By Michelle Arch In a world of tweeting, texting, chattering, status updates, desktop messaging, flash fiction, and the ubiquitous shrunken novel, rhetoric and the art of epic articulation, sadly, are no longer appreciated and extolled. Murky millennial jargon and cryptic acronyms have replaced the precision of entire phrases and sentences, leaving some of us to wonder if the writer is …
Research Surprises
by Susan Lyttek One of the first things I do when I get an idea for a story is research. I enjoy the process. More often than not, its results surprise me, taking the story in a different direction or changing the focus. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I often approach a book project with preconceived …
Perseverance
By Loretta Eidson To win a race requires planning ahead, seeking out appropriate training methods, pacing yourself, and pressing toward the goal. It takes an inner drive to jump the hurdles of daily obstacles in order to build muscle and stamina. The dream of winning is exciting. But let’s face it—not everyone looks forward to the time and effort it …
Mystery or Suspense – Which is it?
By Gail Gaymer Martin People often ask the difference between a mystery and a suspense, and writers will provide varying answers. Have you ever tried to identify the difference between suspense and mystery? It’s not easy. A mystery is suspenseful, and a suspense is often mysterious with obscure criminals and difficult to understand why. These two genre have things in …
Playing it Safe
Playing it Safe By Katherine Reay Working on my third manuscript seems to be an exercise in conquering fear. Someone told me that my second would be the most difficult, but now that it’s behind me – and it will be to you in October – this third one has me in knots. Now it maybe because the process is …
Define Success
By Jennifer Sienes I am not a published author. Let me repeat that-I am not a published author. Okay, technically, I suppose that’s not true. I’ve had some short stories and an article published. But since the majority of my time is spent on novel writing, that’s truly where my heart is. And it’s taken me quite some time (six …
Writing in the Now
by Jill Elizabeth Nelson When teaching the techniques of Deep Point of View that will virtually squash issues with show/don’t tell, I emphasize the importance of writing lively, linear prose. In other words, every sentence must remain in the Now-not darting ahead or lagging behind in the sequence of events. This does not mean our characters can’t consider past or …
When the Words Won’t Come
by Mary Ellis Every writer whether our contemporaries or long gone has wrestled for hours when they can’t string seven words together into a concise sentence. We doubt ourselves, our mentors, the process we thought we’d perfected, even the quality of beans that went into our cup of java. It happens to the best of us. And it will happen …
Be Your Agent’s Dream Client
by Greg Johnson WordServe Literary Group One thing authors wonder about is how to “behave” once they have a working relationship with a literary agent. Especially if it’s your first agent, you want to be the kind of author an agent wants to keep as a client. Agents understand that—and we want to be the kind of agent you want …
The Secret to Effective Hooks: Write Like a Journalist
by Sandra Bishop MacGregor Literary More than any other element of a pitch, a solid hook offers more opportunity for you to grab – and possibly keep — an agent or editor’s attention. Yes, hooks are hard to nail, but not impossible. Try drawing from a couple simple techniques you learned in high school journalism: Start with the Five W’s …