By Author: Ann Aguirre

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Below are the latest articles from Ann Aguirre. The results are culled from all sources Workflow: Writing follows.

• Cliffhangers done right

  • Tuesday, 7 Sep 2010, 22:36 UTC (3 days ago)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  So last Tuesday, the fourth Jax book came out. I won’t be spoiling anyone by admitting this particular novel ends on a rather spectacular cliffhanger. Donning my reader hat for a moment, I have a love / hate relationship with cliffhangers. Done right, they drive you mad with book lust, so you spend the interval [...]

• The fine art of ego management

  • Tuesday, 10 Aug 2010, 22:02 PDT (10 August 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  That title is spot on for what I want to talk about today. First, let’s discuss our own egos. It can be easy to get puffed up because someone liked a book, or because we passed a milestone. But it’s important to stay in touch with reality — not to let our own hype cloud [...]

• Life Gets in the Way

  • Wednesday, 14 Jul 2010, 01:11 PDT (14 July 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  Sometimes everything goes perfectly. You’re spot on schedule, writing away, making your word counts. Your life runs like a well-oiled machine. But what happens when your children need extra attention, the dog runs mad, you have four hundred errands to run, and there are things all over the house that need fixing? Summer is like [...]

• Advice: on characters

  • Tuesday, 8 Jun 2010, 22:02 PDT (8 June 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  When Therese told me we’re having an “advice” month here on Writer Unboxed, I was pleased. Not because my advice is so stellar, but because themes make it easier for me to choose a post topic. Our lovely co-founder expressed curiosity as to how I can get to know my characters so quickly, enough to [...]

• Some advice

  • Tuesday, 11 May 2010, 22:01 PDT (11 May 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  People will tell you to do this or that to make it in this business. Sacrifice a goat. Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me. Never write at 3 a.m. Stop killing your main characters. (Okay, maybe that one’s good advice.) The truth of the matter is: there is no one truth [...]

• Digging in

  • Tuesday, 13 Apr 2010, 22:35 PDT (13 April 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  Today I’ll be talking about the research I did to bring Kilmer to life in HELL FIRE. Kilmer is the archetypal spooky small Southern town, hiding dark secrets and terrifying magic. Here are some descriptive bits to give you some idea how I went about it:
  We passed the wood that encircled the town. Sometimes, [...]

• Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

  • Tuesday, 9 Mar 2010, 22:18 PST (9 March 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  If you stick to it in this business, if you work on your craft and keep striving to improve, the chances are actually pretty good that you will achieve some level of success. There’s a saying I really like from Richard Bach: “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” And that is so, [...]

• Hero vs Antihero

  • Wednesday, 10 Feb 2010, 05:43 PST (10 February 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  I recently read a post wherein people discuss the idea of characters needing to be “worthy” of happiness and/or love. In other words, some folks don’t want to read about people who don’t always walk the straight and narrow, or who have had to make some tough (possibly terrible?) choices. I feel uncomfortable with the [...]

• On Voice

  • Tuesday, 12 Jan 2010, 21:31 PST (12 January 2010)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  So I got a DM from Therese this week, telling me that we’re focusing on voice this month. I was happy to have some direction for my post. First, I’ll say that I’m not feeling well as I write this, so my brain is a bit sluggish (and I wrote a post on voice here [...]

• By request: Writing in more than one world

  • Tuesday, 8 Dec 2009, 21:53 PST (8 December 2009)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  I asked on Twitter what I should write about today because I like to feel there’s some interest beforehand. That means people will read what I have to say!
  So Eliza asks, “How do you keep more than one story / universe in your head at a time?”
  I definitely have some experience at this. At [...]

• Query Workshop

  • Tuesday, 10 Nov 2009, 22:03 PST (10 November 2009)
  • By: Ann Aguirre, Writer Unboxed

  Today on WU, I’ve chosen a query letter from the pile and will give it a makeover. This is a pretty good starting point, but we can do better. Here’s the text, as sent to me, but I should note; I redacted the specifics as best I could. I don’t want anyone to read this [...]