Athena Critique Services

This is the simplest writing tip I’ve ever written–though it is likely the most difficult for writers to implement.

Don’t hold back!

Leap day is a great image for this key to successful writing. Picture yourself leaping like a sky jumper and soaring through the air. Or doing a cannon ball from the high dive with a child’s joy. That is the way you must approach your novel.

Let’s face it, writing for publication can be a bit intimidating. Writing fiction means putting your emotions out on that page and revealing yourself to the world. Sure the story belongs to the characters–it is their world, their feelings and their lives that make up the story. But writers all know that at some level they are baring their own soul to the reader. And so we hold back.

We describe our character’s feelings with the clinical detachment of a scientist. We hide behind the words instead of using the words to show the true pain, horror, passion and joy our characters feel. If we allow ourselves to filter out the truth because it is painful or embarrassing, we risk distancing or even losing the reader.

Instead, take that free fall with eyes open wide to the experience and enjoy the ride.

Don’t hold back!

Recently someone posted a question about our upcoming Putting Wings on Your Backstory workshop. The question to our workshop page reads in part:

Will it be twice per week? Daily? Will there be a chance to post the areas in my ms that are concerning me. Creating ones for practice is not at as enticing as working on the one I’ve got.
Thanks,
Robin

I answered that specific question on our Workshops page, but I’d like to talk more generally about our online workshops today. All of our workshops are designed to include hands-on writing with constructive comments from the presenter (more…)

This bad boy can sink a manuscript faster than almost any other monster. Misplaced, heavy-handed backstory is a menace because it stops the forward momentum of your story.

My workshop–Putting Wings on Your Backstory–is intended to help writers keep their story soaring while providing readers with the information, rich detail and emotional drama that comes with well-written backstory.

Think of it this way. Your story is a road trip that your characters take with the reader. You’ve got them all in the mini-van, heading toward Disneyland. Along the way, they stop and see the sites The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Negro Leagues Baseball Musem in Kansas City, The Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, The Grand Canyon and there it is at long last–Disneyland.

No one wants to make this trip with the driver facing the back window, watching the road behind you. That’s a sure way to end the trip with a crash. On the other hand, the driver can keep the car moving safely forward while occasionally glancing in the rearview mirror. (more…)

You might feel that writing popular fiction in the 21st Century is fundamentally different than fiction writing was for Charles Dickens, Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte. More importantly, you may be under the impression that our audience is different.

Readers have changed in some ways. (more…)