Nov 24
Television producers try to get you to come back for more by showing scenes from “the next exciting episode” of whatever program you’ve just watched. Writers have to do the same thing sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and chapter to chapter. Suspense is one of the tools of the author’s craft that helps pull …
Oct 24
One of the biggest challenges writers seem to face is finding the time to write. If you don’t have the privilege of writing for a living, one must contend with a day job, spouses, kids, pets, or any number of things higher on the priority list than putting word to paper. This month held an …
Sep 24
The feedback I received on my first submission to my friends in the Deadwood Writers group included many comments about my use of passive voice. Make that many, many, MANY comments. After I highlighted every instance of the verb ‘to be,’ my pages lit up in yellow. If I owned a color printer at the …
Aug 24
PBS television is a great resource for anyone interested in the works or lives of authors. If you are an early riser, or good at setting a DVR, you can watch Terry Tazioli on Well Read interview authors such as Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love), Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club), or Khaled Hosseini (The …
Jul 24
Have you ever been reading a book and been jarred by the use of a curse word? While I believe that swearing is something to avoid as a matter of personal virtue, I understand the dramatic effect and occasional necessity to a storyline. However, sometimes the use of curse words doesn’t fit with the story, …