Syntax and Sentences: How to Make Your Story Sing
Syntax is the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences. The cumulative goal of sentences in fiction should be to please the reader’s inner ear. If you can improve your ability to shape sentences, your writing will be give readers greater pleasure. Why is that? Because readers “read” with an inner ear. The voice […]
Fine-Tune Your Storytelling Voice and Make Your Book Stand Out from the Crowd
Finding the right storytelling voice has launched the career of many a novelist. In this post I’m going to talk about how to discover where your voice is strongest and how you can build from there. In a previous post, I provided a word cloud so that you could begin thinking about voice. Even with that […]
Voice-Driven Fiction | Why You Can’t Afford to Ignore Voice
Voice is like the juice in an apple. If there’s no juice, the apple tastes dry, and the reader won’t take another bite. And, readers aren’t the only ones who’ll take a pass. Unfortunately, apart from the issue of “likeable characters,” the single biggest reason agents send you a “bong” letter is that your manuscript […]
Music vs. Silence: Does Listening to Music Get in the Way of Writing?
Does music help you write, or does it get in the way? Music has the power to stop the chatter in our heads, and it can shift our mood. Because music opens us to feelings, listening to it can help us get into that zone of deep concentration from which inspired work arises. But, music can […]
Are You Puzzled By How Goodreads Wants You to Post Reviews?
Most people can figure out how to post reviews on Amazon, but if you’re an author, you also want your readers to post reviews to Goodreads. When I’ve asked folks to do that, I’ve been surprised by the number who said they couldn’t figure out where to click or how to save. Here’s a link […]
Rejection: Why Actors Expect It And You Should, Too
When we begin writing, we’re in touch with our deepest and most creative selves. It’s joyful. It’s fun. We’re walking the tightrope of success–and in constant danger of falling off. Those falls come from rejection. But rejection also brings many positives: life lessons about balance, reframing, and disaster preparedness. In this post I’m going to […]
5 Reasons Agents Take A Pass (And How to Get Publishers Anyway)
Agents guard the gateway to the “Big 5” New York publishers. Known as “trade book publishers,” all five have the ability to get books reviewed by the few remaining newspapers that do book reviews, such as The New York Times and Los Angeles Times. They have marketing departments to coordinate an author’s book launch. First, […]
Online Classes in Novel Writing
Online classes teach you how to write. In a previous post I talked about how MOOCs make it possible for any aspiring writer to learn the basics of fiction. This week I’m sharing some more places writers can get help. These online classes are either free or cheap. In the classes that do charge a […]
Online Writing Classes: Enroll Now in Free and Cheap MOOCs
Online writing classes can save you from a world of hurt. Rejection from agents. Bong letters from publishers. Or, if you’re self-pubbing it, no sales on Amazon. Aspiring writers have passion and desire. However, it’s often hard for a new writers to put their stories into words. So, how do you learn to write? Well, first […]
Sentences and the Senses: Where Rick Bass Discovers Stories
Sentences are where stories begin, according to Rick Bass, winner of the prestigious Story Prize. “What I’m hungering for as a reader is the visuals, the reminders that the world is a beautiful place, and I’m just trying to bring, you know, almost a painterly illumination on sentences, on objects, on subjects. And so there […]
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