romance author

[nikkibradley]

Okay, so this released...a hot minute ago, but it's still available!!

17 short stories from different authors, all involving monsters and mistletoe. It's a fun ride with a little bit of everything.

All proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood.

Check it out here!

[nikkibradley]

What do you MEAN this last chapter won't write itself????

[nikkibradley]

*dusts off blog*

Hello! It's been a hot minute.

Did you know I started publishing? Well, kinda. My official debut was earlier this year -- I was in an anthology! It was for charity to support the Trevor Project and it was a lot of fun.

The anthology ended, the rights for the short story have been reverted back to me, and I can officially publish it myself. Which is the goal I'm currently working on. Just need to get a cover created and finalize the short story and get this moving.

Some other updates:

I'll be in another anthology for Christmas! Super excited about that and I can start sharing a little bit.

I'm working on my first novel. I was hoping to have released it this past summer, but we can see how well that worked. LOL Currently, I'm thinking spring? I'm very excited for it.

And I have another short story in the works. Definitely a shift from the previous ones; this one is short and smutty and to the point. A great little side project to procrastinate with.

I'm so happy to have been doing something and I can't wait to share more!

[theliteraryarchitect]

10 Questions to Ask an Editor Before Hiring Them

While a great editor can bring your fiction to its highest level and teach you priceless writing skills in the process, other editors can leave you in worse shape than you started—frustrated, confused, and out a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. I don’t want that to happen to you, writers! In this post, I’ll walk you through the 10 essential questions to ask an editor before you hire them, so you can make sure you end up with a winner.

Although we tend to use the catchall word “editing” to describe all work done by an editor, not all editing services are the same… and not all editors are created equal. Just like writers, they’re individuals with strengths and weaknesses. Because each book or story requires different abilities, it’s important to prepare yourself before and during the process of hiring an editor to make sure you’re getting what you need.

Here’s a list of 10 questions to ask a editor to find out if they’re right for you and your writing… before you hire them.

(Note: Some of this information might be included on the editor’s website, so you may not need to ask. But if you have any uncertainties, double-check with them! Remember, this is their job. If they’re not willing to give you the information you need, consider it a red flag and look for someone else.)

1. What editing services do you offer?

There are lots of different kinds of editing! Manuscript critiques, developmental editing (also called content or structural editing), line editing (also called stylistic editing), copyediting, and proofreading… just to name a few. Each one has a specific purpose and skill set. Don’t assume that every editor offers every kind of editing.

2. Do you have a specialty?

Just as you can’t assume that every editor provides every kind of editing, don’t assume that they are equally skilled in all genres and forms. Hiring an editor can be a big investment. Try to find someone who has experience with your kind of writing. You wouldn’t want a textbook proofreader to critique your novel, or an editor who specializes in mysteries to edit your memoir.

Even if the editor appears to offer all services for all kinds of writing, ask them anyway. Most editors are more experienced with one genre, editing type, or style than another, even if they don’t say that upfront.

Keep reading

[bookishdiplodocus]

What if your publisher asks for a complete rewrite?

I got an ask from an anon: “I’ve heard a lot of writers hoping to get published have to do complete rewrites of their work and that kinda scares me honestly, any help as to how to cope with that?”

That’s a good question.

Remember that I’m both a writer and a professional editor, so I will look at it from both sides.

First this: rewrites and changes are normal in traditional publishing. I’ve NEVER, not once, 0%, have heard of a book that was published as it first arrived in the editor’s inbox.

The essence is: if I ask for a rewrite, we see potential, but we can’t publish it as it is.

As an editor, I have the best interests of the book in mind. I genuinely believe that my suggestions will turn the book into its best self. Often a writer can’t look objectively at their story after spending so much time with it. I will bring experience and fresh eyes.

There are several reasons why I will ask for a rewrite instead of turning you down. I will give a few examples, but this is no extensive list.

Your idea is good and I can tell you’re a good writer, but there is a problem with your pacing, your perspective, a major character or your outline. It just doesn’t work as it is.

The book is good, but it doesn’t fit our “brand”. Or, it fits our brand so well that it’s actually too similar to another book we published or have in the pipeline. We don’t want your book to be competition for another book of ours, so we make it different enough that they can be popular at the same time.

Your book features vampires/zombies/teens struggling with cancer and that’s soooo last year, but if you replace them with werewolves/teens struggling with their sexuality/…, it will be soooo now.

I guessed correctly that it was indeed the butler who killed the countess and I made suggestions of how you can fix that and mislead the reader for longer.

All these have been reasons why we turned manuscripts down before, so try to see the question for a rewrite as a second chance.

Usually, the editor will suggest what to change and how. If they don’t, ask. They shouldn’t throw you into the deep.

On the other hand, I assume there must be publishers who don’t have the best of their writers in mind, so always follow your gut feeling. Investigate your feelings honestly. If your editor has asked you to do a major rewrite, did your heart sink because you thought you were done and you’re dreading this much work? Or did your heart sink because you feel like it won’t be your story anymore after all those changes? Or do they suggest to change things that are important for you, for example make a gay character straight because they say it will appeal to a broader audience? If so, maybe it’s time to look for a different publisher, or to look into self-publishing. If you don’t agree with the editor’s diagnosis of the weak points, maybe your book and the publisher/editor are not a match. It happens.

A good rule of thumb is: my writers usually feel I’m right when I point out weaknesses and suggest solutions. I want you to feel like this as well. Of course they would like me to say it’s perfect and they are done writing ^-^, but if the story isn’t perfect, they want to fix it before the big public reads the book. And of course, you don’t want to do all this work for the book to flop.

I hope this is helpful. Don’t hesitate if you have more questions!

[caitlynlynch]

FREE book on how to get published! And yes, that means self-published too!

ProWritingAid (who run BRILLIANT software I’ve raved about before) have released a FREE book which answers so many of those questions you want to ask…

Should I go with traditional, indie, or hybrid publishing? How do I write a pitch? What kind of royalties should I expect? What the heck are beta readers and why do I need them?

Publishing is an ever-changing business. As a result, these and many other questions are at the forefront of the modern-day writer’s brain. You’ve probably asked them yourself! In How to Go from First Draft to Published Author, we guide you through the entire process, from refining your manuscript to choosing a publishing track to releasing your book into the world. In addition to our own fantastic writers  here at ProWritingAid, this book also contains advice from industry experts such as BookBaby’s Andre Calilhanna, Kindlepreneur’s Dave Chesson, Reedsy’s Savannah Cordova, and TCK Publishing’s Tom Corson-Knowles.

Get your FREE copy here TODAY.

[jackalediting-deactivated201904]

I read a lot of writing in my line of work and while that’s amazing, I see the same flaws again and again. Below is a list of 7 common writing mistakes in fiction and how you can fix them. This list is by no means complete. In fact there’s a great list over at The Editor’s Blog that covers even more mistakes.

1. Bad dialogue

Sometimes writers can forget that they’re writing a conversation and thus not write a conversation. The dialogue can be boring, stilted and unnatural, and I’d rather listen to the territorial call of an Australian Raven than read one more word of it.

There are many things that contribute to bad dialogue, but here are the three that really get on my nerves:

Not using contractions–I’ve seen work that is modern and still doesn’t use contractions. Consider this: “You are going to be late.” Unless the speaker is trying to sound like an irritated mother and is leaving an emphatic silence between each word to sound threatening, use contractions. It sounds really drawn out and like the speaker is pointing their nose in the air. We generally don’t speak like this in real life, so neither should your characters.

Using complete sentences–Not only is it natural for your characters to chop their sentences, this can also contribute to their voice. Does your character say “I don’t know.” or “Dunno.” Would he/she say “I missed the train and had to find a lift home.” or “Missed the train. Had to find a ride.” In casual speech, we often only use the words necessary to convey our message, even if it doesn’t form a complete sentence. You shouldn’t apply this to every line of dialogue, but consider it if your dialogue sounds stale.

Using characters as a conduit for research and plot information–Sometimes writers like to show off their research (looking at you Jurassic Park), backstory, world building and plot by having their characters talk way too much. If your character says “Once this valley was home to an ancient race of elves, who looked after the land and treated it with respect. One day, the secret magic spring dried up and then the goblins came. Without their magic spring, the elves couldn’t fight back, and they were killed by the goblins. The goblins didn’t respect the land and now it’s uninhabitable.” he should probably shut up. It sounds less like a person talking than it does an audio tour. The information he’s shared could be given in a much more interesting way.

How you can fix it:

Listen to and watch the way real people talk to each other. Do they speak in full sentences with full words? Do they speak with grammatical correctness? Do they speak differently in different situations? How do hand gestures, body language and facial expressions help them communicate?

Read your dialogue out loud as if you’re practising lines for a movie. Does it sound natural? Does it flow?

Test every piece of information your characters give out. Does it all need to be said? Would your character say all of it at once? Do they need to say it all in so many words?

2. Passages of uninterrupted speech or thought

Sometimes you might want to avoid telling the reader about something and have a character tell another character instead. Sometimes you might want to avoid telling the reader how a character feels about something by having them think about it excessively instead. If this goes on for longer than a couple of paragraphs (or less), you risk allowing your reader to drift out of the scene.

The only thing anchoring your reader in the scene is your characters and what they’re doing. If the characters are talking or thinking for a long time without interacting with anyone or anything else, they might as well be floating in space, which can make the reader feel like they’re floating in space. That’s not to say that they’ve forgotten where the scene is taking place or who else is involved, just that it can feel that way if this is how the character acts.

How you can fix it:

If your characters have a lot to say, try to include the other characters as well. Have them ask questions or make comments so it feels like a scene and not a soliloquy.

If your character is around others when he/she is deep in thought, try to include the other characters in some way. If the POV character is thinking about something that the other characters can see, why not give voice to one of the other characters in between thought paragraphs?

If the character is alone when he/she is deep in thought, is there a way they can interact with their environment? Unless they’re standing in front of a wall, they should be able to see, smell, feel or hear something.

If your character is absolutely, completely lost in thought, is there a way you can bring some sort of image into it? For example, on page 216 of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is thinking about how to treat a burn she receives. Almost the entire page is a paragraph describing a memory; however, there is still action in this memory and, therefore, there is something for the reader to imagine.

3. Not knowing when to/not to use said

Some people will tell you to use descriptive speech tags and others will tell you there’s nothing wrong with said. Both are true, but when do you follow the former and when do you follow the latter? And when do you use no speech tags at all?

Using anything but said and using nothing but said both get exhausting and boring very fast.

How you can fix it:

Below is a rough guide to what kind of speech tag to use. Please bear in mind that it is only a guide and will not and should not apply to every situation.

Said is unobtrusive–a way of letting the reader know who’s talking without making a song and dance about it. Specific verbs (e.g. whispered, shouted, mumbled) give the reader information about how the words are being said. Adverbial tags can also give extra information about how something is being said, but more often than not they can be replaced with a stronger verb (e.g. she said loudly can be replaced with she shouted). Writers can also fall into the trap of telling where it’s better to show when using adverbial tags, which can make the writing bland. Sometimes telling is better, but with speech tags, it’s usually better to absorb the reader in the conversation. If you’ve used an adverbial tag, go back and have a look at it. Is there a better way you could get the message across?

What you need to pay attention to when determining what speech tags to use is the context of the speech. If the reader is already aware of the manner in which a character is talking, it won’t be necessary to remind them every time the character speaks. If there are only two characters in the conversation, it won’t be necessary to finish each quote with he said/she said. Going back to #2, you can also do away with speech tags entirely and use action to demonstrate how a character is feeling, while also grounding the reader in the scene.

The key to avoiding repetition and blandness is to find a balance between using the unobtrusive said, using something more specific, and mixing it up with a bit of action, which means you might not even need a tag at all.

4. Too much description/overwriting

Sometimes it’s better to tell and not show. Some details just aren’t important enough to warrant a lengthy description. If you want your reader to know that it’s raining, you can write something better than “It was raining”, but there’s no need to go overboard and write a poem about how the puddles on the asphalt looked like a great abyss.

Think of description like camera focus. The more you describe something, the more focus you put on it. If you put enough focus on something, you eliminate everything else. What’s this? A close-up. What does a close-up in a movie tell you? That object of the close-up is significant.

Be wary: when you write thirty words describing the way the moonlight is reflecting off the inky black lake, you might not be just setting the scene. You might also be giving the lake undue emphasis, and it’s probably going to irritate your reader when they realise there’s nothing significant about the lake at all, you were just showing off your imagery skills.

How you can fix it:

Keep it real. What would the character notice, what would they think about it and is it worth the attention? And try not to focus on sight. Your characters have more than one way to perceive their environment, and incorporating their other senses can help build a 3D setting for your reader rather than just painting them a picture. Give the reader enough to imagine the scene, and no more.

5. Not knowing when to/not to use adverbs

There’s a lot of writing advice out there that will tell you to cut all adverbs. The result is that many writers now think adverbs exist only to eat their children and wouldn’t dare to ever use one.

There is truth to the advice, but to say “The road to hell is paved with adverbs”? Really, Stephen King? And his dandelion analogy assumes there’s no editing process.

Adverbs aren’t evil, but there is such a thing as using them ineffectively. Which of the below are more descriptive?

She ran quickly or She sprinted

“It’s a long way down,” he said nervously or “It’s a long way down,” he said

He was shamefully prone to anxiety or He was prone to anxiety

She sprinted not only gets to the point faster, it also creates a more powerful image for the reader. “It’s a long way down,” he said gives no indication of how the speaker is speaking or feeling; however, “It’s a long way down,” he said nervously is telling, not showing. Rather than using an adverb here, the writer could describe the speaker’s body language. He was shamefully prone to anxiety tells you how the character feels about being prone to anxiety and there is no stronger word to replace “shamefully prone”.

How you can fix it:

Ask yourself:

How would the meaning of the sentence change if the adverb was removed?

Can the adverb and verb be replaced by a single verb?

Does the action really need clarification?

Does the adverb add something to the sentence that can’t be described in another way?

6. No conflict in the beginning

The first few chapters of a lot of stories I’ve read involve the main character plodding along in their daily life. This is a good thing as the reader needs to get a feel for your character before the big plot things happen, but that doesn’t mean the first few chapters should be without conflict. I don’t want to read about a character waking up, looking at themselves in the mirror, getting dressed, getting coffee, going to work, getting home, going on a date etc. for three chapters. It’s boring and I don’t care about any of it.

The confusion might be caused by common story structure theories that say the main conflict enters the story at the first plot point, or 25% into the story. But this doesn’t mean there should be zero conflict at the beginning! At the beginning of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Harry was told ‘no funny business’ or he’d be grounded. Not long after that, there was some vanishing glass and an escaped boa constrictor. After this happened there was a mysterious letter addressed to Harry, and he spent an entire chapter trying to get hold of it as the weirdness escalated. There’s conflict and a goal right off the bat, and the story hasn’t even really started yet. In The Hunger Games Katniss faces the Reaping. In The Hobbit Bilbo finds himself hosting a dinner party for dwarfs and being asked to go and fight a dragon.

How you can fix it:

Take a look at all the books you’ve read. Most of them (if not all) start with some sort of problem or goal. Study up on this to help you realise what makes a good beginning.

Don’t fill your first few chapters with characterisation and nothing else. Build your character in the context of a problem or goal.

Keep in mind that you find your characters more interesting than your reader does. What you like about your character might not be enough to keep the reader’s interest.

What’s going on in your character’s life? How is this going to influence what happens when the conflict or story goal takes the stage?

What would happen if you cut your beginning out of the story? Would the plot still make sense? Maybe it’s better to start the story at a later point.

7. Lack of story structure

When you write a first draft, whether you’ve planned it or not, there are going to be structural flaws. Maybe halfway through you thought of a way to solidify a character’s motivation. Maybe at the climax you thought of a way to strengthen your conflict. Maybe somewhere in the middle you had no idea where you were going with this and slugged your way through some boring scenes. It’s all good; this is how stories come together.

What should happen next is that you revise your draft with story structure in mind. There’ll be a lot of “I should add a scene here about this” and “what was I thinking when I wrote that?” and after a few goes, you’ll have a story.

Writers don’t always do this though (which, by the way, makes my job take longer and cost more). They’ll go through and fix all of the obvious problems, but what remains is a manuscript that still lacks a solid structure. It’s messy to read, it’s confusing, it’s clearly not thought out, and it feels like the writer is giving me the finger. I’ll regret paying for the book, stop reading it and leave a negative review on Goodreads. Is that worth not giving your book a good edit?

How you can fix it:

Read a lot. Make sure you have a decent grasp on different story structures. Make sure you understand the way stories progress, the way they’re paced and what keeps the reader engaged.

Re-outline. Or if you pantsed your way through the first draft, make an outline. Write a checklist for what each scene should accomplish and what each chapter should accomplish. Make a timeline of how the events progress and how the tension increases. Don’t base this on what you’ve written, base it on what you’ve figured out about your plot.

Edit ruthlessly. If a scene doesn’t measure up to your new plan, cut it. If it’s in the wrong place, move it.

[saltoftheao3]

One of my fave authors recently rec'ed my fic in a post on tumblr. I'm really thankful! But I had no idea they were even reading it. They've never commented and haven't kudos'd it. Which is fine, even though *I* would always comment on a chaptered fic I've been following for weeks. But they also don't follow my tumblr (i plug all the time) and have never touched any of my chapter update tumblr posts (which get like 4 likes). (1/2)

And i understand not following every author you read, i don’t either, but literally right before rec'ing my story this author was complaining about only getting 30 notes on their fic posts. I’m very thankful for the notes and attention I am getting but I’m just a little annoyed lol (2/2)

Yeah, i can get that, especially the “you were reading this entire time??” part.

But … you really never know in which circumstances someone reads a fic/ interacts with your tumblr. It’s hard not to extrapolate from your personal way of doing things - for example, I rarely read fics offline or without being logged into AO3, so i tend to assume that others are doing the same. 

So really, my rule of thumb is to try to convince yourself there’s a reason for that author not having left kudos/commented or interacted with your chapter updates on tumblr, and take the compliment while trying to ignore the less palatable implications. Assuming the best really makes fandom interactions easier!

[nikkxb]

If you as a writer continue to focus on all the comments and recognition you’re not getting, you’ll overlook the ones you do.

Rec lists are hard to land on. Extremely hard to land on. Unless you’re on the top page of most kudos on AO3, rec lists will be hit or miss. (And even then, they’re still hit or miss.) To be included in one is an honor all its own – and to temper that with a ‘well why didn’t you comment’ vibe is going to feed your bitterness faster than the lack of comments.

That bitterness is deadly to writing. This author could have a thousand reasons why they haven’t commented on your stories, but if you hold onto that bitterness, you’ll never see past it. We’ve all done it – loved stories that we never commented on. Somewhere in our reading history, this has absolutely happened. So if we as writers endorse this idea that we deserve comments (because we do) and that we’re owed comments (because of all the time we’ve put in writing), then we’re sabotaging our own process. 

At the end of the day, you can’t control someone else’s actions. Period. But you can control how you react to them. Ignore the lack of comments, ignore the lack of kudos, ignore all of that outside support, and embrace the rec list. There will never be enough comments or kudos or followers or notes to fully please a writer. Ever. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find happiness with what you have.

This is something I’m currently going through when I realized that I was picking apart comments I was getting. I can’t do that to my readers. ‘You catch more flies with honey’ = people are more likely to engage with someone who visibly appreciates what they have rather than someone who complains about what they don’t.

[parentheticalaside]

The bookselling behemoth is making life harder for writers, but so is the public perception that art doesn’t need to be paid for

“People have always felt a sort of ownership over art, and that’s actually good. It’s why you keep a book on your shelf and return to it, it’s why you hang a picture on your wall that speaks to you. But when this gets out of hand and you mistake access or a personal connection with your rights, as happens so often in our Internet age, it leads to a dangerous sense of entitlement. That’s why readers feel empowered to complain, directly to the creator, that a book or show doesn’t have absolutely everything they want: the romantic pairing they’d hoped for, the language they find most friendly, the ending they desired. And it’s also why, for instance, the last Harry Potter book leaked on the internet before it was officially published: fans saw the book as something they were owed, not the product of labor that deserved compensation. Not that J.K. Rowling needs more money—but she, and all authors, deserve to have their work recognized as work.

“Consumers hold a pernicious power, so this trend towards free content won’t reverse itself unless we want it to. This is a sad thing, and we will all be much worse off if we can only hear stories from people who can afford to write.”

[roane72]

Please please please do NOT pirate books if you want to keep having books to read. The median income for full-time authors in 2017 is reported at $20,857. That means half of all authors reporting income made LESS. 

And of the authors that reported that they were, in fact, full-time authors, only 63% had ANY earnings to report. The average of those who did earn something was $43,247. Which means, looking at the difference between the median and average, the average is heavily weighted by the superstars.

MOST of your favorite authors are either working a second (or third, or more) job, have a partner who earns more money, or is living hand-to-mouth, or some combination of the three. 

Libraries are your friends. Most have ebook collections now. I know readers gotta eat, but writers do too.

Signed, Someone whose book isn’t out for another 4 months, and is ALREADY being pirated :( 

[fishwrites]

Oh gosh :( this really hit me: “This is a sad thing, and we will all be much worse off if we can only hear stories from people who can afford to write.”

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

I just finished my first novel! The feeling is indescribable. Do you have any advice on editing, big or small?

Dear fate-and-chance,

Congratulations on joining THE ENDTIMES CLUB. 

Editing is basically the place the novels become novels — it’s impossible to overstate how the rough draft is only 10% of the process. Here is a pie chart demonstrating the overall gist. It’s messed up because I aggressively and deliberately misunderstand math at all times and also because I traced a ramekin full of discarded date pits on my desk for the outside, but you get the idea.

What I’m trying to say is: be prepared to spend the same amount of time editing as writing. 

GET CRITIQUE PARTNERS

This is the first step to editing. You need outside eyes. You don’t know if you have written the story you intended to tell until readers tell you that you’ve succeeded. A story is not complete until it has an audience. 

You can find some here. 

BIG PICTURE EDITS

It’s important to do your edits in the right order: there’s no point focusing on word choice when you don’t know if you’re going to keep a scene or not. What you’re looking for in big picture edits are

• pacing (is it taking you forever to get to your inciting incident? Are you leaping into breathless action so fast that the reader doesn’t have time to get emotionally invested? Is the general shape correct — do your stakes both emotional and physical slowly ratchet up til the climax?)

• clarity (do we know what the point of the book is? Do we understand who the main character is? Do we understand the stakes of the magic or the mystery or love story, etc?)

• momentum (are your scenes stacked in the correct order, or do you move backwards in stakes or have two scenes that essentially do the same thing?)

• consistency of character (are your characters consistent and inevitable? can we predict their behavior enough to be shocked if they do something out of character for once?)

• correctness of cast (do you have two characters who do the same thing in the plot? do you need to delete or add POVs or characters to your cast?)

• simplicity of execution (does the reader understand where they are in the plot? can they guess they are halfway through when they are halfway through, etc.?)

Title a document “outtakes.doc” and throw stuff that’s not working into it. You can always come back to them if you need them, but it’s often easier to see what you’re doing with the chaff removed.

LINE EDITS

Line edits are when you stop having to move big chunks around and can start fixing things within your newly edited shape. That is when you can start looking at adjusting pacing, tone, and momentum on a line level. Example:

Original sentence: The box rolled out of the truck and hit the ground.

Speed things up: Wham. The box, dropped. Tssss. Glass, exploded.

Slow things down: She snatched at air, and felt the whisper of the box sliding against her fingertips. The sound of the bottles exploding on the pavement echoed down the alley.

Ground us: Everything changed the moment that box hit the asphalt.

Tell us about a character: Ten years before, she’d been watching a box fall from through her mother’s hands in just this way. MORE ANECDOTE HERE 

COPYEDITS

This is the part where you actually fix typos and continuity errors, and it’s the least important part of editing. This is where you can enlist a non-bookish friend to feel useful, because the less invested you are in the book, the easier they are to spot. 

IN CONCLUSION

You could write entire books about revision — someone probably has — but this might be a start.

Happy wording.

urs,

Stiefvater

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

[theliteraryarchitect]

Hi! So I recently discovered removing the word 'that' from 90% of my writing actually made it more fluid and hardly impacted the readability. Tiny achievement but very proud of myself as a novice writer ^.^ I was wondering if (other than the up/down one) there were any other tiny tricks for removing superfluous words? Thanks!

Great question! Honestly, there are hundreds, but here are a few to get you started.

Words You Can (Usually) Safely Cut from Your Writing

That

Then

Start

Begin

Suddenly

Down

Up

Kind of

Really

Just

Basically

In general, look out for adverbs (actually, really), “hedging” words (kind of, sometimes), and ambiguous words (nothing, everything, someone). Some can be cut; others will need to be revised or swapped out. “That” is a classic offender. “Then” can usually be changed to “and.” It’s only necessary to qualify that an action was “started” if the action gets interrupted, otherwise it can be cut. (”She started to cry” becomes “She cried”).

I have a detailed, exhaustive list of words like this (with explanations!) in my book The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, which will be done soon :)

Nice to hear from you & hope this helps!

[writingdotcoffee]

How to Submit Writing Like A Relentless Force of Nature

Don't get down. Get published.

[writingdotcoffee]

“Books aren’t written—they’re rewritten…It’s one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it.”

— Michael Crichton

[thatwritergirlsblog]

Invaluable writing tips (From Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat”)

I just finished this book on screenwriting and have highlighted some amazing advice for novelists as well:

1. Save the Cat

This refers to a scene at the beginning of yoru manuscript in which the main character does something that makes the reader root for them them i.e. saving a cat.

This doesn’t have to be something altruistic - it can include smarts or humour or naivety - just something that will make the reader want to follow this character through the story.

Without this scene, you’ll probably end up with a boring character. And no matter how amazing your plot, you need a “followable” character to carry it.

2. The Pope in the Pool

This refers to a scene in which necessary exposition is given whilst the audience is distracted by something more entertaining i.e. having the Pope explain important backstory aspects whilst doing laps in the Vatican Pool.

This is the best way to give readers the information they need whilst still keeping them engaged. Something funny/interesting/moving should happen whilst this necessary exposition is provided.

3. Double Mumbo Jumbo

This refers to the mistake many writers make in asking readers to believe in more than one type of magic/miracle. This suspends reality too much and causes the reader to lose faith in the realism/probability of your story.

So, if you already have magical fairies, don’t throw aliens into the mix as well.

ONE magical element is enough.

4. Laying Pipe

Another error often made is writing a story that needs too much set-up. This means that so much backstory must be explored in the first part of the novel that your catalyst only occurs at page 100 or so.

This will cause readers to lose interest long before they’ve reached the inciting incident. If you don’t get the beginning right and move on the exciting stuff as soon as possible, it doesn’t matter how great your ending is, since few readers will get there.

5. Watch out for that Glacier

This is when the danger in your novel takes too long/perhaps the whole book to get to your characters/to threaten them. Therefore, the reader is aware that there is some eventual threat, but the characters aren’t affected by it throughout the story.

It’s a glacier coming for them rather than a missile. And it dampens the tension.

6. The Covenant of the Arc

Every somewhat important character in the novel should change, except for the bad guy. This is what will ultimately distinguish your good guys from your villain: moral change.

So, take a look at the journey of every primary and secondary character in your manuscript and ensure that they grow/experience some for m of change that is brought about by the events in the story.

7. Keep the Press Out

This is the tip I think should be used with the most circumspection. It’s for you to decide whether you want to follow this piece of advice or not.

This tip calls for leaving media coverage/the press out of your story. If some supernatural/extraterrestrial event occurs in a secluded neighbourhood and remains a family secret, it’s much easier for your reader to believe that it could really have happened than if the whole world is supposedly in on it.

Like I said, use with discretion.

These are all Blake Snyder’s tips (not mine) and are explored in greater detail in the book. So, if you would like more information and more great advice, I suggest grabbing a copy.

Reblog if you found this useful. Follow me for similar content.

[lynndjung]

10 Fast Tips for Querying

1. Establish a clear vision of your book in the opening lines. If you have that magic gift for summarizing your book in one compelling sentence, then put that line first. Draw the agent or editor in; make them want to read more. Being able to pitch effectively is a hugely important skill that can be developed, with practice. 2. No publishing history? Don’t mention it. In general, don’t write too much about yourself in the letter, unless it directly pertains to the book/your credentials as an author. If you’ve self-pubbed without much success, don’t mention it unless specifically asked.  3. On that note, keep it to one page or less. Long query letters are killer!! Agents/their assistants have to sort through so many letters in a day, don’t make it any harder on them than you need to. 4. If rejected, don’t respond. There are exceptions to this, but not many. If your instinct upon being rejected is to send out a rude email response, don’t… Take a step back, breathe in, breathe out, and move on. It’s not personal.  5. Send requested materials within 48 hours. I know I like to give my work a last once-over before I send it, but this time frame is a good one to keep in mind. Any longer and you risk losing interest. 6. Celebrate the little things. A full, a partial, or even a personalized response are all giant milestones! Trust me, any agent who takes time out of their day to tell you exactly what worked/didn’t work in your manuscript is a GIFT. Even if not all of their points work for you, their feedback could also help you improve your work as a whole. 7. Keep track of who you’ve queried. I’m a spreadsheet kinda gal, but I highly recommend at least keeping a cohesive, frequently updated list on who you’ve got queries out to, the time frames for their responses, and so on and so forth. And SAVE those records! 8. Do your research. ESPECIALLY on those asking for full requests. This came up a lot during pitching events, but there are definitely some people out there with ill intentions. Make sure you research everyone thoroughly before sending your work to them! Querytracker is an excellent resource for this, and also helps when you’re trying to see response times, etc.  9. When in doubt, nudge. If an agent’s website says that they always respond to queries within x amount of weeks and they haven’t yet responded to you, there’s a high chance that your email got lost in the mess. Don’t be afraid to (Politely!) reach out and ask, just in case!  10. Be patent, don’t give up. Querying is a slow game. Besides, even if you don’t end up getting an agent after a hundred queries, you’re bound to have learned something to help you go back, rewrite/write something new, and jump back into the game. 

[writingdotcoffee]

“The best thing you never finished is always less than the worst thing you did.”

— Chuck Wending

[writingdotcoffee]

This schedule went viral on Twitter with the caption: “Ursula K. Le Guin’s writing routine is the ideal writing routine.” It’s a lovely, lovely thing, but it