Misunderstandings about what makes good writing abound. What you were taught at school may not be the best practice at all. Image by StockSnap from Pixabay Said usage is not a sin In primary school, my teachers asked us to avoid using the word said, as if that would make our writing better. It doesn’t. Fancy dialogue tags (words other than said, replied and perhaps the occasional exclaimed to indicate who is speaking) are obvious—they jump out at the reader—and so interrupt the reading experience and remind readers they’re reading. But we want our readers so totally immersed in our story that they forget they are reading. We want them to feel as if they are in the action, right there with the characters, and fancy dialogue tags do the opposite of that. Said is so ordinary that we skim over it. And this is only one of the misunderstandings I see often in beginner writers. There are far more skilful and interesting ways to avoid countless ‘saids’ than replacing them with … [Read more...]
5 Tips for Marketing Your Book on a Budget
Today I have a guest post from Desiree Villena If there’s one thing most writers have in common, it’s this: we’re all working on a budget these days. Sure, there’s a lucky few among us whose books take off without much effort, or who have deep enough pockets to invest in heavy advertising and surveying. But that’s just not an option for most of us. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to boost your book without breaking the bank — that is, if you’re willing to be a little creative with your marketing and put in the work. Image by StockSnap from Pixabay 1) Organize a newsletter swap Let’s start with something pretty simple — reaching out to your friends. As an author, it’s important to form relationships with people in your corner of the book community, and a big part of that will be authors who write in the same genre as you. Far from being competition, these people can often become your most steadfast allies. Now, no one wants to have false friends, … [Read more...]
When reality looks like fiction: Covid-19 and apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction
With the world in the grip of Covid-19, life is looking like something out of a novel from the apocalyptic, post-apocalyptic and dystopian fiction genres. This is not particularly surprising considering that reality informs fiction and fiction reflects reality. The first time I felt I were living in an apocalyptic fiction novel was when out of control bushfires threatened my property in January of this year, but the threat receded and left me and my property unharmed. And even during the event, the world and the rest of Australia continued as normal, so – even though it felt like it to those who lived through it – the fires weren’t truly an apocalyptic event. The Australian fires were catastrophic, but they were restricted to one area of the world, whereas a truly apocalyptic event effects the whole world or large portions of it. Image by GravityGeorge from Pixabay The word apocalypse, according to the Oxford Dictionary refers to ‘the complete final destruction of the world, … [Read more...]
4 Crucial Mistakes Authors Make When Launching a Self-Published Book
Welcome to the first post for 2020.As some of you know, I had a summer break, but rather than the holiday I expected, I had an anxious time as bushfires sped up the NSW coast towards my rainforest property. We did evacuate, but luckily, the fire didn't reach us on that hot windy day, so the house was still here when we returned, and the forest is still green. Phew. That fire is still burning, but the Rural Fire Service people have got it contained, so it's not a threat to us at present.My life has been ever changed by the weather and the bushfires this summer. We have never been so dry here, or the weather so hot with many days over 40 degrees Celcius when previously that was unheard of here. That and the prospect that we would not have a house to return to when we evacuated, made us realise that climate change is not some future thing. It is here, now and Australia is one of the first countries to feel its effects. Click here to read what my research into climate change revealed to … [Read more...]
What is a Narrative Memoir?
Are you writing a memoir? If so, it’s a good idea to think about what kind of approach you’re taking. Are you reporting on events in your life or are you writing a narrative memoir? The easiest way to write the story of your life, or part of your life, is to write a report, but the difference for your reader is (subject matter aside) like the difference between reading a book-length newspaper report and a novel. What is a report A report is non-emotive writing. Its aim is to share facts about events rather than judgements. Though it uses expositional language (telling rather than showing) turning a report into showing events rather than telling about them doesn’t by itself change it from a report to a narrative. The definition of report writing is creating an account or statement that describes in detail an event, situation or occurrence, usually as the result of observation or inquiry. The two most common forms of report writing are news report writing and academic … [Read more...]
What’s the difference between telling and showing?
Telling and showing in writing is a tricky area and one that authors need to understand in order to fully engage their readers. They need to know how to recognise telling and how to change it into showing, A lot of the writing in my first drafts are more telling than showing the story, at least in the linking scenes. I don't know if it's the same for other writers, but I figure it's natural to write it that way because you're basically trying to get the story down. The task for future drafts is to change the telling into showing. What's the difference and why not tell? Telling Telling has a narrator between the reader and the action, so the reader stands outside the action and somewhat remote from the character. Readers are constantly reminded that they are reading, because the narrator tells us that the character did, saw, heard or felt something. Telling also talks about something that happened in the past so the scene has little immediacy. … [Read more...]
5 Essentials for Your Successful Book Launch
Guest post by Daniela McVicker Orchestrating a book launch is not something that comes easy for any author. Even though you now have technology on your side that helps you get in touch with your readers, nothing compares with an event where you can have them in front of you. But, when you think of organizing such events and all the details which you should take into consideration, then things don’t seem so easy. A successful book launch creates urgency and excitement among your readers. Moreover, it will bring more followers and increase your email subscribing list. So you have no reason to be against a book launch apart from the emotions which are going to overwhelm you. If you don’t know where to start, then you should keep reading this article and find more about it. 1. Define your launch budget The launch of your book is a celebration. But, in order to be able to organize everything as you wish, you should define a budget to pay for things and do your best to stick … [Read more...]
Self-Editing Tips: How to Cut Back Your Word Count
In my last post, I talked about why it's important to keep a manuscript to less than 100,000 words. Today I'm going to give you some idea not only of how to cut back your word count but also of how to make sure that you have nothing extraneous in your book regardless of word count. I'm not going to talk about cutting unnecessary adverbs and adjectives today or about cutting back a paragraph of description into one sentence. The cutting I’m talking about here happens before we get to that stage. These self-editing tips are general guides to what should and shouldn't go into your manuscript. All scenes must move the story forward Ignore this golden rule of writing at your peril. More than anything, readers want to know what happens next in the story, so if your scenes go off in another direction, or add extraneous information, your reader will get frustrated and may give up on your book. Somewhere during the process of writing my first book, I realised that I'd written … [Read more...]
Self-editing tip 1: Chop Chop
Self-editing is an important skill for authors to develop. If you can self-edit, you'll save yourself a lot of money, but in order to self-edit effectively, self-editing tip 1 is that you need to be prepared to cut back your word count significantly - especially if it's over 100,000 words. Preferred word counts Mainstream publishers have preferred word counts for a reason. One of the reasons has to do with the economics of producing a paper book, but the other, more important reason for digital publishers (where the word count can be anything), is that it’s extremely rare for authors to be able to hold readers for more than the recommended word count. In other words, unless you’re a really talented author with a riveting story, if your book is over 110,000 words, it’s likely to be in need of a jolly good cut. Most mainstream publishers wouldn't accept a book over that word count unless it was the second or third in a very successful series, and likely only on the area of … [Read more...]
How to Handle Rejection by a publisher
Rejection by a publisher usually leaves us feeling down and may set us into a spiral of self doubt or anger that can be painful and self-defeating. It's helpful to know how to handle rejection by a publisher or agent in a more positive way. Everyone faces rejection or failure sometimes. It could be a girl saying’ no’ when you ask her out, failing an exam, not passing an audition, not getting into the team, burning a cake or loosing a game. Whatever it is, the feeling is the same, more intense for some things, but basically the same, and not a pleasant feeling. Artists of all kinds get rejected more than most. It’s a fact of life for people in their professions. As a performer, every time I went for an audition, I faced rejection, and rejection is what I got more often than not. This is normal. You get used to it, but it can take a while. By the time I started writing, I was prepared for the inevitable rejections. I’d learnt how to handle it. Tips on avoiding … [Read more...]
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