Author Archives: Lara Zielinsky

Are you writing a novel in November?

Click here to listen to the author reading this post With the demise of NaNoWriMo, I’ve been seeing more communities spring up to support writers who still want to challenge themselves to write a novel (or at least 50k of one) during the 30 days of November. ProWritingAid has started a community for “Novel November.”ContinueContinue reading “Are you writing a novel in November?”

Is your character’s backstory trivia or lore?

Lore is not just for fantasy world-building. Here’s a look at how it can add depths to your characters that you can plumb for story. Trivia vs Lore For the purpose of this article, trivia is random, isolated facts about the character (height, weight, scar on their left shoulder, etc), but they don’t (necessarily) interconnectContinueContinue reading “Is your character’s backstory trivia or lore?”

A truly useful writing tool

(that doesn’t use AI) (and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg) It must be the season of starting new writing projects. On literally every group I’m in and on every social media thread with writers, there is someone asking “what software do you use to write?” There’s the recommendations of Scrivener, Novlr, Write!, Ulysses,ContinueContinue reading “A truly useful writing tool”

Conflict or Conflicted?

OK. Back at it. What can I say? Life’s been hectic — and I’ve been sick for the last week. Anyway, let’s tackle something adjacent to January’s post on plotting and pantsing – conflict. Now I’ve talked about conflict in several posts, but I haven’t really discussed why and how to twine inner and outerContinueContinue reading “Conflict or Conflicted?”

Beta Read for Better Writing

I’ve been giving presentations quite a lot lately. And one topic is repeatedly requested: “Beta Read Your Way to Better Writing.” I’m going to give a quick summary of the principles and strategies here. For the full presentation, message me to come speak to your group. Reading is the best way to improve your ownContinueContinue reading “Beta Read for Better Writing”

Are you a Plotter or a Pantser?

A “pantser” is one who writes “by the seat of their pants.” A plotter is at the other end of the spectrum, working out all the moments in the plot in great detail, from who’s in the scene, whose POV it is, what’s happening, and where and why it’s happening. Plantser: a (lot of) middleContinueContinue reading “Are you a Plotter or a Pantser?”

Why Hire an Editor

Here are five bottom-line reasons you should hire a human editor and not rely on a grammar checker, especially one with AI. Fiction writing is not AI’s strong suit. AI loves patterns and it will find repetitions of ideas, and words or phrases perfectly acceptable. Yes, you can program an AI grammar checker to letContinueContinue reading “Why Hire an Editor”

A Discussion of POV

Presentation alert: January 17, at 2:00 pm Eastern I will be speaking to the members of OPUS Literary Alliance. OPUS members will receive the link to the Zoom meeting. It also will be recorded for OPUS members to view online later. OPUS’s mission is to enhance the visibility and preserve the legacy of lesbian, womenContinueContinue reading “A Discussion of POV”