Category Archives: writing novels

Filed under business of writing, inspiration for writers, looking for literary editors and publishers, Myths and Truths for writers, Publishing, small presses, writing novels

Tagged as find a book publisher, how to publish a book, how to sell your book

January 29, 2021 · 12:19 pm

The 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2021 – by Farrah Daniel…

Just a quick share this morning—I’m deep in editing (I really will publish again soon!). But this is a post everyone can use. Share it far and wide. Thanks again to Chris the Story Reading Ape for making this kind of information available to us all.

on The Write Life:

Now that we’re a few weeks into 2021, let’s all breathe a deep sigh of relief together for overcoming what has to be one of the hardest years we’ve experienced in modern times.

And you made it through! That’s a victory worth celebrating, especially with the people who helped you navigate the chaos with websites filled with guides, tips and tricks, blog posts, podcasts and newsletters to help get better at the one thing you love the most: writing.

If you wrote a novel while under lockdown, good for you! And if you didn’t? Good. For. You.

When it comes to writing, output isn’t the only critical part of the process — it’s just as important to reset, refresh and reinvigorate your writing brain with new techniques that help you write better.

Wherever you’ve landed in your writing journey, we have just the websites that’ll help…

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Filed under Writing and Learning, writing novels

Tagged as how to publish a book, how to write a book, learning to write, Marketing books, Resources for writers, tips for writers, web sites for writers

January 16, 2021 · 1:32 pm

The Key Book Publishing Paths: 2021–2022 – by Jane Friedman…

Here’s a very helpful post from that wizard, Jane Friedman, via Chris the Story Reading Ape (also a wizard). I am not a wizard, but to this comprehensive description of the ways you can publish, I must add this: If you really want to publish, don’t go on Facebook or Twitter and ask, “Can someone tell me how to publish a book?” Your respondents would have to spend the rest of their afternoon telling you what’s available on sites like Friedman’s—she’s an excellent portal. Check through my posts for links to many, many other terrific sites for directions and advice.

My point is, if you really want the answer, it’s out there. Do your research! You can jumpstart your process by following Chris and Jane.

Since 2013, I have been regularly updating this informational chart about the key book publishing paths. It is available as a PDF download (from Jane’s original blog post)—ideal for photocopying and distributing for workshops and classrooms—plus the full text is also below.

One of the biggest questions I hear from authors today: Should I traditionally publish or self-publish?

This is an increasingly complicated question to answer because:

Continue reading HERE

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Filed under Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, business of writing, ebooks publishing and selling, indie publishing, Publishing, Self-publishing, small presses, writing novels

Tagged as book packagers, book publishing, how to publish a book, how to publish a paperback, publish your book, seling your book

January 5, 2021 · 11:45 am

Anne R. Allen on “The ‘Was’ Police”

Can the grammar policeman enforce the grammar rules?

There aren’t big enough capital letters to denote how much I LOVE Anne R. Allen. This is an older article, but it illustrates so well her basic common sense and clear explanatory power. She walks you though the past tenses in English, explaining how using “to be” affects meaning.

I especially like this article (among her many other wonderful pieces) because I’ve also written about the admonition to avoid “was” at all costs. I’ve seen writers turn sentences inside out, making a bloody hash of them, to avoid the verb “to be.” And I’ve noted many times in my own reading how successful, active-voice writers don’t hesitate to use simple “was” as in “The room was empty” when it gets them where they need to be in the shortest amount of time. I’ve just recently lamented posts that suggest that the past progressive tenses can be replaced blindly with the simple past.

I’ve also shared on this blog my own awareness that grammar “rules” are not created equal. The “rules” for forming possessives and using apostrophes are not negotiable. The “rules” that dictate style and voice depend on your choices as a writer and often aren’t so much rules as guidelines for achieving varied effects.

Anne’s post contains multiple links to other discussions of writers’ tools. As she says often, these are your basics if you want to call yourself a writer. Wonderful writers may seem to play havoc with these tools, but the chances are good that they don’t do so by accident but by choice.

Filed under writing novels

December 12, 2020 · 11:49 am

Bad Publishing Contracts?

Big word "book" in "letterpress." — Make sure you own your rights!

Here’s an entry in a useful series from The Passive Voice, in this case that “out-of-print” clause that can prevent authors from ever recovering their rights to their own work. The discussion is complicated, but worth storing somewhere when the day arrives that you have this problem. I was able to get my rights back easily, but then, my books had been out of print for a fairly long time. Search this blog for “reversion of rights,” and you’ll find links to several related discussions of the kind of language any contract should contain.

Filed under business of writing, Copyright for writers, Money issues for writers, Print on Demand for fiction writers, publishing contracts, reversion of rights clauses, writing novels

Tagged as author contracts, out of print books, retrieving the rights to your books

December 1, 2020 · 4:03 pm

Firearms In Fiction: What Authors Need to Know – by Dave Chesson…

Here’s some useful nitty gritty via Chris the Story Reading Ape and Janice Hardy of Fiction University, from, in the end, Dave Chesson, of Kindlepreneur fame. All wonderful resources. This one serves those of us writing mystery/suspense who end up with those shootout scenes, maybe despite our better judgment. At least we don’t have to look totally dumb! Thanks to all on this team.

on Fiction University:

Having characters use firearms in a book can be common practice. There are some genres that use them extensively like science fiction, thrillers, crime novels, and more. However, regardless of what genre you write in, there is a chance that at some point, a firearm will be a necessary plot point, component, or a part of your next scene.

Writing about guns can seem simple since we see them a lot on TV and movies. However, the movies usually get it wrong, and this has caused many misconceptions that bleed into a lot of stories.

So as to help authors understand weapons better, and thus create stronger stories, I’m going to start by discussing major concepts and principles. Then I’ll show you some resources you can look to, as well as some ideas on how to investigate or do field work if you choose.

Continue reading HERE

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Life in the Realm of Fantasy

Filed under Myths and Truths for writers, self editing for fiction writers, writing novels

Tagged as firearms in fiction, guns in fiction, how to write about guns in your novel, mystery/suspense, writing suspense novels

November 14, 2020 · 10:59 am

Hyphen, Em Dash, En Dash (revisited) #amwritng

Following up on an earlier post on hyphens from Connie J. Jasperson, here’s a handy discussion of the different uses of dashes and hyphens.

I’d like to add that, if you’re writing on a Mac, you can create an em dash by typing Space/Option/Hyphen. My new wireless keyboard, a Microsoft product, allows for most Mac keystrokes, but not that one, and I miss it.

There are other key combinations that can produce an en dash, but I seldom use this symbol so I don’t know them. Oh, and there are all kinds of symbols and special characters you can produce with various key formulas, especially math symbols. One day I’ll get around to exploring them all.

Another point of interest: both PC and Mac keyboards make using an em dash for interrupted dialogue really annoying. If you type dialogue like

“I thought I told you”

you can use an em dash to show that the dialogue has been cut off by an event or another speaker:

“I thought I told you—”

What you can’t see here because WordPress made the correction, is that, using smart quotes as we usually must, in Word, the quote marks after the em dash will be backward!

You can make them come out correctly by typing a period, as in

“I thought I told you—.”

In my experience, this construction doesn’t take the period, though some style sheets may differ. If you don’t want the period, you have to reposition your cursor (use the arrow keys), delete the period, then move your cursor again before hitting return.

I’ve tried storing the corrected text in Autocorrect, but so far that hasn’t worked reliably. However, good news! If you are using smart quotes, Find and Replace, that ever-useful tool, will usually turn the errant quote marks around.

One last snark about Microsoft keyboards: if you do want to use an em dash as I’ve illustrated to show interrupted conversation, you have to type a letter after the two hyphens, then space so the hyphens will convert to a dash, then backspace to delete the letter. I guess I could use Find/Replace creatively again to correct this, but it’s one of those little annoyances. Anybody got a better fix for em dashes on a PC keyboard?

Thanks, Connie, for another useful post!

We’re halfway through week 2 of National Novel Writing Month. Today we’re continuing our review the rules for common punctuation. This essay first posted on Feb 6, 2019. As always, if you’re already up on these rules, thank you for stopping by and happy writing!

Over the years, I have seen many books written by wonderful authors who overuse em or en dashes.

I also tend to do that in blogging and in Facebook posts, and my first drafts can be peppered with them. Em dashes are a kind of author’s crutch because it is easy to rely on them.

Trust me, readers find it distracting to see an em dash in every paragraph. Some editors don’t want to see one on every page. Their point of view is that the em dash is like any other repetitive word in a manuscript. As a tool, it’s useful as a way…

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Life in the Realm of Fantasy

Filed under dialogue in novels for writers, Editing your novel, punctuation for writers of novels, self editing for fiction writers, writing novels

Tagged as dialogue in novels for writers, em dash, en dash, using Find and Replace to correct punctuation in novels, using smart quotes in dialogue

November 5, 2020 · 8:13 am

Hyphens and Compound Words #amwriting

Here’s some helpful enlightenment on one of the more annoying editing problems we all face. My own bête-noir is what Connie J. Jasperson tells me are “closed compounds”: combinations that are joined into a single word. I keep telling myself to try being consistent—is it “web site” or “website”? In some cases, if you’re writing for a particular publication, you can consult a style guide (I’m pretty sure that’s two words). If not, it’s off to a dictionary and then a round of “find/replace.” 🙂

National Novel Writing Month is in full swing. I am busy writing incomprehensible words that will require a great deal of revising and editing. But all that aside, this perfectly good post on hyphens and compound words was just lying around, so here you go! It was first posted on June 26, 2017, and since then, nothing has changed in the world of hyphenation. However, we can always use a little refresher when it comes to compound words and their usage.

Compound words are frequently a source of grief when I receive my manuscript back from my editor. Despite my best efforts, I habitually hyphenate words that should not be hyphenated.

Most people know that a compound word combines two or more words that function as a single unit of meaning.

Most people also know that there are two types of compounds:

those written as single words, with no hyphenation…

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Filed under Editing your novel, grammar rules for writers, punctuation for writers of novels, self editing for fiction writers, writing novels

Tagged as compound words for writers, Editing your novel, hyphenation in writing

October 29, 2020 · 11:59 am

Why “Start With the Action” Messes Up So Many Writers – by Janice Hardy…

This piece from @Janice_Hardy echoes some of the best advice I’ve ever heard: Start with conflict, not crisis. How people deal with a crisis is much more interesting than the crisis itself.

Apropos though of making sure *something* is “happening,” Hardy is right on that as well. In my experience as a reader it takes special genius to create a character so interesting I’ll listen to him or her THINK for pages and pages. As a mortal, I’ve found that setting up the story conflict in a scene built around the central characters gets me into the story so much more effectively. I’ve also learned that any introspective scene that goes on for more than a page–or even half a page–needs some other character to jump in and interrupt it.

So check out Hardy’s advice here. I think it’s spot on.

on Fiction University:

Sometimes really great advice is anything but helpful.

If I took a poll for the most common writing advice, “start with the action” would make the list.

Which it should, as it’s great advice. But it’s also like saying, “show, don’t tell.” We know we ought to do it, but we don’t always know how, and those four words don’t help us with the beginnings of our novels.

This can be especially hard on new writers, because they might think they’re doing everything right, but still get negative feedback or even rejections on their manuscripts. “I do start with action,” they cry. “Can’t you see that car barreling off that cliff there? What do I have to do, blow up a planet?”

Well, no.

Maybe it’s the movie industry and all those summer blockbusters, but say “action scene” and most people envision something Michael Bay-ish—car chases…

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Filed under Myths and Truths for writers, Plot Development for writers, What Not To Do in Writing Novels, writing novels

Tagged as action scenes in novels, books first chapters, conflict in novels, crisis in novels, first pages in novels, plotting a novel

October 17, 2020 · 11:54 am

For the Amusement of My Writer Friends

I’ve been AWOL recently because I’ve been busy writing! I’m trying to slide Book 3 of my mystery trilogy into a channel where it will start floating right along (I suspect you get that metaphor), and I’ve been keyboarding the longhand draft of my “Horse Show Book” (great titles, huh?) that I just completed last week. My hope is that the closing scenes of this psychological suspense/mystery will work as well when I type them as they seemed when I (literally) penned them. We’ll see.

Apropos of that milestone, I had the following conversation with a non-writer friend the other day. I wonder if only writers will “get” this:

Friend: When are you going to publish your Horse Show Book?

Me: Oh, it will be a good while.

Friend: But you said you’d finished it!