Category Archives: Shannon Donnelly

A Synopsis Checklist

Posted on April 7, 2014 by writersinthestorm

by Shannon Donnelly Years ago I was struggling to try and figure out how to write a synopsis. It took a lot of input from other writers, and some workshops, but I finally became comfortable with syopsis writing—and now it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging Guests, Craft, Shannon Donnelly | Tagged , , | 49 Comments

10 Dialogue Tips To Make Your Novel Shine

Posted on March 3, 2014 by writersinthestorm

By Shannon Donnelly Great dialogue can make or break a novel. This view may stem from growing up watching a lot of 1930’s screwball comedies. Zingers fly with rapid fire and everyone talks. A lot. But the importance of dialogue really … Continue reading →

Posted in Craft, Shannon Donnelly | Tagged , , , , | 54 Comments

What Makes a Romance? Seven tips.

Posted on February 3, 2014 by writersinthestorm

Just a quick announcement – the winner of the drawing for the online course at Lawson Writer’s Academy is . . . Jamie Beck! Writers in the Storm welcomes Shannon Donnelly to clarify what a book needs to land on … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging Guests, Craft, Shannon Donnelly | Tagged , , , | 37 Comments

A Writer’s Greatest Crime

Posted on January 6, 2014 by writersinthestorm

by Shannon Donnelly There are a lot of crimes a writer can commit—the torture of sentences, the mangling of meaning, the wrecking of words through using the wrong one at the wrong time. However, the greatest of these is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Craft, Shannon Donnelly | Tagged , , | 31 Comments

Why Writerly Words Are Not Your Friend

Posted on November 4, 2013 by writersinthestorm

by Shannon Donnelly “In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ the boredom arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep … Continue reading →

Posted in Shannon Donnelly | Tagged , | 39 Comments

Scene Arcs

Posted on October 7, 2013 by writersinthestorm

By Shannon Donnelly Everyone knows there’s a story arc—story goes up in tension, reaches a peak, and falls down. And there are character arcs, too, since story is character and character is story. But what about your scene arcs? That’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Craft, Miscellaneous, Shannon Donnelly | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments