Mark Twain said, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is . . . the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” Powerful language fills your writing with energy, which impresses agents, editors, and readers. Here’s how to use power verbs to make an impact. 10 Examples of Power Verbs [...]
Pacing in writing is the key to creating stories your readers can’t put down. Think of how many times you’ve heard someone comment on a book they’ve abandoned by saying “I tried to get through it, but it was just so slow” or “It just raced along, but it didn’t have any substance.” What is [...]
About Me pages fill some fiction writers with dread. And yet, a good About Me page is essential to connecting with readers, winning new fans, and even impressing agents, editors, and publishers. The problem is, many of us are introverted artists. We scrawl fiction in our lonely writers’ caves, where the sign at the door [...]
Stephen King said, “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” Hemingway, known for his spare writing style, used -ly words far less often than the average writer (42% as often, according to LitCharts.) But what are adverbs? And are they really that bad? What are Adverbs? Adverbs are words used to modify [...]
Self-editing is a challenge for even the most skilled fiction writers. Once you’ve poured your heart and soul into a draft, it’s difficult to slash and revise the words you’ve become attached to. But, as the famous writers’ expression goes, you must kill your darlings if you hope to create a work of fiction readers [...]
Take a quick browse through a bookstore or Amazon’s virtual shelves and you’ll discover that there are hundreds of books about how to write fiction. But when you need to get serious about self-editing your manuscript, pickings are slim. Still, a few fantastic books stand out as tremendous guides to help fiction writers self-edit. Here’s [...]
