Look, titles are tough. We think writing synopses, query letters, or back cover copy is hard. But try distilling your entire book into a handful of words, and you might come up with a long list of duds before landing that final good one. So here are some tips for choosing a long list of preliminary titles for your book.
Do you have a WIP? Something creative you’ve forgotten or neglected? Let’s get finishing.
Last week, Kyra wrote about time management as she pursues her doctorate.
This week I’m finishing my last editing projects of 2016 to focus on my own writing (not to mention my family and full-time day job as a copywriter). So Kyra’s blog post was especially timely for me, as was today’s post by Chuck Wendig on finishing your writing.
How will you turn off the internal editor to write that first draft quickly?
I’ve got 5 Tips for Speed-Writing Your First Draft, which I used in 2014 to write 20,000 words in 24 hours.
If you need a bit more distraction or advice before you get started, take a look at Chuck Wendig’s post: Here’s How to Finish that #^@&*%$ Book, You Monster. As per usual with Chuck Wendig, his posts have NSFW language, so read at your own risk.
What is the one project you’ve been putting…
View original post 31 more words
Contents:
I claim without reservation that Lin-Manuel Miranda is Shakespeare 2.0. The composer/playwright/actor is heavily inspired by Shakespeare, which is evident in his Pulitzer-Prize Winning Hamilton, a strategically constructed historical tragedy.
What makes Hamilton so great? What is all the fuss—the buzz—about? Miranda’s lyrics and beats themselves are marvels, but it’s how he threads them together through universal themes that gives Hamilton its resounding resonance. (Look at me—I’m not even editing alliteration today.)
Each of the three primary characters in Hamilton has an armature, a theme which progresses through repetition and reversals to give each their own character arc.
While listening to the soundtrack of Hamilton, I took notes on repeated words, phrases, and motifs as I recognized them, thinking the repetition and reversals would be a great theme for a blog post…
After just one listen-through, I had five single-spaced pages of notes.
If you were wondering why I haven’t blogged in a while—it’s because I’ve been trying to decide which motifs to highlight. It’s because after taking my own notes, I’ve spent hours on Genius reading the annotated lyrics.
Obviously this post will be filled with spoilers if you don’t know Alexander Hamilton’s historical fate. I highly recommend listening to the full soundtrack, whether before, during, or after reading the following insights. Do note, however, that the lyrics are explicit and as such are likely not appropriate for children or work.
First let’s start with the most prominent motifs; then we’ll look at the primary arc for Eliza, Burr, and Hamilton.
The entry windows for this year’s #pg70pit (#70pit16) have closed, and slushies are reading and scoring entries through July 5th.
Each entry has at least four readers, judging on a scale of 1 (needs work) to 3 (I want to read more!). The cohosts and I will look our 2.5 and 3 scores and from those, choose the entries with the highest average scoring entries to feature on our blogs.
So what should you do now?
Lara Willard 