by Erin Brown
If you watch the tickers at the bottom of CNN, MSNBC, and FOX and yell at the screen, “It’s ‘Obama campaigns in Canton, Ohio, in front of 30,000’ not ‘Obama campaigns in Canton, Ohio in front of 30,000!!!!’ God, can’t you people hire someone that knows about comma placement? Sheesh!”...you might be an editor.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
Years ago, I was in art school and the art department was having a Juried Show in which students submit pieces by hanging them in the hallway, where a professional artist selects the winners for display. I was, at the time, frightened of this idea, and hadn’t ever chosen to submit anything for consideration until the day I made a painting in class that my professor suggested I enter.
Read Moreby Lindsey Barrett
When faced with a revision due your publisher or a writing assignment that you dread (either because it requires more concentrated brain power than you can currently muster, or because the deadline looming is unreasonable in light of your mounting stack of To-Dos), do you generally get right down to the task with a cheery, "Well, there is no time like the present!"? If so, this article is not for you.
Read Moreby James Thayer
The novelist and playwright Somerset Maugham said, “There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
This might be one of them: don’t have your characters think a lot.
Writers of romance, women’s fiction (also known as chick lit), and literary novels are particularly prone to letting their protagonists think on and on, setting out in sentence after sentence the characters’ precise feelings, sharpening and sharpening the emotional pencil down to a nub.
Read Moreby Katherine Pryor
As writers, one of the perks of our profession is the ability to roll out of bed, hit ‘Brew’ on the coffee maker, and go to work wearing whatever we darn well please. I wrote my first two novels in a pair of lucky bunny slippers, which have now disintegrated due to constant wear and one too many embarrassing trips to the porch to sign for a UPS delivery. These days, I know I’ve had a good day of writing if I’m still wearing the bright purple, Rock ‘n Roll Monkey pajamas a friend gave me as a joke—at lunchtime. (And, yes, there have been some awkward conversations with FedEx drivers…)
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
Those pesky apostrophes confound so many. Should it go before or after the s, and why do you need one anyway? Well, you need the apostrophe to communicate to the reader that there is a letter missing, for one thing. It also shows ownership rather than number.
We don’t seem to have trouble with the apostrophe when it signals a contraction, such as in I’m, where the apostrophe obviously stands in for the missing a. It’s the possessive angle that trips so many up, so maybe this will help.
by Erin Brown
I remember my first writers conference well. Many, many years ago, as a fresh-faced young editor in New York, I was invited to attend a small romance writers conference in a small town north of the city. I couldn’t have been more excited. Travel to an exotic locale (off Route I-91)! Adventure! Free meals (Limit: one trip to the buffet only)! Two nights raiding the mini-bar at a snazzy hotel (well, a twenty-room motor lodge off the highway)! I packed up my bag, dry cleaned my suit, and hit the parkway heading out of town.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
Over nine years ago, I found myself in the hospital after the birth of my second son, having lost near to half my blood. Without going into (possibly) unwelcome medical explanation, suffice it to say, there was a glitch in the labor process that had resulted in my severe anemic condition.
In the hospital, I was surrounded by concerned people. People who had studied to be there, who wore white often and who wanted to take my temperature, take samples of what little blood I had left, and wake me from sound and much needed sleep. I found these people caring, for the most part, but often fear-inducing.
Read Moreby James Thayer
Explaining the reason eleven years passed between Bonfire of the Vanities and A Man in Full, Tom Wolfe said, “I always recommend to people who ask me for helpful hints on writing that they start with an outline. Naturally, I didn’t take my own advice and do an outline until I was years into this project.”
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
There are a few bad habits that have crept into people’s writing quite stealthily, not unlike the proverbial camel in the tent. I’m speaking of misspellings of the most common words. The most frequent sins happen with all right and a lot. Please notice that both of the italicized examples contain two words. That’s because they both are made up of two words. There is no acceptable one-word spelling for either of them.
Read Moreby Erin Brown
When I tell someone I’m an editor, the first thing that person usually asks is, “Oh, so you work with commas and spelling and all that? Do you still get work now that there’s spell check?” Once I’ve whacked the poor soul upside the head, I calmly explain the difference between editors and copyeditors. And because I am doing more yoga and less instinctual head smacking these days, I will now (serenely) explain to you what an editor actually does.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
When I was a child, my sister and I rarely fought. We might disagree, certainly, but rarely would these arguments turn physical. Still, every once in a while they would. I have no memory of the subject or even the intensity that would spark one of these occasions, but I do remember that at least one time our interaction turned to physical aggression in the form of pinching.
Read Moreby Paula Margulies
Having just returned from a week at nationals with my daughter’s softball team, the subject of pitching is on my mind. Many would argue (especially parents of daughters who pitch) that there is no more important position on a team than that of pitcher. Without a true ace throwing curves, rises, fastballs, and change-ups, most teams don’t stand a chance of defeating their rivals.
Read MoreJames Thayer
We have invented a compelling hero for our new novel, and we’ve come up with a riveting plot. Our outline looks solid; we’ve got the scenes sketched out, and they play terrifically in our minds. The story is so ready, it’s about to write itself. And so we begin writing our novel.
But we may be missing an element that would make the novel even more vivid and distinct: gripping settings. Settings can help your novel leap off the page for the reader.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
A secretary once told me that her boss had forbidden her to use the semicolon because he was never sure it was used correctly and wouldn’t sign any letter that contained one. Many people share that fear, but semicolons are not as scary as they are reputed to be. While there are many ways to use them, here are three easy-to-learn basics that may cover most everyday conundrums. Use the semicolon:
Read Moreby Erin Brown
Over the years editors, agents, and aspiring authors have watched the bestseller lists with wonder, excitement, frequent befuddlement, and most importantly, greed: “Whose great idea can I copy so that I, too, can roll in a bed of cold hard cash?” Well, there are plenty of trends, fresh ideas, and surprisingly bestselling formats that we can all profit from, but the bottom line is that it’s never a good idea to write for the market.
Read Moreby Jane Porter
Having just spent six days in San Francisco with fellow writers at Romance Writers of America’s annual conference, I’ve found it hard to come home and unplug from social interaction to become the solitary writer again. I’ve attended 12 of the past 13 RWA conferences but this one was my favorite. Some years I’ve struggled with fear and inferiority at the conference; after all, 2,000 women attend the conference and 500 authors sign at the big literacy event on Wednesday night, but this conference isn’t about competition. It’s about growth. We as writers aren’t competing with other writers.
Read Moreby Bill Kenower
This article’s titular advice is not a warning to which I would have paid much heed until very recently. How recently? Saturday, July 19, 2008, at approximately 5:30 PM, on the third floor of the Seatac Hilton, on the second-to-last day of the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference—to be exact.
But let me backtrack a bit. In January ’07 I left a job I’d been meaning to leave for about the last fifteen years. Having already tried martyring myself for a couple decades, I decided I would not rush into any sort of work that did not thrill me.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
When I was eight I had an important conversation with my Raggedy Ann doll. She was three feet tall and had always seemed more like a kindred spirit to me than a toy. I locked myself in the bathroom with Raggedy Ann and began to talk. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it reflected the kind of urgency one might have calling 9-1-1 and finally getting through – and Raggedy Ann was the trained professional on the other end who would send assistance as soon as she could figure out what was happening and where I was.
Read Moreby James Thayer
You’ve written the first hundred pages of your new novel, and it has such promise. A dazzling opening, compelling characters, intriguing settings, and fresh plot developments. This first third of your new novel is the literary equivalent of a 1952 Pontiac grill: it sparkles and shines.
But now you’ve reached the middle. The task of writing the second hundred pages lies before you, and as you try to outline and write the upcoming scenes, the novel’s shine starts to fade.
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