Category Archives: Revision and Editing
Opening Scenes: 3 Critical Elements
One of the most common questions I get as an editor is, “Am I starting my novel in the right place?” Let’s discuss how you can craft an opening that subtly shows you are, in fact, starting in the right … Continue reading
10 Steps To Revise Your Nano Novel
by Lucy V Hay So, you did Nanowrimo and you made it to 50K! Congratulations, but you still have work to do. That’s right, now you need to revise … But where to start?? If you are feeling overwhelmed, then … Continue reading
What You Can Learn from Rhetorical Questions in Your Manuscript
It is such an easy thing to do. Once you become aware of author intrusion and what that looks like in limited third person, first person, or deep POV, the easy workaround becomes a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is used to … Continue reading
Yesterday: Looking Back at the First Act
“Yesterday.” A beautiful, beautiful song that easily applies to our writing process. Confused? Go with me for a minute. It doesn’t matter if we’re a pantser, a plotter, a plotser, a puzzler, or some other mash-up of a writing process … Continue reading
How To Avoid A Half-Baked Idea
Half-baked ideas are everywhere in the spec pile. But what does ‘half-baked’ mean? After all, whether a script reader, agent’s assistant or intern LIKES the idea behind a story is another matter. Let’s look to the dictionary to agree on … Continue reading
Character Introductions: Making the Right Impression
Many aspects of writing can be hard to get right, especially in our first draft. For just two examples: With our story beginning, we might struggle to find a good balance between a throat-clearing boring scene (before getting to the … Continue reading
This Happened…and Then This Happened: The Dangers of Anecdotal Writing
Does your story suffer from anecdotal writing? It’s an important question, because that’s what happens when we write this way: our stories suffer. Michelle Barker is here to explain what anecdotal writing is, how to identify it, and ways to … Continue reading