Why Do You Have a Podcast? appeared first on Writing Roots.

I don't try and write strong female characters or strong male characters. I just try and write, hopefully, strong characters and sometimes they happen to be female. - JJ Abrams The post S48E9 – How to Identify Sexism appeared first on Writing Roots.

I write a lot of material that I know I'll throw away…. I have to write hundreds of pages before I get to page one. - Barbara Kingsolver The post S48E8 – How to Identify When Nothing Happens appeared first on Writing Roots.

You do an awful lot of bad writing in order to do any good writing. Incredibly bad. I think it would be very interesting to make a collection of some of the worst writing by good writers. - William S Burroughs The post S48 Bonus – How to Identify Progress in Writing, AKA The Blackmail Episode appeared first on Writing Roots.

It is not the task of the writer to 'tell all', or even decide what to leave in, but to decide what to leave out. - Caitlin R. Kiernan The post S48E7 – How to Identify Head Hopping appeared first on Writing Roots.

I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself. - Michel de Montaigne The post S48E6 – How to Identify Contradictions in Writing appeared first on Writing Roots.

I write, “Jane came into the room and sat down on the blue couch,” read that, wince, cross out “came into the room” and “down” and “blue” (Why does she have to come into the room? Can someone sit UP on a couch? Why do we care if it's blue?) and the sentence becomes “Jane sat on the couch – ” and suddenly, it's better. - George Saunders The post S48E5 – How to Identify Poor and Excessive Descriptions appeared first on Writing Roots.

Through an arbitrary problem, I had arrived at a tenet of good writing: brevity wins. - Michael Winter The post S48E4 – How to Identify Sentences with Too Many Characters appeared first on Writing Roots.

The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do. - Thomas Jefferson The post S48E3 – How to Identify: Extra Adjectives and Adverbs appeared first on Writing Roots.

Making sure that the geography and timelines work is always the hardest part of writing. But you owe it to the readers to get it right. - Michael Scott The post S48E2 – How to Identify a Confusing Timeline appeared first on Writing Roots.

Good writing can be defined as having something to say and saying it well. - Edward Abbey The post S48E1 – How to Identify Good Writing appeared first on Writing Roots.

Jacques : This place... is cursed. Red : What is it with you and curses? Spivey : He ain't happy without a good curse. 'This is cursed. That is cursed. ' Red : Give it rest, will ya! - The Mummy Returns (2001) The post S47E9 – Adding Foreshadowing During Editing appeared first on Writing Roots.

Foreshadowing is the mysterious whisper that hints at the secrets yet to be unveiled. - Jocelyn Murray The post S47 Bonus – How Not to Foreshadow appeared first on Writing Roots.

He who fights monsters should see to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche The post S47E8 – Foreshadowing a Descent into Villainy appeared first on Writing Roots.

Wonderful girl! Either I'm gonna kill her, or I'm beginning to like her! - Han Solo, Star Wars: A New Hope The post S47E7 – How to Foreshadow Enemies to Lovers appeared first on Writing Roots.

It was for one minute that I saw him, but the hair stood upon my head like quills. Sir, if that was my master, why had he a mask upon his face? - Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde The post S47E6 – Foreshadowing Through a Character’s Descent into Madness appeared first on Writing Roots.

A red sun rises. Blood has been spilled this night. - The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The post S47E5 – Symbolic Foreshadowing appeared first on Writing Roots.

As you and I listen to Uncle Monty tell the three Baudelaire orphans that no harm will ever come to them in the Reptile Room, we should be experiencing the strange feeling that accompanies the arrival of dramatic irony…. For no matter how safe and happy the three children felt, no matter how comforting Uncle Monty's words were, you and I know that soon Uncle Monty will be dead and the Baudelaires will be miserable once again. - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events The post S47E4 – Prophecies and Omniscience as Foreshadowing appeared first on Writing Roots.

“The first man had three wishes.” “Yes,” was the reply. “I don't know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That's how I got the paw.” - The Monkey's Paw, WW Jacobs The post S47E3 – Foreshadowing Through Dialogue appeared first on Writing Roots.

My father's voice comes back to me. “Not these, Katniss. Never these. They're nightlock. You'll be dead before they reach your stomach.” - The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins The post S47E2 – Foreshadowing: Breadcrumbs and Misdirection appeared first on Writing Roots.

Professor Snape: Can anyone tell me what a portkey is? Yes, Miss Granger? Hermione: A portkey is an enchanted object that when touched will transfer the one or ones who touched it to anywhere on the globe decided upon by the enchanter. Professor Snape: Very good. Now, can anyone tell me what foreshadowing is? Yes, Miss Granger? Hermione: Foreshadowing is a dramatic device in which an important plot point is mentioned early in the story to return later in a more significant way. - A Very Potter Musical The post S47E1 – Using Passive Foreshadowing appeared first on Writing Roots.

Don't participate half-heartedly or use work that you have not yet edited or assume that there is a less talented writing pool participating in the contest. You should prepare for the competition assuming everyone else is taking the process just as seriously as you are. - Ran Walker The post S46 Bonus – About Writing Contests with Rebecca van Laer of Reedsy appeared first on Writing Roots.

The original Greek meaning of the word anthology is a collection or gathering of flowers in bloom. - Jane Garmey The post S46E8 – Writing for Anthologies appeared first on Writing Roots.

It helps to be pretty thick-skinned if you're going to enter contests. But anyone who writes for more than pure personal satisfaction knows that rejection is part of the deal. - Amy Cook The post S46E7 – A Look at Writing Contest Judging appeared first on Writing Roots.

Don't read success stories, you will only get a message. Read failure stories, you will get some ideas to get success. - Abdul Kalam The post S46E6 – The “Don’ts” of Writing Contests appeared first on Writing Roots.

It's important to note that guidelines may vary a little based on who you talk to or what you read, but by following the ones stated… you will make sure your manuscript looks clean, easy to read, and won't get rejected because of sloppy formatting. - Brian A Klems The post S46E5 – Formatting for a Writing Contest appeared first on Writing Roots.

Many writers are paralyzed by the thought that they are competing with everybody else who is trying to write and presumably doing it better…. Forget the competition and go at your own pace. Your only contest is with yourself. - William Zinsser The post S46E4 – Editing for a Short Story Contest appeared first on Writing Roots.

Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter. - Neil Gaiman The post S46E3 – Writing for Short Story Contests appeared first on Writing Roots.

I always try to use my medium, and if I get into a normal sitcom-writing contest with normal sitcom writers, I'm going to lose. - Dan Harmon The post S46E2 – Finding the Right Writing Contest appeared first on Writing Roots.

Writers often wrestle with the written word alone, but competitions can be a way to connect with a larger community. After all, stories can benefit others, and judges of writing contests want to celebrate success. - Audrey Wick The post S46E1 – Different Types of Writing Contests appeared first on Writing Roots.

Let's face it: The ‘genius' stuff happens in the editing process. - Jeff Goins The post S45E9 – The Editor’s Toolkit appeared first on Writing Roots.

To write is human, to edit is divine. - Stephen King The post S45E8 – How to Charge for Editing appeared first on Writing Roots.

The secret to editing your work is simple: you need to become its reader instead of its writer. - Zadie Smith The post S45 Bonus – Being an Author Editors Want to Work With appeared first on Writing Roots.

Editing is a kind of creative activity where, in a perfect world, an author and an editor find that elusive oneness to understand each other intuitively. - Sahara Sanders The post S45E7 – Questions for the Author/Editor Interview appeared first on Writing Roots.

Editors are extremely fallible people, all of them. Don't put too much trust in them. - Maxwell Perkins The post S45E6 – Personal Editing Cheat Sheets appeared first on Writing Roots.