dawn.vogel | March 12, 2018
How do you make your villain not a cardboard cutout, stereotypical villain like the guy pictured to the right? Monica M. Clark has a great article at the Write Practice about how Killmonger from Black Panther is a masterful example of a good villain, and breaks down the points about the character that make him so […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
dawn.vogel | 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 […]
