This is for all the writers and other language nerds out there. : ) A long-time beta friend of mine, Amphora Graye, has recently release a series of articles on character and plot. While I highly recommend just generally clicking…
Blog Archives
Don’t Overlook the Look Pass
This is such a simple thing, especially in comparison to many other editing skills. Weighing adjectives and adverbs, replacing weak verbs with stronger ones–all this takes real effort and a certain amount of experience. But this one is easy. Just…
The Nod and Smile Editing Passes
A reasonably common piece of advice is to be careful not to overuse the words nod and smile. Beats are a lovely alternative to dialogue tags, but we can’t go to the obvious wells too often. I knew this. I’d…
Why Readers Stop Reading a Book.
Originally posted on Lit World Interviews:
Recently, we here at LitWorldInterviews.com conducted a survey, “Why do you put a book down?” and through the assistance of the writing community we had a very nice response. Now it’s time to share…
Posted in Writing
Clichés Can Be Surprising
As part of my continuing quest to publish, I entered the Thinkerbeat Shorty contest. And I snagged a bronze in the March Shorty Competition, which is certainly helpful for my writer’s ego. In addition, I had a great online conversation with…
The Magic of the Read-Aloud Pass–and the Following One
You’ve probably read this before, but let me chime in. Reading your work aloud is incredible. Writing that I would’ve sworn was as good as I could make it went through far more minor surgery than I would have ever…
Your Protagonist Must Act
You can’t afford a passive protagonist. Writing advice abounds out in the blogosphere—I’ve contributed some of it myself. You can find interesting and informative posts on characters, plot, dialogue, and even commas. But here is one mistake that is literally…
Who Do You Write Like?
Okay, you write like you, and that’s as it should be. But still, there are commonalities in writing, and there are those we aspire to be something like. I’d LOVE to be told I write like Rudyard Kipling–James Joyce not…
The Art Of Description: How Much Do You Need?
Originally posted on Allison Maruska:
One of my favorite books is Stephen King’s On Writing, and one of my favorite parts of that book is when he describes the rabbit. Remember that part? After a few sentences, readers pictured a…
Advice from a Writers of the Future Contest Judge
Okay, so this is a good news/bad news scenario. I entered the Writer’s of the Future Contest (http://www.writersofthefuture.com/), which I highly recommend, even though they rejected me. Ms. Joni Labaqui, the contest director, carried out the dubious honors of telling…
Tagged with: Cathleen Townsend, David McFarland, Joni Labaqui, story opening, Writers of the Future Contest
Posted in Writing
Posted in Writing
Cathleen Townsend 