Craft
Poetic Insights for Your Fiction
My effort to keep the act of writing pure during my journey as a contracted novelist has led me back to poetry. I recently spent a week reading the writings of two poets: Billy Collins, the former poet laureate of the United States and Dennis Schmitz, the former poet laureate of Sacramento. I read these two poets…
Michelle Sutton’s review of Going for Broke by Melanie Dobson
Product Description: The first time Leia pulled the lever on the slot machine she hadn’t felt much, other than maybe a twinge of guilt, knowing how much her husband despised any kind of gambling. After all, she’d just been killing time while nursing a busted leg at the slopes. Several months, thousands of clicks and…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Too many action beats
We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Be wary of too many…
Romantic Suspense-characters
by Margaret Daley The three most important characters in a romantic suspense are the heroine, hero and villain. You need each one to have a romantic suspense. Let’s start with the heroine. With each character you should develop their background. From that background you will come up with their present goals and motivations. Then you…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Dialogue info dumps
We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Avoid info dumps in dialogue.…
Writers should Read Nonfiction
by Ron Estrada I’m a sucker for war stories. A month ago or so I grabbed “Halsey’s Typhoon” on CD at my library. For those of you who didn’t spend your childhood watching Victory at Sea reruns (and why not?), Admiral “Bull” Halsey’s entire fleet was caught in the middle of a super typhoon while…
Some rules NOT to follow!
FUMBLE RULES (with thanks to Richards Lederer and Dowis in Sleeping Dogs Don’t Lay) This is a collection of self-contradictory rules of English. Enjoy. Remember, though, like most humor, there’s a serious lesson for the learning! 1. Each pronoun should agree with their antecedent. 2. Between you and I, pronoun case is important. 3. A…
Boring Yourself
There are certain things in life that I really wanted to get right-especially those things I knew I would only have one shot at. I don’t know why exactly, but I’ve always lived my life thinking about what I want to be proud of years from now when my grandchildren ask about my life. That…
Quick Fiction Fixes – Back and forth dialogue
We’re all busy, whether working full-time or chasing/chauffeuring kids around all day. Yet we’re also writers, striving to get our words on paper and then polish it to a sparkle. This column gives quick fixes for fiction manuscripts specifically for busy writers. Pick and choose what works best for you! Make your dialogue more back-and-forth.…
It Really Can Happen
Going through my archives recently, I came across this post about what I did with my first advance. Since I am always quick to point out the patience needed in the publishing journey, I thought I would throw you a bone. Enjoy… Splurging With My Advance