How to incorporate Facial Expressions in Your Manuscript

I won't lie, this can be a struggle sometimes. Editors and Literary agents belabour the point of "showing not telling," and I think a big part of that involves being able to describe the character's emotion in the moment. The first time I heard this, I was like ... huh? Not only do I have to write a story, now I have to worry about facial expressions too?

However, if you really think about it, when we speak in real life, we hardly ever keep a straight face. In fact, our facial expressions often depict our mood or whatever sentiment we are trying to convey. As such our characters should do the same. I mean aside from the obvious I think this really helps to bring them alive.

Honing your Craft: How Workshops can help

After a partial professional edit for my current WIP, my editor suggested I check out a few writing workshops. Actually, her exact words were "workshop the hell out of this baby" ... meaning my manuscript. Needless to say, I've taken her advice and I'm one of the 4 people accepted into the First Five Pages Writing Workshop for the month of November. You can check out the entries here:   http://firstfivepagesworkshop.blogspot.com

Tension

So after the excitement wore off, I realised just how much work I was in for. Started with 'tension.' My editor had mentioned this to me briefly but prior to the workshop I must confess I hadn't given it much attention. My primary focus was the telling of the story. However, I since learned that tension is very much a part of that. A story should never just sail along with obstacle, challenge, danger, fear - this is the stuff that will keep readers interested enough to turn to the next page. If an agent says "The story doesn't have enough tension for me," it's bad news. Think of ways to introduce more conflict and raise the stakes. This will literally keep readers at the edge of their seats. 

Why Writers Should Read?

Picking up from last week's post where I spoke of the need to stop reading other people's work, I wanted to focus on why new writers should not only read, but read A LOT!

Stephen King put it best actually... if you don't read you won't have the tools needed to perfect your craft. But I get it, writing is hard, even painstaking at times, so how the heck are you to carve out another hour (or in my case precious minutes) to read when you could be using it to bang out that best seller? We are told to make the time. Several accomplished authors seem to agree you can't be a successful writer without being an avid reader:

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
― Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!

"Read, read, read. Read everything -- trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.
Then write. If it's good, you'll find out. If it's not, throw it out of the window.”
― William Faulkner

"Learn as much by writing as by reading."
 ― Lord Acton

Why Do We Write?

I came across this quote one day during one of my writing ruts when I was searching for inspiration. This me stop and pause for a bit; reflecting on my true desire for writing. For me, it's a mix of things really. Reading lots of books definitely made me want to try writing my own, particularly if the ending left me wanting but mostly because It's really an adventure I enjoy.