Helping you find your story
Hi, should have done this last week, but motivation to do things when nothing seems to be happening is difficult. Speaking about motivation, let’s look at the difference between a slump and writer’s block. A slump is when your writing slows down or drops in quality, and it is a
One of the frustrations of writing is going to revise and realizing how many writing mistakes you’ve made. Repeated words, too many adverbs, weak verbs, static description, the list goes on and on. Revision is a humbling experience. But hold on, all is not lost. Those mistakes tell us something
Introducing a character to the reader is a bit like introducing that special someone to your parents. The temptation is to tell everything you know about them so the reader will love them as much as you do. The problem is that page and the extolling of the character’s looks,
Book Template The link above will download an updated .docx file with paragraph styles I use most often defined. I’ve set them now so the proper style follows automatically so you don’t need to remember to change them. The advantage is you don’t have to wade through the dozens on
Preparing your Manuscript for Editing Workshop This the outline I used for a workshop to help prepare writers to make the most effective use out of an editorl What is editing? Content/Structural Editing Foundational issues: Plot, character, tone, structure, world building Copy/Line Editing Prose, sentences, paragraphs, pacing. Word use and
A thesaurus can be a writer’s best friend, but like all good friends it can lead us into trouble. When we gleefully substitute synonyms for the word we’re overusing it is essential we pay attention to the nuances of meaning. Let’s look at smile as an example. Here are some
Everyone knows feelings are essential to evocative writing. Without emotions there is little reason for the reader to care about what is going on in the story or what happens to the characters. So we write how our characters are angry, or sad, or furious, or happy or any of
Some people like long chapters that pull them deep into the world that the author is weaving around the the story. Others like short chapters. To say that all chapters must be long, or that all must be short would be similar to saying that you have write all long
So you have a killer story and want to send it to a publisher who you know will love it. Only they insist submissions be a few thousand words more than what you have in your book. Here are some ways of adding in words without making your story feel
The slow death of boring beats One of the things I see over and over again as an editor and critiquer is the two word beat. It looks like this: “Hello,” John said, “how’s it hanging?” “Mmmhp.” Bill shrugged. “Not so good these days. John nodded. “I know what you