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Books by D.J. Butler
Category Archives: How to Write
The Good vs. the Essential
The essential thing I do, every day (maybe six days a week, maybe seven), is write. I write original pages, and I write revisions of existing pages. That is the core and necessary part of what I do. I do … Continue reading
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What Characters Call Each Other
“Fifteen seconds!” snarled the Goblin, and pulled back the hammer on the pistol. “I don’t know!” I yelled. My mind was a whirl. The plan was in tatters. Was this how New York State … Continue reading
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Outlining by Chapter: Francis (Lucy) Drollery
Okay, forget Surfer Dude, I didn’t enjoy making it up any more than you enjoyed reading it. Still, I want to show you one more pre-writing / outlining tool, so rather than go through the exercise of making one up … Continue reading
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Writing Retreats
So I spent nine days on a beautiful ranch in Boulder, Utah (yes, UTAH, not Colorado). It was wonderfully isolated, just us writers, the mice and the seven o’clock deer. And I was very productive, at least by my standards, … Continue reading
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Query Letter
Dear Mr. ???: Max Spencer looked like your average 12-year-old middle schooler, although a bit more buoyant and a tad less athletic than most. He’d never scored the final point to win a game or crossed the finish line with … Continue reading
Posted in Business, How to Write, Story Monkeys, Writing Sample
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Inspiration
“I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” (Variously attributed, including to William Faulkner and W. Somerset Maugham)
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Writing Targets
You gotta have ’em. Maybe it’s three pages a day. Maybe it’s 500 words. You have to have some sort of target, especially if you’re writing something on spec, and there’s no editor pressing you to hit a deadline. You … Continue reading
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Sometimes You Don’t Have to Read
Or at least, you don’t have to read everything. Here are two useful practices that can get you good information short of reading whole books: Read parts of books. In particular, I think that you can read the first 50-100 … Continue reading
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Subplots Mapping: the Chronicles of Surfer Dude…
My next step usually is to start mapping out the various plot strands by character. Rather than try to explain it, I will return to Surfer Dude and show you. Character Plotline Beginning Middle End Surfer Dude Recover the Artifact … Continue reading
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