Points about Pacing: Tips and Techniques for Timing
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April 19, 2016

When you write a book length manuscript you need to keep the story moving forward. Every scene, every sentence, every word should serve to advance the storyline. When editors talk about “pacing,” they refer to the narrator’s ability to keep the reader turning the page. Have you ever heard someone tell a joke that went on for so long by the time the punch line… [Read More]

How To Accept Criticism Even When It’s Not Constructive
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February 23, 2016

You have polished a piece of your writing and are ready for someone else to read it. You take an enormous risk when you ask someone else for feedback. You make yourself vulnerable to being misunderstood or worse. It’s more than words on a piece of paper which stand in judgment. It’s you—your soul—on the line. Every red pen mark on the page feels like… [Read More]

Finding your story structure
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February 2, 2016

Pantser or plotter? Do you write by the seat of the pants or from an outline? You need to do both. Here’s why. The process of writing a book manuscript requires both kinds of writing. Intense periods of writing uninterrupted in a generative flow experience and critical reflection on the narration as narrative. After some time and distance between you and your copy has passed,… [Read More]

Daydreaming for Authors
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December 15, 2015

When I was a teenager, I was a little hurt when my mother commented that I was a daydreamer, as in “just a daydreamer.” Apparently I spent more time than my siblings sitting and staring off into space. If I were Catholic, I would carry a bit of guilt for daydreaming, but my mother gave me Buddhism, from which I learned that reflecting on things… [Read More]

Is an Online Writing Class Right for You?
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September 22, 2015

Joyce Maynard found ads for James Patterson Master Class in her Facebook newsfeed and signed up to discover the secrets to writing a bestselling book. She wrote an article for The Observer about what Patterson had to teach her about writing – and selling – books. That she herself was a published author of a couple memoirs and a dozen novels did not prevent her… [Read More]

How to Turn a Good Book into a Great One
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September 15, 2015

The July publication of Go Set a Watchman revealed Harper Lee changed point of view when she rewrote it as To Kill a Mockingbird. The new book is an unedited version and shows Harper Lee sloppily slip-sliding between first-person and third. The difference between a story narrated by Jean Louise Finch, a 26-year-old daughter, about her disillusionment in Atticus and small town bigotry, and the… [Read More]

Six Myths About Copyright Permissions
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August 25, 2015

Myth #1: “Fair Use under the US Copyright Law covers this.” It does not. “Fair Use” pertains to educational use only; not for profit. Publishing, however, has a commercial intent and therefore authors are not excused from seeking copyright permission for work that is not original. This includes photographs, poems, song lyrics, artwork, or an excerpt from another book or publication. Myth #2: “It must… [Read More]

Dealing With Rejection
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July 21, 2015

Let’s skip the stories about famous books that were rejected thirty, forty, or fifty-seven times before getting published and becoming well-loved classics. And forget about Stephen King’s nail on the wall that became so heavy with rejections it pulled loose from the wood. Intellectually, we all know rejection is a part of the game, but emotionally… well, emotionally, it’s a different story. So how can… [Read More]

Literary Medic
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July 14, 2015

The hardest part of my job as a book development editor is delivering bad news to a writer. An agent is not interested in offering you representation. An acquisition editor decides to pass after reading your proposal and sample chapters. You failed to make necessary editorial revisions. Rejection is a hard message to deliver. And it happens to be a task I do more often… [Read More]

Behavioral Engineering for Writers
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June 2, 2015

If there were some easy ways to be more productive as a writer, would you want to know about them? If so, read on. “I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.” —W. Somerset Maugham In the above quote, Maugham is getting at one of the critical distinctions between professional working writers and, well, everyone else (which here… [Read More]