by Jason Black
Think about the great novels, the breakout novels, the ones that not only force readers to consume pages like potato chips but also leave readers thinking and talking about the book later. Those books have something in common besides the envy of many writers: their authors are masters of working with their characters’ goals.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
There are times when you must not use a comma to separate words that need to be together. When you are writing about only two things, you don’t separate them from each other with a comma. You wouldn’t write that you liked dogs, and cats. Nor would you say you stopped, and looked. It’s easy to see how those commas are in the wrong place, just as it would be with I, love you. Sometimes it isn’t so obvious, however. One of the most unwanted commas comes before the and (or other conjunction) that joins two verbs that share the same subject.
Read Moreby Joel Friedlander
Sooner or later, as an author who wants to independently publish your own book, you’ll come to the question we all face: should you design your own book?
But what’s really behind this question is another question that will help us answer the first one: when exactly is it okay for an author to design his or her own book, and when might it be best to enlist the help of a professional?
Read Moreby Erin Brown
As we enter this festive season which unites family and friends—whether you will be celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or simply EataLottaFoodus—I am reminded of one of the cardinal rules of writing: get another opinion on your novel besides that of a family member or friend. Don’t even get me started on handing a red pencil to thine sworn enemy: “I smiteth thee with scarlet ink!”
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
Over twenty-five years ago I was in a drawing class in which the professor declared, “I want to teach you how to sustain your own work.” At the time, I didn’t even know I had my own work, but now, after years of following ideas and feelings towards new drawings and stories, I understand why this was so important.
Read Moreby Richard Ridley
One of the most crucial elements to selling a book is also probably the most difficult element to create for authors. The book description is your lead-in, your chance to hook readers and get them to crack the cover and satisfy their curiosity. Even in an online environment, the book description can bridge the gap between having just another title among a sea of choices and a sellable book worth reading.
Read Moreby Jason Black
If you haven't heard by now the advice to work some sort of character arc into your novel, chances are you haven't been listening. A character arc is no great mystery. It is nothing more than the process by which a character becomes a better person. You get to decide what "better" means in the context of your book, and how the process of achieving it plays out within your plot.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
These two verbs cause way too much trouble. Here’s how they work:
LIE describes something at rest. You cannot do this word to anything.
LAY describes the action of putting something down You do this to something.
Here are the tenses, present, past, and the past and present participles that require a helper verb:
Read Moreby Erin Brown
You’ve written an epic novel (The Sound and the Fury, Part Two: The Really Loud and the Really Mad), or the next great self-help book (You: A Renter’s Manual) and you figure, “That’s it. Now this puppy will sell itself. Agents and editors will realize the gold mine they have on their desk and the rest is history!” Right? Wrong. You might well have the next best thing since sliced bread and your writing talent could be genuinely brilliant, but if you don’t present yourself well to an agent (and an editor!), then you could very well shoot yourself in the foot.
Read Moreby Joe Moore
Most authors know about flashbacks and how they allow us to convey backstory while the scene usually remains in the present. It’s a common technique in the writer’s toolbox for filling in the important history of a character or other elements in the story.
This article is about a cousin of the flashback called foreshadowing, a technique that also deals with time. Just about everyone is familiar with foreshadowing, although few know about a companion technique called backshadowing. Both work well when used discreetly.
Read Moreby Erin Brown
You’ve slaved for months, years, decades even, to finish your manuscript. You’ve tackled all-nighters, tear-your-hair-out rewrites, grueling, self-imposed deadlines; you’ve grappled with creative juices that either flowed until you were drunk with brilliant narrative or dried up to leave you parched, devoid of inspiration, sobbing onto your keyboard. You get my drift. You’ve poured your heart and soul into this baby of yours and then, finally, you get it into the hands of an editor—whether it be a freelancer (like moi—the best kind, of course) or an editor at a publishing house (wow, also fabulous and just like me—at least in my past Manhattan life). You couldn’t be happier!
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
In creating a piece of writing, or in moving toward any goal, there is a strong temptation for me to gauge where I am in relation to where I want to be. But when I check on a project - looking for progress and assessing the work – my energy splits in its focus and it becomes hard for things to advance. I’ve often heard the analogy of a seed used to explain the nature of allowing a project to grow. We plant a seed and we wait. But if we constantly check on it by digging it up and looking for its progress, we never see progress.
Read Moreby Laura Munson
For all you writers out there, here’s the deal-- with a golden solution at the end:
(The news as it was delivered in June, 2009…and what happened when I paid attention)
“What’s that you said? Platform? I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you right. Must be the truck that just ran me over. Could you come again? I think what you said is that it’s practically impossible to get my books published in today’s market without a Platform. Is that correct?”
Read Moreby Jason Black
The most common piece of advice you're likely to hear about creating lifelike, fully three-dimensional characters is to give them a character arc. "Let the character grow and change throughout the story," you'll be told. "Show us that the character has emerged from the story as a better, wiser human being."
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
I just spent a couple of weeks working with some very smart college students who begin every sentence with me or her or him, as in “Me and Kelley already did that.” So just in case you are guilty of this felonious speech pattern, here is a pronoun review.
A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun (the name of something) when you don’t want to repeat the noun endlessly. (Jim will drive his own car when he gets off work. rather than Jim will drive Jim’s own car when Jim gets off work.) Unlike nouns, however, which don’t change depending on how they are used in sentences, pronouns change all the time.
Read Moreby Jennifer Paros
Several years ago, a social worker named Julio Diaz was mugged during his subway commute to the Bronx. A teenage boy threatened him with a knife and Julio gave him his wallet. Then Julio offered him his coat to keep him warm, and suggested they have dinner together. The boy questioned him but agreed. They went to a familiar diner; the mugger took note of how nice Julio was to everyone, saying, “I didn’t think people actually behaved that way.” Diaz offered to treat for the meal but said he’d need his wallet back to do so; the boy returned it without hesitation. Then he gave the teen twenty dollars and asked that he give him the knife. And the boy did.
Read Moreby Jeff Ayers
What does it mean to be an author in today’s world? Five years ago, it started with the blessing of an agent to represent you, hopefully proceeded to an investment from a publishing house, and ended with a physical copy of the book in your hands. You could walk into a bookstore or public library and find something you wrote sitting on the shelves. I had that wonderful feeling when my Star Trek book was published in 2006. Since then, however, the game has changed.
Read Moreby Jason Black
Young children are hard to represent well on the page. Especially kids from three to about ten years of age. Not only is it difficult to remember what it was like to be so young, but most of us also lack training in the particular ways in which young children differ from adults. Little kids are not simply miniature adults.
Read Moreby James A. Haught
In 2002, elderly Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia gave fervent Senate floor speeches against the looming U.S. invasion of Iraq. But the Washington press corps ignored him. He drew little coverage nationwide by newspapers, television news or wire services. Byrd's voice was mostly lost.
Then an amazing thing happened. That global marvel, the Internet, took command. War opponents began e-mailing Byrd's speeches to friends, who forwarded them to others. Before long, they had spread to thousands of Americans, plus more thousands overseas.
Read Moreby Cherie Tucker
Let’s do a brief review, because we still seem to be having trouble with our verb tenses. Here’s a little song to help you with those tricky past participles that require helper verbs (called auxiliary verbs by the nuns). Sing it lustily to “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”:
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