Arsenal of Words

The Writing of Arthur Klepchukov

Category: Writing Novels

Link | August 15, 2018

How Writing and Submitting Short Stories Improved My Novel

Why should a novel writer devote precious writing time to short stories? After five novel drafts, two years of submitting shorter fiction, and seven publications, here are my reasons.

  • Do Something With All Those Ideas
  • Understand the Impact of Every Edit
  • Feel A Sense of Completion More Often
  • Practice Finding Comps
  • Strengthen Your Query Letters
  • Give More Than One Story A Chance

Read my guest post over at The Spun Yarn for how and why I juggle multiple projects, even when one is something as ambitious as a novel draft.

Read: how writing stories helps my novel.

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Link | October 8, 2017

How I Won NaNoWriMo in My First (and Last?) Attempt

NaNo-calendar

Last November I wrote over 50,000 words of a new novel and won my first National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Are you on the fence about participating this year? Do you have the same skeptical reaction I did every year? Let this post provide catharsis for your worries and guidance for making a decision on how to spend this November. Read on for my strategy for winning (e.g. writing 50,000 words by Nov. 30) and a reflection on what I would and wouldn’t repeat.

Read the full post on Writer Unboxed

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November 2, 2015

Listen to LitQuake 2015’s The Art of the Novel

Last month I attended LitQuake 2015’s excellent panel, The Art of the Novel. Thanks to Alex Green for moderating Cristina García, Bruce Bauman, Alexis Landau, and Tiffany Baker. This panel was the same format as my previous post, The Art of the Short Story.

Interesting questions posed to the panelists:

  • How do you know an idea is a book?
  • Why are synopses so hard? How do they compare to outlines?
  • Are the character voices you hear simply your voice?
  • Where does the research end and the art begin?
  • Do your characters process what you’re trying to process?

Listen to the audio of the panel below.

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