Last week, Diana kicked off this month’s discussion of what makes a good cover. I am a graphic designer, and I do book covers, so I come at it from a slightly different perspective. Covers Cost Money A good cover will cost you money. A cover is not sticking up a stock photo, adding the title and your name, and ... read more
The Action/Reaction Sequence
Diana gave us a good overview last week about how reactions can be either physical or emotional. Good writing requires both, because it gets the reader in the character’s head and helps create that emotional bond that makes for the most excellent reading experience. Physical reactions are part of an Action/Reaction ... read more
Editing the Novel: The Road to Waking Lazarus
I had a blast doing this! A video made by my client, Derek Williams, about us discussing the editing process. ... read more
Rhetorical Devices: Finishing Touches to Make Your Writing Sing
Mark Twain is famous for this quote about writing: "Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph." We often think that in longer works such as novels that we don’t necessarily have to worry about the ... read more
Getting POV right
If there is one thing that I see writers getting wrong when I judge contests, it’s POV or point of view. This one thing can make a huge difference in your story. It is the key component in creating an emotional experience, which is the standard we measure our story by. Getting POV correct makes a huge difference ... read more
