Jul 16
Picky Penny said, “I’m studying The Chicago Manual of Style.” Misplaced Mark replied, “I hope I never have to read that”. Penny is attracted to Mark because of his gifted story-telling. He’s prolific with his ideas. Mark thinks Penny is really cute, and he likes that she always seems to know how to spell words …
Jun 23
With the possible exception of cookbooks, dictionaries and encyclopedias, everything written has some sort of pace to it. From greeting cards to poems to speeches, each piece opens, gives a few high points and then comes to a conclusion. When done correctly, the reader takes no notice of pace. Getting a suspense novel to the …
Jun 18
Good, strong writing is found all in the presentation. Consider the images that come to your mind when you read the following sentence: She was a zombie in need of more K-Cups. So, what does that refer to? Right now, you may be floundering and drowning in a sea of possibilities. You need context to …
May 23
An information dump is exactly what it sounds like: a steaming plop of backstory. It includes facts about characters and events that are relevant to your storyline but predate the opening scene. Often times, these factoids are the very building blocks of your story, but to start with them at the beginning – which is …
Apr 24
In addition to being a ‘word’ person, I’m also a ‘numbers’ person. So when I hear someone say, “You have to write a million words before you will have something good enough to publish,” both sides of my brain start to fire up. Can you imagine? A magic number to work toward, and when you …