* Make notes on your hard copy (I like to use a red pen and highlighter). * Read your work out loud. * Use contractions wherever possible. * Vary sentence structure and length. Stress important points with short or fragmented sentences. * Vary paragraph length. Create/leave white space every so often to increase the pace […]
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In any story, half of the information given to the reader is never spoken out loud. It’s body language, and body language can tell your reader what your character is doing and how they feel about it. Smiling for example. There are many kinds of smiles and each one tells something different about what the […]
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I did something amazing today. I mailed a contest entry. “Ho hum, so what,” you might say. Well, putting a stamp on that envelope and popping it into the mailbox isn’t dull routine. It isn’t ordinary at all. I’ve just submitted my manuscript to a contest where several writers are going to give me their […]
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Contrary to what some writers will say, there is a secret formula to good writing. How do you become a good writer? Write every day – “If you work out with weights for fifteen minutes a day over a course of 10 years, you’re gonna get muscles. If you write for an hour and a […]
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After a fabulous all day workshop given by Lucy Monroe this fall, I had an epiphany. Writing to sell requires a writer to follow three “P”s: Process Patience Persistence Lucy Monroe stressed over and over in her workshop to discover your process and protect it. And just as no two people are exactly alike, every […]
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There are about as many ways to write a novel as there are writers. Some plot extensively, some write with no idea where the story is going at all. Some use story boards or index cards or even dartboards. I write multiple drafts. The first draft of any book I write generally takes about twenty […]
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The title of this article may seem like a contradiction in terms. But it only seems that way. Your writing career doesn’t start with your first sale. It starts with the first word you type. By the time you sell, you need to have everything in place to market yourself and your books. By the […]
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