History That Never Was

Home of Dawn Vogel: Writer, Historian, Geek

Figuring Out When to Stop

| March 5, 2018

Late last week, I had to make the difficult decision to stop working on one of my novel projects (the rewrite of Camp Haunt). The process had been going very slowly, and in order for me to get it done within my self-imposed deadline, I would have had to write a lot in a limited amount […]

Things I Love: Research!

| February 26, 2018

One of the things that I love most about writing is actually doing the research. Some people might think this is odd, but to me, doing research is a bit like being a detective. You’re pulling out the little pieces of information, or clues, and turning them into a story, or solving the case. My […]

Learning to Write Combat

| February 12, 2018

At Foolscap earlier this month, I got to take part in a workshop called “Them’s Fightin’ Words,” which was a workshop about writing combat. This is one of my known weaknesses as a writer–I don’t enjoy reading combat scenes, which means I’m awful at writing them. And while I can get away with just writing […]

Things I Love: Inspiring Views

| February 5, 2018

Finding a good, inspirational place where you can get writing done is a dream of many authors. For me, I’d love a place with an inspiring view like this. Some trees so it’s nice and shaded, and water in the distance–this is basically my dream porch! Sadly, while I have a window that looks out […]

New Stories

| January 29, 2018

Because I was nearly done with a couple of stories at the end of the year, which I finished early into 2018, I’m currently in a position where I’m starting lots of new stories rather than revising completed stories. It means that my brain is in overdrive working out all of the details, figuring out […]

When the Heroine Isn’t 18, Blonde, and a Size 3

| January 25, 2018

One of the panels I was on at Rustycon was called “When the Heroine Isn’t 18, Blonde, and a Size 3.” The topics we talked about were wide ranging, from books to TV to movies, but the primary idea was about writing non-Hollywood style women protagonists. This is a topic near and dear to my […]

Self-Publishing 101: The Types of Editing

| January 22, 2018

While at Rustycon recently, Jeremy and I were on a panel about self-publishing. We also met with an author who is considering self-publishing his book. One of the topics that came up in both instances was the types of editing, the order they happen in, and the importance of each. The first step, prior to […]

The Daunting First Page

| January 8, 2018

Soon, I start working on my next novel. It’s always an adventure to start in on a new book, even though I’ve got my outline firmly in hand. But even though my rational brain tells me that whatever I put on paper first doesn’t have to be a super clever opening line, my emotional brain […]

Gifts for Writers: Do Not Disturb Sign

| December 25, 2017

Sometimes, more than anything else, writers just need to write undisturbed. This is definitely the case for me. I have giant noise-cancelling headphones that I love, and those are my subtle “do not disturb” sign. But then there are times when that’s not an option. At work, I have to listen for the phones, so […]

Gifts for Writers: Planning Books!

| December 18, 2017

Writers often have a lot of projects to keep track of. And while there are a lot of different ways to keep track of those projects, I’ve recently become a big fan of paper planners. (Though I still keep My Giant Spreadsheet of Doom too.) With my paper planner, I can keep notes on the […]