Proofreading for small errors is not easy. Your mind gets tied up in the story and may just jump right over small errors, especially if you have read the story before. Here’s my best advice: Read the story backwards, paragraph by paragraph. This removes you from the flow of the story, and you’re more likely to […]
What’s Your Character’s Motivation?
Why does your protagonist shy away from military men? Why does your hero think all beautiful women are snobs? Why is your antagonist determined to destroy the protagonist’s career? The answers to these questions are motivations for your characters’ behavior. It’s what drives them to do things they otherwise wouldn’t do—often against common sense—therefore, we […]
A Break Might Be Just What You Need
Writing is tough work. It takes learning and practice, and more learning and practice. Added to that, writing a book is a solitary activity, with few attaboys and many disappointments. It can be a recipe for writer’s block…or even just a stall. Yet we will run into plot issues. We will get frustrated with the rules. We […]
Revision Prompt – Sentence Spacing
You’ve heard of writing prompts, now we have revision prompts! Each prompt will give you a specific writing issue to check for in your WIP, along with tips on how to fix each. Going through this process one issue at a time will not only help polish your current novel but will also teach you specific ways to […]
Revision Prompt – That vs. Who
You’ve heard of writing prompts, now we have revision prompts! Each prompt will give you a specific writing issue to check for in your WIP, along with tips on how to fix each. Going through this process one issue at a time will not only help polish your current novel but will also teach you specific ways to […]
Writing a Novel? Make Sure You Know How to Write Dialogue
The title may sound like a no-brainer. Fiction is full of dialogue; of course you need to know how to write it! That’s what I thought too. Then I joined a critique group and discovered that one of the aspiring authors didn’t know how to punctuate dialogue. While judging for a writing contest, I read a […]
Revision Prompt – Too Many Characters at Once
You’ve heard of writing prompts, now we have revision prompts! Each prompt will give you a specific writing issue to check for in your WIP, along with tips on how to fix each. Going through this process one issue at a time will not only help polish your current novel but will also teach you specific ways to […]
Revision Prompt – Changing Paragraphs
You’ve heard of writing prompts, now we have revision prompts! Each prompt will give you a specific writing issue to check for in your WIP, along with tips on how to fix each. Going through this process one issue at a time will not only help polish your current novel but will also teach you specific ways to […]
Using Motivation-Reaction Units to Change Telling into Showing
Showing your story to your readers instead of telling it is a cardinal rule in fiction writing, yet much easier said than done. One very effective way to change telling into showing is a concept called motivation-reaction units (MRUs). What are MRUs? They were first introduced by Dwight V. Swain, in his book Techniques of the Selling […]
Writers, don’t write all the time. Read too.
Writers, don’t forget to read books. Especially books in your genre that your readers would enjoy. You’re not wasting time. You’re studying! In fact, you can locate a particularly gifted writer in your genre. Get out different-colored highlighters and mark the dialogue, the words conveying emotion, the description, and so on. Figure out your particular […]