by Franklin Kendrick
There are a lot of books and articles that talk about the craft of writing good characters, their motivations, how to give them personalities, etc. So, what’s one more added to the list? Well, this is my personal approach to writing a scene by channeling my characters. Perhaps it will help you out if you’re in a jam.
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by Sue Coletta
The dreaded synopsis. Anyone who’s chosen the traditional path into publishing know that these pesky buggers are enough to drive a writer to drink…literally.
I have good news and bad. The good news is I’ve found a solution to help keep your liver intact. The bad, no matter how much you might hate writing these little darlings, a synopsis is the only way of selling your book to a publisher. You will have to learn.
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Sharing the wonderful review Mae Clair wrote for my book, For the Love of Money. Check it out!
Hi, friends. Thanks for joining me for Book Review Tuesday. I’ve cut back on my blogging temporarily, trying to stay on top of things in the current environment of insanity related to Covid-19. If you don’t see me online as regularly as I normally am, rest assured I fully intend to get back to my regular schedule including posts of Wednesday Weirdness. For the immediate future, I intend to keep sharing Book Review Tuesday posts and other sporadic posts here and there. I’m hoping all of you stay healthy and well. We will get through this mess, together!
And now, enough of that! 🙂
I have a great book to share with you. If you like romantic suspense twined up with mystery, you’re sure to love this five-star read:
For the Love of Money is a book that will appeal to both fans of mystery and romantic suspense. When his…
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Interesting article.
Readers of this blog will be aware of my fascination with all things linguistic. So, I just had to share Susanna Viljanen’s and Dan Toler’s answers on Quora on what happened to Latin once Rome was no more.
It may surprise many to realize that Latin is alive and well over fifteen centuries later. Latin never disappeared. It simply evolved. But it evolved differently in different places, and that’s how we ended up with the diverse set of modern Romance languages.
After the Western Empire’s collapse, Latin continued to exist just as ever. People from Lusitania to Dacia continued to speak Vulgar Latin as their everyday language and to write Classical Latin in their letters.
But languages are living things. While many modern people think of Latin as a single, standard language, that wasn’t the case. Ecclesiastical…
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by Larry Kahaner
I came across a blog from Guy Portman titled “10 Famous Authors’ Day Jobs” in which he lists… well…you get it.
What struck me most from reading Guy’s blog post is how many famous authors eventually gave up their day jobs (Natch. They’re famous.) and how many used what they knew from their day jobs and incorporated it into their writings.
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There is a fascinating discussion right now on Quora on Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters. People argue in favor and against the possibility of writing a well-crafted, enjoyable character like that.
For anyone not familiar with the Mary Sue term (Gary Stu or Lary Stu are the male equivalents), Wikipedia explains what it is all about.
The term “Mary Sue” comes from the name of a character created by Paula Smith in 1973 for her parody story “A Trekkie’s Tale.” The story starred Lieutenant Mary Sue (“the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet — only fifteen and a half years old”) and satirized unrealistic characters in Star Trek fan fiction. The complete story reads:
“Gee, golly, gosh, gloriosky,” thought Mary Sue as she stepped on the bridge of the Enterprise. “Here I am, the youngest lieutenant in the fleet – only fifteen and a half years old.”
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It’s a familiar scene: you’re slumped over your keyboard or notebook, obsessing over your character. While we tend to agonize over everything from structure to backstory, it’s important to weigh how you write something too. A perfectly constructed world is flat on the page if you use feeble, common words. When you’re finished constructing your perfectly balanced world, do your writing a favor and take another pass to weed out these 18 haggard words.
Good
High on any list of most used English words is “good.” While this word may appear to be the perfect adjective for nearly anything, that is precisely what makes it so vague. Try getting more specific. If something’s going well, try “superb,” “outstanding” or “exceptional.”
New
Another of the common words in English is “new.” “New” is an adjective that doesn’t always set off alarm bells, so it can be easy to forget about. Give your writing more punch by ditching “new” and using something like “latest” or “recent” instead.
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I am currently writing a mystery story, and this type of tale presents a most unusual dilemma. In most mysteries the author must hold the attention of the reader, but at the same time the author must distract them as well. In fact the author must primarily be calling the audience’s attention to the distraction, getting them to focus on the wrong thing on purpose.
Though not entirely. For if you have all of their attention pointed towards the false conclusions, then they won’t be able to recognize the right one when it does come along. So you need their full attention to your story as a whole, but part of it must be divided towards the truth, and part to the lies.
Thus, in the same moment the author must be the teacher that is lecturing, and the goofball that is shooting spitballs…
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Sounds interesting!
Happy St. Patricks Day, everyone! Whether you’re Irish or not, ’tis a day for the wearing’ o’ the green, and a tip o’ the hat to the wee folk. Right now, we could all use a little luck given the state of the world in view of Covid-19. Whatever your corner of the planet, I hope you stay safe and well. If you’re stuck inside, it’s the perfect time to catch up on your reading.
With that in mind, let’s jump into this week’s book review!
Jimi Cabot, and her partner Lou, are two cops assigned to the “Grinder Squad” in a futuristic San Francisco. Grinders are people who have their bodies altered through illegal surgeries which use computer chips to provide enhanced senses. Despite their department assignment, Jimi and Lou usually find their days eaten up by the drudgery of routine patrol and domestic disturbance calls—until they happen upon…
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Did you know that a great way to promote a business is through an ebook?
As regular readers of this blog know, I have been focusing on freelance writing this past couple of years. So, this is a tip that may be of particular interest to non-fiction writers and anyone else who is looking to make a living through their writing.
Good content has become the brute force that drives a majority of the marketing strategies on the internet today.
Indeed, that is why writers are as popular as ever – it is a golden era for content marketing (although things are still hard for fiction writers). Whether it is explainer videos, blog posts, or infographics, every form of online marketing requires high-quality content that attracts more clicks and revenue.
So, say a company has hired you to write an ebook for them. How can you use it to promote…
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