We have been working on one chapter of your novel. Let’s recap. First, we striped it down to the bones by removing all adjectives and adverbs. Afterwards we checked the validity of our bare bones plot. Second, we added unique and powerful adjectives as necessary. Instead of adding adverbs we […]
Freelance Writing – The Owner Never Calls in Sick
In Part One I introduced myself. In Part Two, I introduced the varied opportunities for the Freelance Writer. Now in Part Three, we need to discuss this whole idea of me and you as freelance writers. I put myself first there (even if it is usually reversed) on purpose because […]
Review for Across Five Aprils – Book by Irene Hunt
Out of so many books that I have read, few have affected me in the particular way that Across Five Aprils has. Great writers have the ability to craft a story that not only excites the reader’s interest but reaches out with its words, and touches beyond the imagination, straight […]
Monday’s Writing Tips – “Go Fish”
Now that we’ve created the perfect opening line for your chapter, let’s get to the closing. If you want to keep your reader turning those pages you need to end your chapter with a hook! What is a Hook? If you loved fishing as much as I do you wouldn’t […]
Book Review: A Divorce by Paul Bourget
Book review by Victoria Ryan Does divorce devastate children? Will divorce be the downfall of society? Is the Catholic stance against divorce sorely out of touch? These are the questions addressed by Paul Bourget in his novel A Divorce, the story of a French woman thrust into conflict with her second […]
Monday’s Writing Tips – Edits, Step 2
Now that we’ve gotten our chapter down to the bare bones, it is time to put new flesh on it. Let’s start with the adverbs. ADVERBS: Adverbs are the sign of weak verbs. Break out your thesaurus and look at the verbs you are using. For example: “He ran […]
Gleanings from The Grace of Yes by Lisa Hendey
Before the plane took off Monday morning from DFW Airport, my nose was buried in an advanced copy of The Grace of Yes: Eight Virtues for Generous Living. As we landed in Tampa, my new knowledge of Lisa Hendey, myself and true generosity was incredible. And one-third of the book […]
Monday’s Writing Tips – Let’s start writing!
We’ve been busy, haven’t we? Over the last few weeks we’ve developed our characters, learned how to use our adjectives and adverbs, created our storyboards, set up our office, and even discussed the importance of prayer. So when do we actually write? How about right now? I know writers […]
Transitions – How to get your character from here to there
One area of writing craft that doesn’t get a lot of attention is that of writing transitions. You’ve gotten to the end of a scene, or maybe just to the middle, and the characters need to move to a different location, or perhaps some time must pass. How do we […]
10 Steps to Indie Publishing
These are the best of times for authors—and possibly the worst of times! The changes in the publishing industry over the past five years are nearly as significant as the advent of the internet. In fact, the two developments are intertwined and build on each other. We all know traditional […]