Watch my video review of Seven Perfect Things, a contempory fiction novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde to see what I thought of it and what makes it work as a story. The video has subtitles so you can read it if you prefer. About Seven Perfect Things Thirteen-year-old Abby Hubble lives in an unhappy home in the Sierra Nevada foothills where her father makes life miserable for her and her mother, Mary. One day Abby witnesses a man dump a litter of puppies into the nearby river. Diving in to rescue all seven, she knows she won’t be able to bring them home. Afraid for their fate at the pound, she takes them to an abandoned cabin, where all she can offer is a promise that she’ll be back the next day. To grieving widower Elliot Colvin, life has lost meaning. Looking for solace, he retreats to the hunting cabin he last visited years ago, before his wife’s illness. What he discovers is not at all what he expected: seven puppies and one determined girl with an indomitable heart. As Abby … [Read more...]
Watch for the Difference Between a Present Participle and a Gerund, also a Participle Adjective
The difference between a present participle and a gerund and also a participle adjective isn't immediately obvious and may seem unimportant, but when looking at sophistication in writing, it's helpful to know the difference. I've been making a bit of noise recently about the illadvised use of present participles to start sentences if we want our writing to look professional. See point one of my recent blog post and this video with 6 (+1) tips on writing better prose. However not every sentence starting with a word ending in 'ing' is problematic because not all words ending in 'ing' are present participles, some are gerunds and some, though they are still called participles, are participle adjectives not verbs. What's the difference? Both a gerund and a present participle come from a verb, and both end in 'ing'. However, each has a different function. A gerund acts like a noun while a present participle acts as a verb. A word ending in 'ing' can also act as an … [Read more...]
3 Little-Known Writing Mistakes: Avoid them and Improve Your Prose
Image by Tumisu from Pixabay Three writing mistakes that mark writing as that of an amateur seem to be breeding like flies in books written by unschooled or inadequately schooled authors. Clearly, these stylistic mistakes are little known, and it's time that changed. I read mostly independently published books, and unfortunately, though there is a great number of superbly written books in indie publishing, I also see a lot of writing marred by these blunders. If not checked, these 3 writing mistakes, will rapidly, all by themselves, diminish the power, beauty and precision of the written English language. How such writing mistakes diminish the power of the written language It works like this. One author writes a number of books all containing the following mistakes, but they market their books well and use a cut-price promotion to get one of their books onto a book bestseller list. Then they call themselves a best-selling author, and many readers and authors think their … [Read more...]
Dark Fantasy Book Review: ‘Shattered Kingdom’ by Angelina J. Steffort
If you like dark fantasy, then Shattered Kingdom by Angelina Steffort, and possibly the whole Shattered Kingdom Series is a good one for you. Watch the video below for my run down on what you'll find inside the novel. Authors may learn something from my examination of the plot devices Angelina Steffort has used by to create this engaging novel. https://youtu.be/O-1SlR448q8 Find out more & purchase the book here: https://geni.us/1AFpzBG Image by Stefan Keller from Pixabay … [Read more...]
5 Mistakes in Writing Backstory or Delivering Information in Fiction
Information dump Writing backstory into a novel or delivering information in an effective way can be challenging. Backstory refers to events that happened in the past, and information is anything the reader needs to know in order to understand the story. If you don’t study how best to include information and backstories into your novel, you’re likely to fall into one of the following mistakes. 1. Too much information Generally, the reader needs less information than you think they do. So go through the information you have about characters, events and the world in which the events take place and cut out anything that doesn’t directly impact on the present story. You’d be surprised at how much information will come out simply as part of writing scenes. Writing backstory in may not be necessary at all. If no event is linked to a piece of information, then you don’t need to include that information. In terms of the story, it’s irrelevant. Character backstory The author … [Read more...]
Book Review: ‘These Tangled Vines’ by Julianne MacLean
Julianne Maclean is known as a romance writer, but this book could just as well be called literary fiction with a love story included or perhaps literary romance. Watch the video to get the full picture. And don't forget to like the video on YouTube - it helps get it seen. https://youtu.be/Eb1XJAWMUm0 Click for more info & purchase … [Read more...]
8 Steps to Answering the Question, Is My Book Any Good?
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay After writing 10 books myself and helping countless authors to do the same, I realise that at some point all authors ask Is my book any good? That's the point at which most authors come to me for a manuscript appraisal, but there is another way you can get a good idea of whether your book is 'any good'. When we evaluate 'good' in this context, we usually think in terms of how our book matches up to similar books. We're wondering, Is our book as good as the others out there? Here's a way to find out in 8 steps. Step 1: Take a break and read Take a break from working on your novel of at least 3 weeks (the longer the better) and read at least 3 quality books from the same genre. Choose competition winners and best sellers, books with thousands of reviews and no more than 2% of them 1 star. You're going to examine these books so you can compare yours to them. It's important that you get a feel for the quality of the prose and tightness … [Read more...]
Science Fiction Book Review: The Enigma Cube by Douglas E. Richards
In this science fiction book review video, I talk about The Enigma Cube, the first book in Douglas E. Richards Alien Artifact Series. I also talk about the author's writing style in general - what he does well and what he could improve on. Have you read any of Douglas E. Richard's science fiction? His near-future science fiction books are best sellers, so a lot of people love them, and I tell you why, but they're not without flaws. Watch my book review of The Enigma Cube to find out what the debate is and consider whether, for you, the pros outweight the cons. I must admit that when reading for pleasure, for me a strong voice and a great story can make flaws forgivable. As an editor, though, I'd be guiding this author to fix these flaws, and the books would then be lifted into the realm of true genius. What do you think? Watch my science fiction book review and in the comments below tell me if the pros might outweigh the cons for you, https://youtu.be/kMBfg98Y1Sk Pick up … [Read more...]
Do We Put a Comma Before ‘Too’ or ‘Either’ at the End of a Sentence?
Do you put a comma before 'too' or 'either' at the end of a sentence? We used to, but language and how we use it changes over time, and the conventions we use to help us express meaning clearly eventually change in order to reflect this. Those of us involved in publishing need to update the way we do things when the style guides we follow change. Can't we make our own punctuation convention style? Can we make our own style for our book, and just punctuate and capitalise and use grammar in any way we feel works for us? No, we can't. Well, we can, but the book will be seen as poor quality, the author as an amateur hack, and no editor would put their name to such a book. The reason being that the conventions we follow are there to help readers understand what the author is saying. Make up your own conventions and - besides having your ignorance on display for the world - you run the risk of confusing readers. Good writing is writing that conveys the author's meaning clearly … [Read more...]
Kindle Unlimited Review: ‘The Secrets of Lost Stones’ by Melissa Payne
This Kindle Unlimited review is of 'The Secrets of Lost Stones' by Melissa Payne, a moving and engaging literary fiction book. It's described as 'A soul-stirring novel about the bonds between mother and child and the redemption that comes with facing the past and letting it go', and I agree that it's exactly that. It's just one of the great indie books that you can get on Kindle Unlimited. If you're a devourer of books like me, then KU is a good option. I find it hard to find Kindle Unlimited Reviews, however, which is why I'm reviewing books on Kindle Unlimited here. It's good to know that a book you're hearing about can be got as part of your subscription. Book description Thirty-two-year-old Jess Abbot has lost everything: her job, her apartment, and—most heart-wrenching—her eight-year-old son, Chance, to a tragic accident. Haunted by memories and grief, Jess packs what’s left and heads for the small mountain town of Pine Lake, where she takes a position as caregiver to an … [Read more...]
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