Shannon Donnelly | Writers In The Storm

10 Tips For a Strong Protagonist

Guest Blogger — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 11:02:36 +0000

Shannon Donnelly I’ve been reading some manuscripts lately that have trouble sorting out the protagonist, so this seems worthy of a blog. The protagonist—your central character—needs to be worthy of a story. The protagonist also needs enough going on to carry the story. One of the big problems I see in a lot of romances […]

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Tell Better; Show More

Guest Blogger — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:00:57 +0000

Shannon Donnelly I teach a Show and Tell workshop online and everyone comes into that workshop wanting to know how to show more—they’ve usually been hit with the advice to ‘show don’t tell’. However, there’s a place for the narrative in any fiction. What most writers really need to look at is how to tell […]

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Ten Easy Pacing Tips-for Life

Guest Blogger — Mon, 06 Apr 2015 11:00:00 +0000

Shannon Donnelly I'm always thinking about the pacing of the story. Am I moving too slow or too fast? Too much detail in the story slows the pacing—but too little and the reader can’t ‘see’ the scene. Action is great for speed, but too much can confuse. Dialogue can pick up the pace, but you […]

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7 Tips for Balancing Backstory

Guest Blogger — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 12:00:36 +0000

Shannon Donnelly Backstory—the background needed to enrich a story—is one of those things that can drive any writer nuts. How much is too much? When do you reveal more? When do you hold back? Too much backstory can sink a story—because you’re not moving the story forward. You’re giving background, and while that can be […]

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6 Ways To Know You've Written the Perfect Ending

Guest Blogger — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:00:50 +0000

by Shannon Donnelly I’ve been thinking a lot about story endings, probably because I’m getting close to one in the book I’m working on. But also we watched 2 Guns the other day and it has a fabulous mirror from the beginning to ending—that mirror technique where the last scene echoes the opening scene, but […]

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Unblocking Yourself: Ten Ways to Beat Writer's Block

Guest Blogger — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 11:00:31 +0000

Shannon Donnelly I don’t actually believe in writer's block. That probably makes me sound arrogant, but what I’ve found is that blocks are actually your writer instincts trying to get your attention—and what better way than to stop you cold? Every writer needs good instincts. You have to have that gut feeling when you’re scene […]

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A Synopsis Checklist

Guest Blogger — Mon, 07 Apr 2014 08:00:58 +0000

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 one of my favorite tools. I’m now doing my “Sexy Synopsis workshop again for Outreach […]

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10 Dialogue Tips To Make Your Novel Shine

Guest Blogger — Mon, 03 Mar 2014 09:00:31 +0000

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 sank in when I wrote A Proper Mistress. I went for a lot of dialogue […]

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What Makes a Romance? Seven tips.

Guest Blogger — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 09:00:24 +0000

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 the romance shelf. If your WIP a genre "fence-sitter" or if your romance could be shelved […]

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Why Writerly Words Are Not Your Friend

Guest Blogger — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 11:00:27 +0000

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 the ball rolling.” – Stephen King, On Writing There are three huge flashing signs that […]

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