3 Writing Truths
There are no hard and fast rules in writing, but here are three principles I adhere to: 1. Write with your heart. 2. Edit with your head. 3. Tell the truth of the story. Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Category: Editing
What’s on Your Self-Editing List?
I’m over at The Blood-Red Pencil Blog discussing what’s on my Fiction Search and Destroy List. Humans, by nature, gravitate toward patterns, so when we write we often make the same mistakes. Of course, these errors are only mistakes if we don’t correct them in the final draft. My Fiction …
4 Things Every Writer Needs
Every writer has his or her own needs. It could be a quiet place to write or music to inspire the words. It could be a pen and paper or a computer, or even a tape recorder. It could be a jar of M & M’s or a jug of …
7 Favorite Books on Writing
Most authors have a list of their favorite books about the writing process that they’d recommend to others. Here’s my top seven: 1. Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Donald Maass — via hands-on exercises and examples from successful novels, this workbook teaches authors how to “develop and strengthen aspects …
Five Simple Rules for Thriller Writers
Guest Blogger: Kyle Mills After fifteen years making my living as a novelist, I recently had a couple of new and strange experiences. I was happily plugging away at my manuscript for THE IMMORTALISTS when I got a call from the Robert Ludlum estate asking if I’d be interested in …
Two Rules for Successful Writers
Guest Blogger: Robert Lee Brewer There are lots of rules or codes a writer can live by, but the following two rules are a great start that cover a lot of the problems I see in the real world of writing and submitting. If you have other rules, I’d …
Building An Anthology
Guest Blogger: Toni L.P. Kelner Charlaine Harris and I have co-edited four urban fantasy anthologies together—HOME IMPROVEMENT: UNDEAD EDITION, the most recent, just came out this week. But I have to be honest—when Charlaine and I started working on our first anthology, we really weren’t that sure what anthologists did. …
Why I Chose a Traditional Publisher
Guest Blogger: Nathan Bransford One of the more common questions I receive in interviews and the like is this one: You have a blog, you were in the business by virtue of being a former literary agent, why didn’t you self-publish? Why didn’t you do it on your own? Couldn’t …
Editing Techniques
Guest Blogger: Lincoln Crisler I play G.I. Joe for a living and write scary stuff in my spare time. Janice has been good enough to let me climb aboard and share a bit of my magic with you and suggested my editing techniques as a possible topic of interest. This …