Tag Archives: taking risks in writing

Writing a Novel? Leonard Tells All…

By Leonard Bishop (Ed.  This was part of a series Mr. Bishop wrote in 1985, “…for people who are interested in writing a novel but who have felt too inadequate to begin.”  The advice rings true today!  His other pieces … Continue reading

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Thankful for Words of Wisdom

(There are several writing groups around the country who began with Leonard Bishop.  Each of us writers and dreamers are thankful to him every time we sit down to our desks, or curl in front of a fire to “percolate” … Continue reading

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A Pair of Persistent Threats

by Leonard Bishop There are two persistent threats that intimidate all inexperienced writers who want to write novels. And unless they avoid those threats, they will never write their novels. When I was instructing at the University of California, in … Continue reading

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The Writer’s Life: A Social Vacuum

by Leonard Bishop Don’t quit your present employer to become a professional writer until you have learned how to be alone. It is not the lack of talent or skill that stops someone from succeeding as a professional writer. Talent … Continue reading

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Write a Novel? Invent Life

by Leonard Bishop Let’s get to the plot-line. A plot-line is the razzle-dazzle and suspense of the story. Here are some exaggerated examples to use as a guide. If you are writing a first-person novel (telling the story of what … Continue reading

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Write A Novel? Let’s Pretend (repost)

by Leonard Bishop (For our friends who need to be reminded…it IS possible to write a novel!  And Leonard tells us the first step!) A late general complaint from all people who want to write novels is:” I’d love to … Continue reading

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Who Will Cast The First Stone?

by Leonard Bishop This is an apology to many easily forgettable best-selling writers. Some not exceptionally enlightened college students taught me a lesson I was needing to learn for years. About how to be critical of other writers. While my … Continue reading

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We Always Do Our Best

by Leonard Bishop I can understand why people who write newspaper columns get tired of their usual readers and hope to gain others. Persistent readers take the columnist too seriously. They begin to believe they know the writer and thus … Continue reading

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Writers Need Each Other

by Leonard Bishop, Author of Dare to Be a Great Writer Many writers are shriveling. They are alone, and isolated from each other. No one really cares if they are ever published and many of their families wish they would … Continue reading

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Learning to Write Sex Scenes

by Leonard Bishop Be careful how many sex scenes you use in the novel, and the type of sex scenes you allow the characters to experience. Limiting contemporary writers to two or three lusty graphic sex scenes is not censorship … Continue reading

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