From the category archives:

Writing Tips

Just How Does That Time Machine Work?

Here it is. The moment you and your reader have been waiting for. Your hero is about to pull the covers off his spectacular invention. A shiny new time machine! One that can move forward and backward in time as far as the imagination will take him. He yanks the covers back… and begins to [...]

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Your First Draft Stinks

Writing Tips

What if I told you your first draft stinks?
“What?!” you scream. “How dare you….!”
Ok. Maybe it doesn’t stink but who cares if it does or it doesn’t? Its very name implies that it isn’t the final product. It’s your first draft. Nor is it the only draft. If it were then it would be [...]

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Rock Your Writing Career Today

Writing Tips

“Publishing is tough business…” it states at RockYour Writing.com. Nothing could be further from the truth. But there is help, and it comes in the name of Joe Nassise. Joe is an international best-selling author whom I have mentioned on this site before. It seems that Joe has taken the years of experience he has [...]

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He Said, She Said

Writing Tips

Gone are the days of the simple “he said” or “she said”. Today’s writers often times feel the need to end their character’s dialogue with a descriptive tag. While there is nothing inherently wrong in doing so, it does show a certain amount of laziness when taken to the extreme. ”Laziness!?”. I can see your eyebrows arched [...]

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Surefire Ways to Have Your Stories Rejected

Selling Your Work

It’s time to submit the short story you’ve labored over. You’ve developed the characters, tightened the action, and created the perfect ending. You love it and you’re sure your readers will love it. So it’s time to get it in front of them. The best way to do that is to have it published. Time [...]

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How About That Prologue?

Writing Tips

I’ve written many prologues. In classic literature they are abundant so I always thought “why not?”. They look professional right?
Well….

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How To Keep Track of Your Ideas

Writing Tips

As a writer, how do you keep track of your ideas? Especially when you are bombarded with them during the day? This is the opposite of writer’s block. So what do you do?
I once read an interview where Stephen King talked about having a drawer full of scraps of paper. Each paper contained a thought [...]

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Manuscript Format for Your Novel

Writing Tips

Last week we took a look at short story formatting. This week let’s examine how you can go about formatting your novel manuscript.
First – the basics:
Paper: 8.5 x 11
Margins: 1″ on top and bottom, 1.5″ on sides
Font: 12pt. font. Use something legible like Courier or Times New Roman.
Title Page: A must. Your title page should [...]

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How Do You Format Your Manuscript?

Writing Tips

Since I’ve been asked numerous times I thought I would tackle some of the basics on manuscript format. We’ll start with formatting a short story. In the next few days we’ll take a quick look at novel manuscripts. So without further ado…
The basics:

First things first. Your paper. Always use 8.5 X 11 paper. I understand [...]

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What Makes a Reader Turn the Page?

Writing Tips

As a writer you’ve probably heard an instructor, agent, or publisher say “make me want to turn the page”. Short of standing behind them and yelling “TURN!” when they reach the end of a page what do you do? Is there a magic formula you can turn to?
Suffice to say there is not. But [...]

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