Article Archives — Author

Let Your Characters Speak for your Readers

by Jason Black

In an interesting story, unexpected things happen. That’s pretty much a given. Without the unexpected, there’s no drama. So we pack out stories with surprises, calamities, mysteries, and twists.

But the mysteries and twists can get you into trouble. Inherently, mysteries and twists present situations that don’t make sense right away. That’s the whole point of them. When a reader encounters such a situation, they’re faced with an implicit question: why doesn’t it make sense? The danger is that there are two possible answers to that question.

Jason BlackNovember 14, 2012Comment

Back to School Review

by 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.

Cherie TuckerOctober 14, 2012Comment

Choosing Your Paragraphing Style

by Joel Friedlander

Anyone who wants to design their own books can spend some very worthwhile time studying books that are old. I mean really old, like going all the way back to the beginning of printed books. Early on, I found these books and the book typography that's used in them very stimulating when thinking about how I wanted the books I was working on to look.

Even though the technology back then was primitive according to today's standards - no electricity; basic, natural materials; and everything done by hand - the books produced by early printers are prized, quite rightly, as outstanding examples of artful book design.

Joel FriedlanderOctober 14, 2012Comment

The Zorro Zee Path

by Pamela Moore Dionne

I guess you could say I’ve had a checkered past. At least you could if you mean that I’ve tried a lot of different avenues to get where I am now – with one published book and two more on the way. Actually, when I picture this trajectory in my mind’s eye I see something resembling a long column of those zees Zorro used to carve into other people's jackets. The question is, why have I lived my life as though some errant folk-hero left his mark all over it?

William KenowerOctober 14, 2012Comment

Writing Sucks. Don't Try It.

by David Boyne

At the Café

I was sitting in a café, writing.

But for the 7th time in two hours, I interrupted my writing and used my laptop to obsessively-compulsively check if anyone anywhere in the world had purchased one of my books for sale on Amazon.

David BoyneOctober 14, 2012 Comment

The Long Road

by Kenneth G. Bennett

The Gaia Hypothesis, proposed by NASA scientist James Lovelock, says that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth make up a single, self-regulating entity. In other words, the Earth itself is a living thing. A vast “super-organism.”

I love this idea. When I first read about it I wondered how it might be woven into a novel.

Kenneth G. BennettOctober 14, 2012Comment

Why Good Grammar Will Effect You're Chances of Getting

by Erin Brown

You've written a manuscript with enough detail to topple Gone with the Wind, a lead character unique enough to give Ignatius Reilly a run for his money, and a plot that out-Christie's Agatha. Who cares if you don't know the difference between "there" and "their" or "your" and "you're?" So what if your plurals take the form of possessives? And really, is anyone going to care if your modifiers are misplaced? The answer is: "YES! YES! YES! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE LEARN ENGLISH!"

Erin BrownSeptember 14, 2012Comment

Being A Whisperer: Gentleness Over Force

by Jennifer Paros

It used to be that when a fly entered our bedroom and we were ready to go to sleep, my husband leapt to his feet, grabbed a hand towel, and went after it. He had a technique, he claimed, a way of whipping that towel that yielded results. Often, it was true and Man did triumph over Fly.

But still, I always sighed when the process began - not because I was unperturbed by the buzzing and zooming but because there seemed something frantic about attempting to put an end to it.

Jennifer ParosSeptember 14, 2012Comment

Tips for Writing Your Author Bio

by Richard Ridley

To many, writing an author bio is an enigma wrapped in a riddle buried with Blackbeard's treasure. It's hard to know what is and isn't relevant. What sets one author bio apart from another? Does work experience count? Is it accolades that matter most? What about education - does that make a difference? How can you express who you really are while meeting readers' expectations of you as an author?

Richard RidleySeptember 14, 2012Comment

The Torch Song Principle

by Jason Black

“Let’s hang on,” Frankie sings, “to what we’ve got.” Percy Sledge observes that, “When a man loves a woman, he’ll trade the world for the good thing he’s found.” About a million other torch song crooners have their own take on it. So many songwriters explore this idea, there must be something to it. Indeed there is, and it is simply this: gain is not the same as loss.

As a rule, people will put much more effort into keeping what they have than in obtaining something they don’t have. Intuitively, we understand this.

Jason BlackSeptember 14, 2012Comment

Watch Where You Put That!

by Cherie Tucker

The placement of the word only in a sentence can make all the difference in what your reader thinks you mean. Look at this one:

We only heard two guys singing last night.

Does that mean you heard them but didn’t see them last night? Or might it mean that last night not more than two guys were singing?

Cherie TuckerAugust 14, 2012Comment

You Like Potato and I Like Potahto: Subjectivity and Publishing

by Erin Brown

The rocky road of the submission process, both for finding an agent and a publisher, is riddled with obstructions—but one of the most difficult things to triumph over is the subjectivity inherent in publishing. As I’m sure you know, agents and editors receive hundreds of submissions every year. I remember myriad instances in which I would absolutely adore a manuscript that came across my editorial desk (a story of girl meets boy meets mobsters crossed with a dash of Fitzgerald meets Jennifer Weiner meets Toni Morrison meets the Civil War mixed with a little Bronte—what’s not to love?).

Erin BrownAugust 14, 2012Comment

Ransom Notes

by Jennifer Paros

At twenty-one and recently graduated from college, I was living alone in a studio apartment, frightened of looking for work. Gradually, worry lead to inertia and depression. In my isolation and fear of making a move, I took to creating collages — which sounds artistic and potentially therapeutic. But mostly I was cutting out individual letters and gluing them down in the form of somewhat disturbing almost-poems. I don't remember why, however, as I am mainly familiar with kidnappers employing this technique for ransom notes.

Jennifer ParosAugust 14, 2012Comment

Cover Design: Why Genre Readers Rule

by Joel Friedlander

It's not that difficult to create a workable cover for your self-published book. On the other hand, there seem to be many, many ways to get it wrong.

Recently, I talked to an author who is getting ready to publish a business book. He asked me to take a look at some cover designs and I was happy to oblige.

Joel FriedlanderAugust 14, 2012Comment

Write. Exercise. Shower.

by David Boyne

I have been trying to be A Successful Writer for over four decades and have managed to learn next to nothing about how to do it. But one thing I do know for sure is that every writer should have a mantra.

When I was 22, living alone in desperate poverty disguised as delirious excitement, I tried to be A Successful Writer by spending many hours laboring over a Remington Rand manual typewriter inside a fifth-floor walkup garret in Manhattan’s East Village.

David BoyneAugust 14, 2012Comment

Portraying Inspiring Leaders

by Jason Black

Some novels call out for an inspirational leader, either as a protagonist or as someone your protagonists can admire (think Gandhi or Martin Luther King), or vilify (Jim Jones). But writing a convincing inspirational leader is not an easy thing. Fortunately, we can study examples like these to learn what they did to inspire their followers.

Jason BlackAugust 14, 2012Comment

From Hand to Screen: Technology and the Writer

By Mary Vensel White

My son and I just returned from a short vacation in Austin, where our final stop was the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. On display from March through October this year is an exhibit detailing Texas’s rich music history. Behind one section of glass stood a series of listening devices, beginning with the first phonograph, a console-like piece of furniture with its faded, scalloped speaker, and ending with a tiny iPod and earphones. And it got me thinking about the trajectory of my own writing career, which bridges an unprecedented technology boom.

Mary Vensel WhiteJuly 14, 2012Comment

Ooops!

by Cherie Tucker

The other day I was in a shop waiting my turn when another customer and the owner asked me where I was from. I told them I grew up in Seattle. Then the customer asked me what my area code was. When I said, “Two zero six,” she and the owner looked disappointed.

Cherie TuckerJuly 14, 2012Comment

Wedded to Your Words: Get a Divorce!

by Erin Brown

One of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself and your book is the ability to self-edit. Well, the gift of a big-time agent and six-figure publishing deal would really be worth unwrapping, but let’s stay focused for the moment. As the saying goes, “There is no good writing, only good re-writing.” But why, when you’ve spent months or years letting your genius flow from the pen (or realistically, the computer) would you want to make major cuts to those beautifully crafted sentences?

Erin BrownJuly 14, 2012Comment

The Emperor Has Nothing On Us

by Jennifer Paros

My thirteen-year-old son has a habit of saying “of course” when I ask something of him or speak of topics in which he’s not interested. His tone - distant and automated - sets my mind racing with complaints of not being acknowledged. Suddenly he is The Emperor whose attention I am trying to win. And there’s no winning - I can’t make anyone hear me out. It is natural to want to be heard, but still my greater desire is to speak authentically, regardless. And no one’s response or lack thereof determines me realizing that desire.

Jennifer ParosJuly 14, 2012Comment