Improve Your Writing Skills. Put Your Writing on a Diet.
You want the essence of your writing to come through, but needless words and phrases can get in the way and weigh down your prose. Solution: put your writing on a five-step diet.
Writing Tips
Never Say Never: Rules for Writing Fiction
Rules for Writing Fiction? There are thousands. Don’t kill a puppy. Never use an –ly adverb. Exclamation points are the mark of an amateur. I’ve heard these rules for writing fiction and dozens of others from the time I started pursuing publication. And I’m ashamed to say, when I was new, I even believed … [Read more…]
How to Write a Scene: A Step by Step Guide
When I stumbled through my first manuscript eleven years ago, I didn’t know much about scenes. I didn’t know how to write a scene. I didn’t know much about writing a book, come to think of it, but the best way to learn is to just do it. (And, of course, read up on the … [Read more…]
Powering Up Your Prose with Line Editing
So you’ve finished a draft of your manuscript. Congratulations! That’s an accomplishment scores of people dream of and only a small percentage of determined writers achieve. The next step is, of course, revising your manuscript, maybe after getting a critique partner’s input or receiving feedback from a contest judge or an editor. You’re done with … [Read more…]
5 Tips for Writing Characters who will Intrigue Readers
When developing and writing characters, a writer’s number one goal is creating characters who will connect with and intrigue readers. Five Tips for Writing Characters Who Will Intrigue Your Reader Writing Characters Tips 1 & 2: Secrets and Lies One of the best ways to build conflict and suspense in your character and intrigue your … [Read more…]