Are There Angels Among Us?

Photo Courtesy Flickr Creative Commons and gacabo By Ron Estrada We’ve always been a little obsessed by angels. And why not? Of all the characters in the bible, angels are the most common, yet the least understood. They are usually sent as God’s messengers. The angel Gabriel told Mary that she’d give birth to Jesus.…

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Your Hero’s Goal

  By Ron EstradaI’ve been spending the month of October preparing for NaNoWriMo. Without a plan, you could easily waste 50,000 words next month. Today, we’ll discuss your hero’s goal. First, let’s review: You should have, by now, developed the backbone of your story: The Moral Premise. Here are the steps you should have taken:…

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2 Essential Elements of a Scene

By Ron Estrada The characters of Breaking Bad have different goals…this creates conflict! If you’ve been following along with my NaNoPlotMo method of plotting, or even if you haven’t, eventually you have to write the scenes. Be excited! This is the fruition of your labor. Now you’re free to create without fear of missing some key…

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State Your Theme

by Ron Estrada A lot of things have to happen in the first twenty pages of your novel. You’re busy introducing characters, setting, smashing that perfect opening line (stop it…It’s not as important as everyone says). But there is something often overlooked by writers. That is the statement of your theme. The Story Question The…

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What’s Wrong with Looking Toward the Mountaintop?

It’s been a while since I had something to say. A while since I felt like I had something encouraging to say. Truth is, I’ve been the one needing the encouragement. But today I was reminded of something as I opened by bible for the first time in a long time. Since I dusted off…

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6 Month Novel Interrupted by the Super Bowl?

Well, not really… more like the 6 month novel was interrupted by the snow storm and a lack of planning and the Super Bowl, but I’ll get to all that later. Today was the day my crit partner and I started our 6 month novel, starting with the “Idea to Premise!” We talked about it…

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Top 10 Observations from the Jury Box

by Ron Estrada This last week, I had the opportunity to serve on a jury. While there, I noticed a lot of little details about jury duty that I’d never realized. So, here are my Top 10 Observations from the Jury Box 10. Judges and their clerks are responsible for the current global sticky-note shortage.…

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Um… I’ve Been a Little Interrupted

And I’m perfectly okay with it. It’s taken me a really long time to be okay with not writing, or not worrying about writing, or not stressing about keeping a blog schedule. But it’s a beautiful and freeing place to be. As a new writer there was this sense of urgency to write and publish,…

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