I'm getting back into the grammar weeds today, based on common problems I'm seeing in beta manuscripts. In this case, I'm talking about the subject of a sentence, and making it clear to your readers which character is acting at any given time. Sentence 1: Chris turned around.We have a basic simple sentence here with … Continue reading Writing Polish: Going Off Subject
Books on Writing: Rivet Your Reader With Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Ever had a reader say they just didn't feel like they were in the character's head? Deep Point of View is a vital key to engaging modern readers with your writing voice and immerse them in your story. In Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View, Jill Elizabeth Nelson gives you a crash course … Continue reading Books on Writing: Rivet Your Reader With Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson
Writing Polish: The Bulldozer Sentence
Literature trained a lot of us to drone on a bit. William Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom! has a single sentence that clocks in at 1,288 words. Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables offers up an 832 word gem. Modern writing, especially genre writing, are more about the sharp. One of my biggest revision tasks revolves around bulldozer sentences. These come … Continue reading Writing Polish: The Bulldozer Sentence
Writing Polish: Putting Things in Order
One of the most valuable experiences of having a good critique partner or editor is finding all the mistakes you didn't know you were making! In the current draft of a Witch in Wine Country, my critique partner found a couple of bad writing habits that, while not terrible, added up to clarity problems when … Continue reading Writing Polish: Putting Things in Order
“Ejaculated Slughorn” – Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
Among the well-meaning advice I thoroughly disagree with, new writers are often told to never use a dialogue tag other than "said" and "asked." The most quoted example used to support this comes from JK Rowling's Harry Potter series: "Snape!" ejaculated Slughorn, who looked the most shaken, pale and sweating. Technically, yes, ejaculated is a synonym for … Continue reading “Ejaculated Slughorn” – Dialogue Tags and Action Beats