Frank M. Anderson's Writing

Tag: writing

  • Empire is getting edited for entry to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award 2013 contest!

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    I know I haven’t posted here in a loooooonnnggg time. It’s pretty hard work trying to teach a new subject at a new school. Editing a novel on top of that was simply impossible for a while. This is my formal observation year, so teaching has to be priority number one. The good news? Things…

  • On teaching and my protagonist.

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    I love being a teacher. Being a middle school teacher is an especially wonderful thing. Let’s face it- middle school stinks. It’s an awkward time for everyone. Guiding children through middle school, however, is a wonderful thing.We all have disastrous memories of some part of our middle school experience. Maybe you experienced truly struggling to…

  • On Killing Characters.

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    There are many types of death for a character in a literary work, but by far the worst is where the cease to exist completely. I have had to provide that most depressing of deaths for a few characters over the last week. While they were all good people who I liked, they were either…

  • It’s quiet… Too quiet.

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    Yes, I know you haven’t seen a ton posted here lately. I just want to assure you that things are moving forward. School starts tomorrow, so I have had to wade back into my day job as a middle school teacher. I am getting ready to start editing Empire, I am just waiting for two…

  • Back from vacation with my first reader feedback!

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    I just returned from a week of fun and sun with my wife’s family. It was the best beach trip I have had with them, and was very restive as well. One thing I did not do, however, was work on the novel very much. I printed up a copy of it and took it…

  • On beginnings.

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    I did it! The first draft of Empire is done! I printed up the first four chapters first to start editing them, and I am already extremely happy with the improvements being made. Part of me regrets even sharing what parts I did now. The book will truly be ten times better by the time…

  • On endings.

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    I’m about to write the last few paragraphs of my first draft. It’s got me feeling very emotional, even though I’m turning around and re-tooling the whole first five chapters next week. Despite that work looming ahead of me, I will still have a book that is readable from start to finish, even if it…

  • On editing and fear.

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    Editing terrifies me. When I wrote in college, editing always took my work and twisted it into something it wasn’t at first. I began to think of editing as the process of bastardizing a work until it was ground beef, rather than the filet it was when it existed in my head. Putting words onto…

  • History and happiness: My writing story

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    I could have done it on Friday, but I decided to leave meeting my word count goal for today, and I just did it! I decided a few months into the school year this year to set forth writing my first novel. This is a dream I have had since I was a kid and…

  • While you wait.

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    It will be a while until I release any more from the novel. I have a lot of work to do to get the bits I did release up to snuff, and want to get it nice and sparkly before anyone sees more of it. In other words, I won’t release more of the book…

  • 85% Done!

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    42640 / 50000 words. 85% done!   The story is really cruising on now. I am getting closer to having a complete tale, and I find that vastly exciting. There are sections I am hugely proud of. I know that going back to edit will be a ton of work, but I am getting more…

  • Updated my story on Worthy of Publishing.

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    I added to more chapters to what I posted of Empire on Worthy of Publishing. These five chapters make up the first act. The more I have realized this, the more I have also realized that I need to beef this section up. I am very happy with the end. The middle is coming out…

  • Once the work is over, the work begins again.

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    I have to admit that as I get closer to finishing the first draft, I start to feel more uneasy with certain sections of it. I have always known the old adage that you need to show what is happening to your reader and not simply tell them the events. I know I have broken…