How did your homework from Writing Roundup #10 go? Did you do anything crazy, like fast drafting your novel? Are you any better at conveying emotion in fiction? Have you learned to distinguish between tricky words?

Productivity

Nothing kills writing productivity like plotlessness. You may have a cool idea, but without a plot, you just wander aimlessly in the woods, hoping to stumble on other awesome stuff. I have a couple of projects that died on the way because, while the premise was awesome, I didn’t actually have a story. The earlier you diagnose this problem in your project and start asking the right questions to create a plot, the easier it will be to write the story.

Kate Cavanaugh on Plot vs. Premise:

Writing-Craft

Want to Improve Your Writing? Change Your Thinking by Janice Hardy | Fiction University

Prompt

Write a scene including  the phrase “My co-author is going to kill me.”

You can read my basically unedited attempt at this prompt on Wattpad. Placeholder words are in [square brackets] and notes to myself for later are in {curly brackets}.

Note: Computer users can view the story without making/signing into their Wattpad account by opening the link in an incognito window. I don't know why, but Wattpad doesn't have their nagging popup bother you in this mode (at least in Chrome).

If you would like me to see your attempt, send me a link, or share it on Twitter with the hashtag:

Technical Stuff

This week we continue reading Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing by Mignon Fogarty. Your assignment is to read Chapter 2: Grammar Girl on Grammar.  I recommend reading it once and using some little sticky tabs to mark the sections you find difficult. Then going back to look closer at your grammar issues.

Vocabulary

If you want to use my words, I have a Memrise course for this class.

My words for this lesson are:

1. Magian
2. Bacchanalia
3. Oleander
4. Somnolent
5. Furlough
6. Oppilate
7. Weir
8. Vatic
9. Excoriate
10. Jocose
11. Dandy
12. Swank
13. Lubricious
14. Squamous
15. Solipsism
16. Sacrosanct
17. Pfeffernuss
18. Ineluctable
19. Acclivity
20. Stockade
21. Knell

Progress

I probably should have spent more of the last couple of weeks writing blog posts, but I had the opportunity to read and critique for some friends and couldn’t pass that up. I did get some blog posts written and started learning how to film videos. I think that by Writing Roundup #12, I will have enough of a post buffer that I can start working on pages again.


That’s it! Writing Roundup #12 will come out in three weeks. To find other posts in this series and a more detailed explanation of the categories, visit An Eclectic Writing Class.