Wishing everyone a healthy and safe Holiday Season
and a Healthy and SAFE New Year!
My all-time favorite motivational quote is by Mark Twain:
"It's not what you've done that matters, it's what you haven't done."
If you've been putting something off that you've wanted to do, like write a book or publish an article in a magazine, make 2021 the year to do it.
W. Terry Whalin is an acquisitions editor at Morgan James Publishing. His work contact information is on the bottom of the second page (follow this link). He has written for over 50 magazines and more than 60 books with traditional publishers. His latest book for writers is 10 Publishing Myths, Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed. Get this book for only $10 + free shipping and over $200 in bonuses. One of Terry's most popular free ebooks is Straight Talk From the Editor, 18 Keys to a Rejection-Proof Submission. He lives in Colorado and has 190,000 twitter followers.
Descriptive details make your stories and articles successful. But you must promote your work. Get your work in magazines, post online, or write the book or script you’ve been envisioning!
I’m reading The Story Cure by Dinty W. Moore. Chapter 2 presents beginnings that work and those that don’t. For today’s readers, we need to start strong and get to it. Dive into the story without lengthy flourish but not stiff hard-as-rock description. Dinty also cautions against awkward similes, and lengthy exposition that makes for taking a nap.
In addition, Rebecca McClanahan talks about descriptive writing denoting an atmosphere beneath our stories, poems, or essays. The language of description shapes the tone, and points to an underlying theme, the depth of the subject. Descriptive writing creates mood. There is so much more to our writing than scene, characters, dialogue, figures of speech, senses, mood and POV. Let’s call it atmosphere. How we pull a message all together matters; our delivery matters and effects how our readership can or cannot receive our message.
Sounds complicated, so how we proceed? I suggest, write your message from your heart first. Make it personable. As you polish the draft, consider the tips and techniques offered here to help polish your piece. For example, maybe the overall tone, voice inflection and body language, doesn’t support the theme or premise of the essay. You’ll want to make changes to align the tone with the theme.
Scenes bring the reader a firsthand view of the action. Exposition describes the what and the why. Using scenes, exposition, and telling shape the narrative. Blend and balance for delightful reading.
Readers want personable, well-written works they relate to, and find beneficial. Let’s give them our best shot.
Do you have words from your basket to share with us? Please add your favorites as you share on social media. We’d enjoy seeing them! Don’t have favorites yet? Consider sensory adjectives, strong verbs, and nouns from online lists or Thesaurus.
Nouns List: https://www.thoughtco.com/learn-the-most-important-english-nouns-4087688
Strong Verb List: http://boyden8la.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/9/7/21975608/strong_verbs.pdf
Book List:
• The Story Cure, a Book Doctor’s Pain-Free Guide to Finishing Your Novel or Memoir, by Dinty W. Moore
• Word Painting, by Rebecca McClanahan
Earlier Post links in this series—Descriptive Writing for Fiction and Non-Fiction:
Write Strong: http://www.writersonthemove.com/2020/10/tips-to-make-characters-real-write.html
Tips for Balancing Action and Exposition: https://www.writersonthemove.com/2020/11/tips-for-balancing-action-exposition.html
Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her writer’s website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/
Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/
Available on Amazon --- Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God’s Love https://www.amazon.com/author/deborahlynstanley
Facebook: Deborah Lyn Stanley, Writer https://www.facebook.com/deborahlynwriter/?modal=admin_todo_tour
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As a contributor to Writers On the Move, I decided to get to know the authors beyond reading their bios. So I purchased one book from each person and will sum up what I learned while reading. As you might expect, there was a wealth of information from fantasy to caring for someone with dementia. I feel ready for anything armed with these new books.
Karen Cioffi - (Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Writers on the Move) Children's Author, Ghostwriter, and Online Marketing Instructor
I read two books by Karen Cioffi, Walking Through Walls and How to Wr/te a Children's Fiction Book. I read Walking Through Walls first and was glad I did as it is referred to in the writing for children's book.
How to Wr/te a Children's Fiction Book is jam-packed with examples of several authors and readers. It helped to navigate all the information as I was already becoming acquainted with the author. It is too bad I didn't have this book before self-publishing!
Walking Through Walls is a story of twelve-year-old Wang who wants to be rich and famous. He studies the legend of the mystical Eternals. Everything is not as it might seem, however, so he has some surprises and growing-up to do.
Debra Eckerling - Write On Online & Guided Goals
Being a teacher, I was drawn to Eckerling's book, Purple Pencil Adventures: Writing Prompts for Kids of All Ages. I found more than I expected by way of journal pages and prompts as the prompts were comprehensive and more in-depth than usual in the classroom. Pictures were included for most prompts, which helps children who usually "see" something to write about in photos. I doubt any writing student would say he or she didn't know anything to write about using this book!
Carolyn Howard-Johnson - Multi Award-winning Books for Writers
I have already read many books written by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, and I can honestly say I highly recommend them all for aspiring authors. Editing tips, frugal book promoting, great first impressions, and even a book about focused tweeting for retailers will help any new author. As authors soon find out, they are responsible for book promotion as the publisher does not do everything anymore. She has a book on blogging and one guide to frugal in-store promotion. I love her poetry books, especially Sublime Planet, about global warming. Well, I just purchased another of her books, so I must have them all now.
Suzanne Lieurance - Award-Winning Author, Freelance Writer, Writing Coach
Snapshots from Real Life: Personal Stories to Warm the Heart and Tickle the Funny Bone was what I selected to learn more about Lieurance. And learn, I did. She is a writing teacher, and I found out she knows how to teach writing, as evidenced by the stories she gathered from her writing class for this anthology. I was laughing out loud while reading heartwarming stories of everyday life. There were a few stories with engineers – my husband is one, too, and we have had similar mishaps while he handled the kitchen for me. And watch Grandpa's false teeth if he has any sudden move with his mouth open. The stories were so enjoyable.
Deborah Lyn Stanley - Writer, Artist, Editor
Deborah Lyn Standley's book, Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God's Love, is heart-tugging and a detailed journal of how to care for someone in every way (including bathing) with kindness. She stresses we should remember the person inside is still the same one as before the illness, and to consider that in everything that is done to care for him or her. If you are ever caregiving for someone with dementia, this book is a must read. It is a love story.
W. Terry Whalin - Helping All Types of Writers
10 Publishing Myths: Insights Every Author Needs to Succeed is full of wisdom from Whalin, who has spent many years in the publishing business. There is one chapter for every myth, and each chapter ends with a myth buster. The actions used to succeed in the book industry are included in this text. I have heard every one of the myths. If an author has questions about the industry, this book is the quickest way to find the truth. Authors will have more confidence if they read this book and gain from Whalin's experiences. I especially recommend it for authors of Christian writing.
Linda Wilson - Children's Writer
Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery (Abi Wonder Mystery series book 1) was the book by Linda Wilson that I read. Although intended for tween and teens, I was engaged in the story, which held my interest through the end. The characters were not the usual, and Abi does know how to keep a secret. It is a fast-paced mystery with surprises along the way. I highly recommend it as there is no romance, which can often ruin middle-grade books for many children.
Carolyn Wilhelm - Author, Educator, The Wise Owl Factory
A Mom - What is an Adoptive Mom? is written by Carolyn Wilhelm and her daughter Betsy Wilhelm. And Betsy happens to be adopted. This is a wonderful book showing that a mom is a mom no matter what. She's the one who knows if you like the crust on your sandwich. She's the one who "understands why you can't sleep without your favorite blankie or stuffed animal." She's the one who comforts you and encourages you. She's the one who loves you. This is an important book about adoption. (Review by Karen Cioffi)
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers
First impressions are important. We all are aware of that as we brush our teeth and try to unknot the rat's nests from the back of our hair each morning. In fact, first impressions are part of our marketing efforts, too. Whether we authors are trying to get an interview or a TV appearance or marketing our books using e-mail or social networks, editing is an essential part of that first-impression effort. Generally that first effort is a query letter or proposal. Thus editing equals great first impression. That makes it an integral part of a marketing campaign.
Here are a few tips to help writers avoid blunders in the documents first seen by those who can make or break a writing career or at least say “nay” or “yea” to the project that counts—the one you’re working on now. First up are five myths that can sabotage your efforts and five tips to make your query letter the selling machine it was meant to be follow. All are little tidbits from the winningest book in my #HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor (https://bit.ly/FrugalEditor).
Five Editing Myths Waiting to Trip Up Your Campaign to Market Your Work
• If your English teacher told you something is okay, it is.
(Nope. Language rules and style guidelines have changed since you were a sophomore.)
• If a manuscript or query is grammar-perfect, you'll make a great first impression.
(No! Lots of things that are grammatically correct will annoy publishers, agents, and other gatekeepers like feature editors.)
• Always use your Spell and Grammar Checker.
(Maybe. Some well-known editors suggest you don't use it at all, but The Frugal Editor gives you dozens of ways to make it your partner instead of your enemy.)
• Your publisher will assign a top-flight editor so you don't need to worry about your manuscript.
(Maybe, but don't count on it. Besides you can be a better partner for an editor—whether she is assigned to you by your editor or you hire one for yourself-- if you know something about the process; you'll know better when to nix her suggestions! In any case, I suggest hiring an editor of your own before you submit your manuscript.)
• Formatters and editors will take care of the hyphens, ellipses, and all the other grungy little punctuation marks that English teachers avoided teaching because they knew basic grammar but nothing about publishing.
(Chances are, you'll catch even great formatters and editors in an error or two if you know your stuff!)
Five Things to Avoid for a Pristine Query Letter
We are selling our work when we approach any gatekeeper, an editor, an agent, a contest judge. Here are five little things to pay attention to when you edit your query letter so you'll look like the professional you are.
• Don't tell the gatekeeper you always wanted to write. You can think of something more pertinent to your cause (and something more original!) than that.
• Don't use the verb "quote" when you want the noun "quotation." Some stylebooks will tell you that it's okay, but agents can be a picky lot. Use zero-tolerance grammar rules for your queries.
• Don't pitch more than one book at time. You want to give just one of them your best shot.
• Don't call your novel a "fictional novel." By definition, a novel is fiction.
• Don't overdo exclamation marks, question marks, or the use of sentence fragments. (Yes, fragments are acceptable when they're used for a good reason.).
Here's one last suggestion for fiction writers, a take-away from the best writers’ programs around: Avoid using italics for internal thought. In the in the sample chapters you must include with your submission. In your synopsis. And any other place they rear their very pretty little heads. Italics are being used more and more these days and lots of writers see how convenient and easy they make writing fiction. But those in the know see this as indication that the author hasn’t master important techniques like point-of-view, transitions, and dialogue tags. The best (and busiest!) agents and publishers recognize it as such and might be tempted to reject rather than spend valuable time grooming an author for the big time.
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson is an award-winning author of both fiction and nonfiction, a former publicist for a New York PR firm and was an instructor for the renowned UCLA Extension Writers' Program for nearly a decade. She is an editor with years of publishing and editing experience including national magazines, newspapers, and her own poetry and fiction. Her multi award-winning The Frugal Book Promoter is in its third edition from Modern History Press (https://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII) and won USA Book News' best professional book award and the Irwin Award. The Frugal Editor (https://bit.ly/FrugalEditor) is top publishing book for USA Book News and Reader Views Literary Award. Her other books from Modern History Press are The Great First Impression Book Proposal: Everything You Need To Know To Sell Your Book in 30 Minutes or Less(https://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) and Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers (https://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII).
Learn more about the author and her career-boosting books at https://HowToDoItFrugally.com
Many articles about writing for children and other genres suggest knowing your characters inside and out before beginning the story. In fact, information suggests that the author build the story around the characters after they are fully developed.
While this is good advice, and many experienced authors recommend this technique, there are some authors who occasionally watch their characters unveil themselves right before their eyes.
This is such an interesting method of writing. Your character introduces himself and gradually reveals bits and pieces, and blossoms as the story moves along. Sometimes a story doesn’t begin with this intent, it just happens. This is known as the seat-of-you-pants method of writing.
You do need to be careful with this method though, you may lose track of all the bits and pieces that make up the character. So, a good way to keep track of those quirky telltale marks, expressions, behavior patterns, and physical features is to note them on a separate page or character card as they become unveiled.
You wouldn’t want your character to have brown eyes in one chapter and blue eyes in another - unless of course, it’s a science fiction or paranormal and part of the storyline.
So, is there a right or wrong answer to the question of which comes first, characters or story?
That depends on the writer.
While it may be important to know your characters, and even have a family and background established for them, even if they are not used in the story, you can also become acquainted as you go along.
As your story develops you may find out if the character is fearful in certain situations, or if he is heroic. Sometimes it’s impossible to know this about a person, let alone a character, until circumstances create the possibility of the question.
It's one’s environment and circumstances that help develop his or her characteristics, fears, hopes, and so on. The same holds true for your character.
Using an example:
How would a child who never saw a mouse before react to one? There’s no way to answer that question until it happens. So, having the story help develop the character can be a useful tool. But, again, be sure to keep track of all the new features your character unveils along the way.
This story was originally published at: Characters or Story – Which Comes First?
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