I need to again praise the J.A. Konrath “Guide to publishing”. He gives really valuable advice and I wished I had read it before I started writing my first book. (Mind you, I started writing before he actually published his “Guide”). One of the things he advises is to write a story line for your sequel-book: just a few sentences that describe what happens in each chapter. This is something publishers/literary agents want to have when a writer promises a sequel. Before any

I follow a blog which you might also find interesting, so here’s the link. This particular entry was about something called the Bechdel test. This was the first time I had heard of it and what it is about. In short, this is a test about gender bias in fiction (books or movies). It’s a very simple test to perform. There are three questions that need to be answered: Are there at least two female characters in the story? Do they talk to each other? Do they talk to each other

It’s Friday night. I’m in my bed, tired. Must be close to midnight. Eyes closed. I want to sleep. In my mind there is a scene running. It goes on and on. I think: “Fine, I’ll remember it. Now let me sleep! “ It still goes on, and on, and on. Ahgrrr! Alright, alright! I get up, turn on the light, and grab my MacBook that lives happily next to my bed. I start writing. And I write and write. It’s almost 2 AM now. More then 2000 words. Good! I’ve written the scene in m

I’m reading “The Newbies Guide to Publishing” by Joe Konrath. Really good stuff! For new writers, but also for anyone else who wants to know what happens behind the scenes. Have a look at it, it’s worth it! What I would like to talk about here is: editing. I’m not doing much of it yet, but it’s something that every writer should do, again and again. The first draft is NEVER good enough for publishing (despite some egotistic opinions of young writers, such as myself :-p).

My characters need to be believable. That means I need to know what they are about, what are they going through, what have they experienced, what are their wishes, needs and expectations. To bigger or lesser extent I need to know them. So – the question then is - how do I write about a villain? I don’t think I am one (a villain). In fact, I’m a very nice, decent, honest person (doesn’t make me very exciting, I know) which means that I don’t know what motivates a villain,

When I was 18, just finishing gymnasium, I had the possibility to have a one day session at the Career Consulting Centre. This organization gives advice on your carrier options best suited for your talents and ambitions. They run you through different tests, some IQ-ones, some psychological ones. Once this is finished and you receive your career advice you can even include that document with your university application. Although I had a pretty good idea where I was going, I

When I was about 11 we had a school assignment to write a science fiction essay. So the very first idea of this book appeared: far, far in the future (I’m still not sure how far that will be right now) when teleporting is the standard means of transportation, my female heroine is “ported” to complete some task on a specific planet. As the port is completed, she finds herself on a planet that does not at all correspond to what she´d expected. A very new world, she’d never s

All of this is about writing a book. I’m really eager to get it finished and completed so it’s ready for my readers. But – it takes time so to calm my eagerness I decided that I will tell you about the process of writing. Characters, events that make their way into the book, triumphs and miseries as chapters unfold, while the characters do what I want them to do. Or not, and they do their own stuff instead. Come back to me with your thoughts, as they might find their way