First Draft Complete
Happy news today: the first draft of Book Three is complete! We finished the initial composition a few weeks ago, and have been attending...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Jul 3, 20171 min
The Truth about the Progress Bar
Our helpful little progress bar for the Book 3 rough draft has been hanging out at 95% complete for several weeks now. In actuality,...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Mar 20, 20143 min
Writing Martial Arts, Part 3: MA in Prose
Welcome to Part 3 of our series on Writing Martial Arts in fiction. This part deals with the nitty gritty: how to incorporate martial...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Mar 12, 20144 min
Writing Martial Arts, Part 2: Philosophies
One of the things that I have learned about being pregnant is that nothing happens quite as you expect. For instance, this post, which...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Feb 25, 20144 min
Writing Martial Arts, Part 1: MA Basics
One of the topics that we have thoroughly enjoyed speaking on, at LTUE and elsewhere, is how to create and write martial arts in fiction....
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Feb 17, 20144 min
LTUE Reflections
This past weekend, Sam and I had the opportunity to attend and speak at Life, the Universe & Everything, a science fiction and fantasy...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Feb 25, 20132 min
Buk Tri
This morning I started writing the first chapter of “Buk Tri”–book three of The Tales of the Seventh Empire. Of course, I skipped the...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Sep 3, 20122 min
Labor Day weekend: a new story
Buk Tu edits have been going well, though slowed by Labor Day weekend. We’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback from our editor,...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Aug 5, 20122 min
Draft: Complete
A few minutes ago, I completed the final draft of Buk Tu (ie “Book Two” or the sequel to The Tale of Telsharu). Sam and I will submit the...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Jul 21, 20122 min
The challenge of revisions
My roommate came in the other day and looked around. Currently I have a craft table set up. My laptop sits in the middle, surrounded by...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
May 28, 20121 min
Occasionally there is Kismet
kismet. noun. fate; destiny. Normally I’m of the school of perseverance. “Just keep writing” is my motto. I do not believe in writing...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
May 25, 20125 min
Writing & Revising: A Step by Step Process
There are a number of stages that we go through as writers to prepare a manuscript for publication. This differs slightly from writer to...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
May 6, 20122 min
The Avengers & Hanu Zan the Hero
I went to the midnight showing of The Avengers. I will admit to you, dear reader, that I am a total nerd for superhero movies. I love...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Apr 20, 20122 min
Gemmel Award, Reading Aloud, and the Tournament
A blog post of many topics! First, I learned from the blog of Patrick Rothfuss that voting is open on the David Gemmel Legend award for...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Apr 16, 20123 min
Research for your novel
A number of years ago I was taking a creative writing course and we had a section on research. I dragged my feet through the entire unit....
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Apr 11, 20121 min
“Having written”
“I do not like to write – I like to have written.” ― Gloria Steinem I saw this quote earlier today. Reading it, I laughed, and almost...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Apr 11, 20122 min
All night revisions
Today is the day. We are presenting the manuscript of Buk Tu to our editor for his first review. This is both a major event, and a minor...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Apr 7, 20123 min
Epigraphs, poetry, and rhyming in fictional languages
I have a great love of epigraphs. With my own work, I am particularly fond of fictional quotations or works from in-world sources. For...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Apr 4, 20122 min
I #amrevising and I may be #goingcrazy
Revisions have been a roller coaster ride this week. Six days ago, Sam and I discussed a new scene that we felt needed to be added to...
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Valerie Mechling Holley
Mar 28, 20123 min
Writing fight scenes
I recently had dinner with a family whose children I teach. Several of them have read Telsharu and were eagerly asking for an update on...
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