I read a cultural history of Saint Petersburg, Russia, that reminded me of how much place influences character. Almost all of my favorite composers, from the 1800s well into the 20th century, were born and/or trained in Saint Petersburg. I was amazed at how many of the 20th century musicians either stayed or returned despite […]
Place, History and Character Development by Lani Longshore Read More »
I write science fiction, so I’m always looking for ways to improve my world-building skills. Sometimes I find my best examples in the news. Consider this item from an article in Foreign Affairs: “Since the beginning of written history, Chinese society has relied on extended kinship networks to cope with economic risks. Yet a rising
World-building from the News by Lani Longshore Read More »
I used to teach a quilting workshop with my co-author Ann Anastasio called “There’s a Quilt In There Somewhere.” We had our students bring fabric they loved but couldn’t use to the class, and everyone would get a chance to offer suggestions on patterns, other fabrics to include, and embellishments. I mentioned this to a
There’s A Story in There Somewhere by Lani Longshore Read More »
Plot is what happens—first this, then that, then the other thing. What if we asked a different question at the beginning of our plot outlines? Try saying, “I was there and this happened to me.” Now we are focused on cause and effect rather than only the events. We’ve established that someone will be adapting
Plotting with a Different Question by Lani Longshore Read More »
My husband recently acquired permission to submit articles to Wikipedia. To be able to do this, you have to work your way through Wikipedia’s vetting process (click here to get started), which includes learning to make edits to existing articles. One straightforward and useful way to make edits is to add footnotes to articles where
Recycle Your Research by Lani Longshore Read More »
Just when I thought my biggest writing issue was making time to sit at the keyboard, I discovered a whole new problem. My latest novel is spiraling out of control so I decided to rework the outline. Mind you, this is the first novel I’ve tried to outline. I allowed the others to wander because
Making Time To Think by Lani Longshore Read More »
I attended a workshop dedicated to crafting sentences. We began with a discussion of sentence forms—simple, complex, compound, and complex-compound. Most instructors I’ve heard in the last ten years have focused on the simple sentence as the best solution to all writing problems. This class was led by a woman who rejected the idea of
The Return of the Participial Phrase by Lani Longshore Read More »
One of my critique groups has an annual planning session in January—we call it our private workshop. What it accomplishes is worth every penny we spend on food and every minute we take away from other demands on our schedules. We dedicate an entire day to hashing through some issue in our writing. This year,
Start the Year with a Plan by Lani Longshore Read More »
Giving books at Christmas is an Icelandic tradition that dates back to World War II. Import duties on paper were relatively low, so books were an economical (and available) option. The tradition took off, and now every November the Iceland Publishers Association mails a free catalog of new publications to every home in the country.
Make Books a Holiday Tradition by Lani Longshore Read More »
There are times when we are confronted with our own limitations. Several weeks after I sprained my ankle, I went to the doctor because I’d noticed the skin there was noticeably more pink than around my healthy ankle. The problem was, I didn’t know if the skin had always been rosier, or if I was
Learning to See by Lani Longshore Read More »
