Excise weak adverbs; insert strong verbs. Did you know the road to hell is paved with adverbs? Stephen King told us that. If you’re ready to punch up your writing, culling out adverbs is a good place to start. (Just like the passive voice, there’s a time and place for adverbs, but generally you can […]
Why “Show, Don’t Tell” is important for a writer The only thing you can’t do to your reader is bore them. They’ll be okay getting confused, assuming you clear things up soon enough. They’ll be fine looking up words they don’t know. They’ll be grateful when you throw them a twist they hadn’t anticipated. But […]
Compelling Characters, Part II Let’s talk about the motivations for your character. Think about Kurt Vonnegut’s brilliant advice that every character in your scene should want something, even if it’s only a glass of water. If you have someone in your scene and they don’t want something … you might want to write them out […]
Compelling characters In general, it’s wise to describe your character when they first enter your story. (There are exceptions, of course, and all rules here can be broken. ) You want your reader to be able to picture your character as early as possible. Just like grounding the reader with your setting, showing some detail […]
Personal example for this week’s tip. When your characters speak, use the attribution “said.” A kind agent who asked to read my manuscript told me I had a character who “uttered” when she should have “said.” The agent was right. “Said” becomes invisible in your story, but “uttered” or anything else calls attention to itself. […]
How’s that for an alliterative title? Continuing with my favorite writing rules. This should have been #1, but I forgot about it last week. This tip is courtesy of Elmore Leonard, the brilliant and prolific crime writer (yeah, yeah, formerly western writer too — 3:10 to Yuma, anyone?) and his 10 Rules of Writing. Barely […]
My Favorite Writing Rules (All of which can be broken) This is my all-time favorite because of its simplicity and the aha moment you have when you realize its truth. This rule is born from the idea to respect your reader. They don’t need backstory. If your scene has four parts in your mind, leave […]
Part 2 of an editing series Editing my manuscript has been a long process, mostly because I keep teaching myself things as I go along. Herewith, a cheap way for you to learn from my expensive lessons. 1. Specificity Outperforms Vagueness Specific words trigger your mind while vague words don’t. Want evidence? It’s all around […]
Part 1 of my editing series If experience leads to expertise, I should be rolling into Expert at the next exit. With all the time I’ve spent editing my (formerly) 90,000-word manuscript, I am now a maestro using my red pen as a baton. I’ve learned a lot, and I want to pass it on […]
It’s not Kafka’s Metamorphosis, but a dog is an interesting narrator Reading time: 2 ½ minutes – There are three captivating stories here, the finale of which is still being written. Let’s them in order. Story 1. My favorite of the three is a lesson in the art of perseverence. Stein wrote Racing and sent […]
JD Frain 