Recent content by Caged Maiden

Caged Maiden submitted a new blog post: Mindset Matters — 8 Simple Steps to Better Writing Habits by A. Howitt Stuck with a bad case of writer’s block? Ready to quit on your story after getting harsh feedback you sense deep down is true? Caught in a cycle of rewriting early chapters instead...

Caged Maiden submitted a new blog post: Writing Groups Part 2 by A. Howitt In my previous article on writing groups (which you can read here), I talked about some popular ways writers connect. From online forums like the Mythic Scribes writing forums to community workshops, there’s no...

Sopranos! Oh yeah. What happened there? Thanks for the comment! Wrapping things up is so important, and yet we sometimes can't fight the urge to leave things a mystery. It's a breach of trust. Some people will tolerate it on occasion, but most will find it frustrating and uncomfortable, and...

Caged Maiden submitted a new blog post: From First Word to Last, Part 2: Endings by A. Howitt This is Part 2 in this series. Part 1 addressed how to write beginnings. If beginnings are important, endings are doubly so. From the first line of a story each word, each scene is driving the...

Thanks for your comment! Yeppers, "in late, out early" is a great subject, deserving more than a mention, but it's probably a whole long article all on its own. Glad you enjoyed the article. Totally agree the starting point is a tough thing to pick. When I write, I try to start in the now...

I like prologues so long as they provide some hook that makes me excited about what's to come. Some of my favorite books have a sort of "this is a dire situation I'm in...let me tell you how I came to be here," sort of intro. Or they give a glimpse of the situation from someone other than the...

Caged Maiden submitted a new blog post: From First Word to Last, Part 1: Beginnings by A. Howitt Opening lines are touted as some of the most important of a story. How-To books and author blogs tell us to engage, captivate, immerse, excite—and to stop at nothing less. But what is the secret...

I reinvented you both a few days ago. Best wishes everyone who is nano-camping!

I reinvented Crystal and Chessie. Anyone else want in, post your nano name once you created your project. I adopted a dog yesterday, so I will try to get on my computer, but we have to put in the fence this weekend, so I may be scarce. :) But he's sleeping by my feet while I'm typing now, so...

Guys, I have to start a new cabin because something happened and I can not invite more people to this one. Not sure why. Crystal, I'm going to leave the cabin, and I suggest you do too, and I'll restart a new one. Sorry, I'm not sure what happened. The other option, since we're the only two in...

Who's in? Let me know your nano name so I can add you and join the mythic cabin! Writing starts in a few hours, so get your project created and leave your cabin settings blank so I can invite you. I'm anihow, by the way!

Sorry, didn't see this comment. To answer, a humbling moment is not an arc. Any moment isn't an arc. An arc must begin somewhere and end somewhere else. In a flat arc, Cinderella is a kind and humble abused girl, and during the story her circumstances change. She is given help by a fairy...

Hi Greybeard, great question. How you show the change will depend on the nature of the story and the way the change happens. The change arc is an internal thing, so it can feel heavy-handed to have someone come right out and say, "I see you really got over your horrible cheapness, Mr...

Caged Maiden submitted a new blog post: Change Arc: The Inner Journey by A. Howitt Simply put, a change arc is the inner journey a character experiences from the beginning of the story to the end. It’s their transformation, or their lesson learned. It’s how far they’ve really come regardless...

beating a dead horse...and trying to get back on it at the same time '_'