Clichés – Enemy or Friend?
Every time I turn on the television or pick up a new book at the book store, I see yet another cliche or variation on a cliche, and I roll my eyes. “Again?”…
books
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Story Pacing – Urgency – Hooking Readers
The First Fifty – Crucial – Pages of Your Book The first fifty pages of your book are crucial for setting the hook in your readers. Something has to happen. Something exciting, or…
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What is the Best Point of View to Use in Fiction?
Benefits and Drawbacks of Each POV As a beginning writer who chose to write my first book in first-person narrative, I discovered the drawbacks of such an approach the hard way. Halfway through…
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World Building – Information Dumps in Your Story
Are You Overwhelming Your Readers? Have you ever run across a prologue like this: (usually in sci-fi books) Captain Briggs took the helm and began shouting orders. “Ensign, optimize the traspositional filtration valves…
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Sentence Fragments – Stylistic Choice?
Should I use sentence fragments in my novel? Is it bad writing or style? Sentence fragments. Who cares? You? Me? Anyone? Depends. Writing nonfiction? Probably wouldn’t. Work, that is. Writing fiction? Could be….
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Rewriting and Revising Before You Edit
How Many Manuscript Drafts Should You Go Through? When working on a book of any kind, if you haven’t gone through a minimum of three drafts, you probably don’t have a finished product….
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How to Write Your Book
What’s the Best Way to Write a Book? There are as many answers to that questions as there are authors. And while no answer is inherently better than another, a few examples should…
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Fine Tuning Your Manuscript – Part 2
The Three S’s – Scene, Setting, and Senses Stories don’t occur in a bubble. They have to be set in a real and believable place. And what makes a scene or setting, is…
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Fine Tuning Your Manuscript – Part 1
You’ve Written “The End” – But Is Your Book Ready? Okay, so you’ve finally reached the magic words “The End”. But is it really? Are you done? Have you really finished your book?…
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Avoiding Cliches
This one’s a tough nut to crack. Avoiding cliches is like avoiding headaches. We’d all love to, but there’s no way we’ll ever completely avoid them. With hundreds of cliches, they’re as thick…
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Ten Super Awesome Ideas to Reach Your Writing Goals
Having trouble getting motivated to write? You’re not alone. Many writers struggle with keeping up the motivation. What you often need to keep up that motivation is keep a steady momentum with daily…
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How to Write Your Query Letter
Free Query Letter Template When you’ve spent a lot of time on your book and then you’re ready to submit to an agent, writing a query letter can seem as if it’s…
