ABS (SOLUTELY NOT) (OVERLY) GREAT EXPECTATIONS Don’t you love it? You meet a character in fiction who spends his nights drinking and carousing. Then he passes his days lounging by the pool, drinking double martinis, while his only form of exercise seems to be bedding a different woman every night. And yet…. “Tabitha held her…
OVERCOMING WRITER’S BLOCK SILENCING THE INNER CRITIC – Overcoming writer’s block sometimes involves shutting up the little green monster that sits on the writer’s shoulder (particularly the beginning writer) telling them that everything they write is “stupid”, and that they’ll never make it as a writer. Find a way to build confidence, and trust yourself….
Why You Should Edit Before You Send to An Editor Editing your book – what’s the point of editing before sending to an editor? Does a book editor charge extra if my work is bad? Whether you’re publishing your book yourself, sending to an agent, or to a publisher follow these important tips. When you’re…
Whether you’re self-publishing your book, sending to an editor, or to a publishing company — ideally you want to send your ultimate best work — even if you’re having someone else edit it for you prior to publishing. I have done a lot of editing. Editors are people too — just like you. They’re not…
Engage Your Reader with Active Voice in Your Writing How to write and revise your novel manuscript with active voice – passive examples. While it has it’s uses – mostly in business writing – passive voice is considered weak and unappealing. Technically speaking, voice is determined by the property of a transitive verb which shows…
ADVERBS – PART THREE – THE DREADED “LY’S” When discussing adverbs in regards to writing fiction, the kind we’re usually talking about are the “ly” words, like clearly, dearly, and madly. Many high-brow critics complain that the use of adverbs like this is a lazy man’s (or woman’s) tool. I remember the first time I…
ADVERBS – PART TWO Some words can serve as both adjectives AND adverbs. 1) He swung hard with a right hook. Here, “hard” serves as an adverb which modifies the verb “swung”. 2) When he fell, his head hit the hard concrete. Here, “hard” is an adjective modifying the noun “concrete”. Occasionally, some adverb-adjective pairs…
An ADVERB is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Here’s some examples: adjective form adverb form 1) happy happily 2) clear clearly 3) close closely 4) dear dearly 5) perfect perfectly Of course, not all adverbs in in “ly” as the following list demonstrates: 1) here 6) now 11) then…
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?” I say. “Geez! Is everybody these days so lacking in imagination, so devoid of creative talent, that they can’t come up with…
Once your editor is finished, you’ll want to hire a proofreader. PROOFREADING: Don’t just pick anyone. Find someone with OCD, if possible. Someone meticulous. A good speller. Someone who knows proper grammar and syntax. Someone who’s conscientious about everything they do, regardless of what it is. You want someone with a good set of eyeballs….
SUBMITTING YOUR MANUSCRIPT – PART ONE Congratulations! Your manuscript if finally finished. You did it. Yay! After months or even years of endless blood, sweat, toil and tears, you’ve at long last finished your masterwork. It’s time to get it ready – to finalize it for publishing. But if you’re like most, you’re NOT ready….
For those of you who didn’t notice, (and I hope most of you noticed), only one or two of those words were necessary to properly and clearly convey the topic of my discussion. In the two words, “Superfluous Words”, was contained the information in all the other seven words combined. The definition of superfluous is:…
