David Anthony Brown

only for the seven day streak

Almost didn’t post today. Because, well, screw it. Nobody cares I only added 200 words to “The Ghost, the Vampire, and the Jock” yesterday. I have no nifty insight into the writing craft today. Mostly I just played Sims 4 and read the news today. But I have a streak going on this blog and…… Continue reading only for the seven day streak

leaky faucet

I tend to write like a leaky faucet. Drip… drip… drip… 200 words here, 400 there, another 300 there. If I’m in blazing hot streak mode, I might bang out 1000 words in one sitting, but that’s rare. It’s not something I do on purpose, it’s just the way I am. What do I do…… Continue reading leaky faucet

less of a clue where this is going

Pretty normal day yesterday. Went to work, watched some TV, played a video game. Added 1000 words to the novel. That’s about half the average I want to be doing, so I’m making progress. I want to build up to 2000 words a day by the end of the week, and then start the short…… Continue reading less of a clue where this is going

not nearly enough time

Yesterday was just one of those days where I didn’t have enough time to do all the things I wanted to do. Didn’t help I was on only four or five hours of sleep. I watched WrestleMania with the guinea pigs to unwind. Got through the tag team championship match, then decided I need to…… Continue reading not nearly enough time

DIY Journal: IP Tracking

I started the Do-It-Yourself Journal way back when and never really did anything with it. Seems like a worthy thing to resurrect on this blog. I wear two hats–fiction writer and publisher. The DIY Journal is all about indie publishing: things I do in my business, things I need to do, what I’m working on…… Continue reading DIY Journal: IP Tracking

the invisible nature of voice

When I first started learning the craft of storytelling, I really had no fucking clue what voice was. Looking back, especially over some of the old posts I took down yesterday, I was clueless. Laughable now. Back then, I would’ve been offended if somebody pointed out my lack of control over voice. Voice in fiction…… Continue reading the invisible nature of voice

after a long damn hiatus

But not really. To date, I have give-or-take 60 publications floating around out there, though mostly under a different pen-name. So I never took a hiatus from writing, at least not of the permanent kind. I’ve just been busy writing and publishing erotica for the last four years or so. And now the time feels…… Continue reading after a long damn hiatus

Friday Morning Pages:Practice and Heinlein’s Rules

I’m going to wrap up this mini-series on practice with something few of you expect. Some of you might even be angry at me for bringing this up, if you weren’t already about angry about practice in general. If so, check in with yourself and try to figure out why this stuff makes you ticked. You’re only short-changing yourself by letting negative emotions dictate your writing.

Friday Morning Pages: On Practicing Plot Twists

The question for the week is: How do you make a story feel twisted, with lots of surprises? Surprising your reader is a practiced skill in itself, but there are some practical considerations.

Friday Morning Pages: Practice by Retyping

You’re a reader. Go find your favorite books, and see for yourself what those authors did to pull you into their books. There’s a thousand techniques to pull readers in, you’ll discover some of those techniques when you analyze the books that pull you in.

But there’s a trick to analyzing this stuff. You can’t just read, and you can’t just write your own stories. Do both, for sure. You need to also study.