http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Holly+Lisle Writing Holly Lisle Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=357788&ca=Writing You have to check the status of your novel now and again during the writing process---things do go wrong, after all. Consider the halfway mark a good point to take a breather, get out a notebook, and do a quick assessment of what you've done so far. Mid-point assessment is NOT the time to start rewr... Writing Holly Lisle Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=357795&ca=Writing So how DO you keep from boring the socks off your readers? (And in a related question, how do you keep from putting YOURSELF into a coma while writing your story?) Well... you CAN cheat, making grand promises, going off in a million cool directions...and then have the whole thing fizzle into a big w... Writing Holly Lisle Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=351493&ca=Writing Sooner or later, every human being has to deal with obstacles, barriers, struggles heartbreak and loss. This is just the way life is---and even the most successful novelists you can think of will have faced these trials. If they've kept writing, they've overcome them. If you want to keep writing, yo... Writing Holly Lisle Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=348853&ca=Writing So. You're pounding the keyboard to pieces writing this story that just rips your heart out. It's the best thing you've ever written, and you know it. You've torn pages out of your own life, thrown in adventures you'd wished you had, wrapped it up with some paranormal scares you're glad you NEVER ha... Writing Holly Lisle Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=253055&ca=Writing The Conclusion of the 8-Part BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE Series You're ready to write the story of your life. You've put your heart and soul into it. • Your themes resonate with you, and they're the core of the novel. • You've hidden them so well you'll write a story, not a message. • You're willing to... Writing Holly Lisle Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=250859&ca=Writing Part VII of the 8-Part BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE Series Over the last six lessons, you've figured out your theme, and you've worked out at least one and possibly several subthemes. You've learned how to use blended scenes, intercuts, and cliffhangers to work both themes and subthemes into your work.... Writing Holly Lisle Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=248649&ca=Writing Part VI of the 8-Part BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE Series When you're writing a book, you want every page to drag the reader to the next one, even if she's late for work, even if it's two o'clock in the morning and he needs to be up at six, even if the plane has landed and your weary traveller really mu... Writing Holly Lisle Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=246588&ca=Writing Part V of the 8-Part BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE Series By now, you have a solid grasp of the importance of having a theme for your story, of keeping it personal and hidden (to avoid writing the dreaded Message Book), and of hanging on to the courage of your convictions in writing it the way you need t... Writing Holly Lisle Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=244266&ca=Writing Part IV of the 8-Part BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE Series And now we come to the hard bit. You've got your theme, and you've figured out how to bury it so that it's there for you, and SOMETHING meaningful is there for your reader. You've let go of the temptation to write a message book---always diffic... Writing Holly Lisle Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=242475&ca=Writing Part III of the 8-Part BRING YOUR NOVEL TO LIFE Series In the first two articles, we've explored how essential it is to have a theme to give your novel direction, and how to find those themes that will resonate with you. You'd think that once you have a theme, you could just sit down and write your...