Meredith Bond's Writerly Thoughts

Different ways of writing with a partner, everything from just using another person as a sounding board when you’re plotting to one person writes the first draft, the other edits it, to each person writing one point of view, taking turns writing, to epistolary novels. Writing can be a lonely business—sitting up there in your garret letting the words flow. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There…

Do you have a writing buddy? Someone with whom you either write your stories or who reads and comments on your work? Then Ellipsus may be the writing software you need. Ellipsus is an online app which has a lot of really good features. It is also missing a lot of good features to be found in other writing apps. So, let me break it down for you: Pros: 1. It’s online! You don’t need to download…

Writing a novel can be one of the most wonderful and fulfilling things one might do. Being creative. Creating characters that come to life on the page. Telling a story. It’s all great fun and satisfying. The one thing it is not for nearly everyone who embarks on a writing journey is a way to earn a living. Yes, people have done it—and might even still. But you can’t count on it. Readers are…

One of the best writers of fiction for young people, Orson Scott Card also penned Characters & Viewpoint, published by Writer’s Digest Books. No matter where you are in your writing journey, this book reinforces generally known conventions in character creation and point of view, and also provides new ideas to work into your craft. Card begins the book by defining the difference between writing…

It’s never too late or too early to start on the next draft of the novel you’re writing. Some people believe that you must write the book all the way through to the end before you begin your second pass, but I see no reason why you should. As someone who plots their book in detail before I even start writing, you might think that I would have no problem writing through to the end before I begin…

I am always looking for easier ways to organize the writing of my books. I’ve used everything from Scrivener to physical index cards. Recently, I came across a plug-in for Obsidian that looks like it might be promising (no guarantees yet). It’s called StoryLine. I’m still getting to know this software, but it is definitely the most complete novel-writing plug-in for Obsidian I’ve found. A lot of…

First, my apologies for not posting last week. We had a pet illness that, sadly, led to the passing of the kitty. I was in no fit state to write anything for a few days. Now, on to what I’ve been up to this week! I was recently reminded of two very important things authors need to have in their books: an up-to-date list of other books and a reader magnet to entice readers to sign up for your…

There is nothing that makes a reader put down a book faster than boring characters. Even if your plot is fascinating and action-packed, if the reader doesn’t care about the characters, why should they read on? I know there is a lot written on how to write characters in depth, 3-D — whatever you want to call it—but I figured it couldn’t hurt to discuss it again (especially since I just finished…

There’s new formatting software in town! I’m a formatter. I have been since 2011 when I learned html so that I could format my own books, and those of other authors, into an ebook. Since then there have been so many innovations, new ways to format your book. There is now everything from Jutoh (highly adaptive and filled with incredible features and loads of ways to personalize your book) to…

Are you thinking about self-publishing your work? If yes, then the very first thing you need to know is that the term “self-publishing” is not actually what people do. No one can do everything necessary to publish a book. It takes a team to “self-publish.” Here are all the people you will need on your team: A Developmental Editor/Coach: Especially if you’re new to writing, a book coach or…

The Author Stuck List by Becca Syme is Syme’s Author Stuck Cards in book form. The book (and cards) are for any author who is having problems progressing with the writing of their book. As a writing coach, I’ve seen and spoken with a good number of authors who are having trouble writing. It’s a common problem that can be anything from complete avoidance of their writing—not wanting to even think…

A brief word about this blog first: The absolutely hardest thing about writing a weekly blog post is coming up with topics to write about. Since I’ve been publishing this blog for fifteen years now (!!!), I feel as if I’ve covered everything and sometimes many times over. Still, every week I sit and stare at a blank page in Microsoft Word and try to think of what to write! My ideas most…

Writing distinct character voices might be one of the most difficult parts of writing fiction. It is one thing to write great, believable dialogue that moves your story forward, but then to imbue those words with the individual voice of the character who speaks takes your writing to the next level. There are a lot of ways you can distinguish one character’s voice from another. Here are…

AI is everywhere and you might be using it without even knowing you’re doing so. How? By using the common editing apps Grammarly and ProWriting Aid. They are both now powered by AI. So, what’s the best way to avoid using any AI in the writing of your novel? Use a human editor. Here are five reasons why:   Voice: an author’s voice sometimes doesn’t follow the rules of grammar. And sometimes even…

A client of mind recently sent me a novella. It started out with “four years ago.” Okay. I can deal with a little backstory to begin with. The next chapter was “one year ago.” Cool, we’re coming up on present day. A little slowly, but we’re good. Next chapter “present day.” Okay! Here we go with the real story. It took two chapters of a novella, but that’s okay. But then the chapter after that…

Last week I talked about some of the tools in my writer’s toolbox. This week, I want to get into some detail about how I use Obsidian. If you don’t know, Obsidian is an app that resides on your computer where you can create pages and take notes on anything. Not only is the app on your computer, but so are all the files you keep there. This makes it so privacy is not a concern and, even if you are…

I have a lot of tools in my writer’s toolbox and I use each and every one despite the fact that many overlap in their abilities. Is that nuts? Weird? Inefficient? Maybe, but it works for me. Before I even begin to write a book, I create characters and plot the book on paper with worksheets I created (you can get them on Etsy). Once I’m done this, I move to my computer and move to Obsidian. There…