Friday Links: Deepening Your Writing

Starting next week, I'm going to switch my links posts to Tuesday and just post once a week for a while. Instead of just posting a list of links, though, I'm going to have them all focused on a theme, and I'll try to add some additional thoughts regarding that theme (appearance of additional thoughts dependent upon amount of caffeine consumed that day and number of afternoon naps indulged in).

Today's links are focused on pushing your writing that extra step--adding layers, making it more real, and taking advantage of all the senses you can put into play to draw your readers in.

Jody Hedlund: 7 Setting Basics That Can Bring a Story to Life. Adding detail and meaning to your story's setting.

Wordplay: How to Create Distinctive Character Voices. Ways to make your characters stand out from each other.

Writers in the Storm, guest post by Janice Hardy: 5 Ways to Bring Your Descriptions to Life. Looking at how descriptions will be written differently depending upon the POV.

Glimmertrain: Prompts to Deepen Character Development. Get to know your characters without having to buy them dinner.

Writania: 3 Steps to Writing a Novel With Unforgettable Characters. Making your characters balanced and real.

On your next pass through your WIP, take a look at some of these ideas and you'll add depth to your story that wasn't there before. These are also great steps to look at while you're doing revisions on a completed manuscript. Any personal tricks or tips you use when you're working on adding layers and depth? Please share in the comments below. I can use all the help I can get. :-)