In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * I’m Just Not a Paperback Guy * Reader Taste Dictates Genre Preference * On Grounding the Reader * A Rule of Thumb for Description * Of Interest Quote of the Day “I’m always thinking about creating. My future starts when I wake up every morning … Every day I find something creative to do with my life.” Miles Davis I’m Just Not a Paperback Guy I’ve been working at putting together a paperback version of Writing Better Fiction. Because I finally had to “nuke it” (strip all formatting and start over), … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 10: Final Notes Chapter 10: Final Notes As you read this book, you probably noticed I didn’t mention typos or wrong words (e.g., waist for waste) except in passing. But those are author intrusions too, aren’t they? Well, yes and no. If your story is intriguing enough, engaging enough, most readers will gladly skip over the occasional typo or wrong word without a second thought. Some readers won’t even notice them. Besides, both typos and wrong words are content problems. Your spell check and/or your first reader—preferably an avid reader who will not try to … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Memorial Day * The Bradbury Challenge Report * Freebies * Of Interest Memorial Day Wishing you all an enjoyable and thoughtful Memorial Day. The Bradbury Challenge Report Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer. The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories: Erin Donoho “A Letter From an Old Friend” 1300 historical coming-of-age Balázs Jámbor “AI WAR” 3400 … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 9, Part 2 * Of Interest Chapter 9: Cycling vs. Editing Same Technique, Different Processes Every writer is different, but among those who cycle, all of them perform the first kind of cycling I talked about above whenever necessary. Again, the writer is unstuck in time. But each writer performs the second kind of cycling in his or her own way: Multi-million-copy bestseller Dean Wesley Smith cycles back about every 500 words. Ernest Hemingway, at the beginning of his writing day, reportedly reportedly cycled over everything he’d written up to that point in the current … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 9, Part 1: Cycling vs. Editing Chapter 9: Cycling vs. Editing This chapter doesn’t really belong in this book. The purpose of this book is to point out mistakes, misuses, and other negative things and how to fix them. Of course, editing is based on negatives, and even an otherwise good copyedit at the hands of an amateur—if he changes the actual content of the story—will only take what you’ve written farther from your character’s original, authentic story. So in that way I guess this chapter belongs. But cycling is a positive technique, one that … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Quote of the Day * Chapter 8 * Of Interest Quote of the Day “No matter which genre of fiction you are writing, getting the facts straight can make a difference between satisfied and disappointed readers.” Ellen Buikema, Writers in the Storm (see Of Interest) Chapter 8: Getting the Details Right Authenticity matters. That’s why I advocate, for example, always calling the device that automatically feeds the cartridges into the action of a semiautomatic rifle or pistol a “magazine” instead of a “clip.” The terms magazine and clip are not interchangeable. They don’t refer to the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 6, Part 3 * Chapter 7 * Of Interest Other Misuses That Are Easy to Fix Likely: Despite its widespread misuse because it sounds cool and despite the “ly” on the end of it, “likely” is primarily an adjective, not an adverb. “Likely” is synonymous with “probable,” not “probably.” I cringe every time a weather guy says “It likely will rain tonight.” (Note: Yes, I’m aware that some dictionaries define “likely” as both an adjective and an adverb, so do what you want. But “probably” is sitting right there, so why risk annoying the reader?) … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 6, Part 2 * Of Interest Sat or Stood Sat and stood are misused almost as often as the verb “gave.” If the character’s changing her physical orientation, of course, this is no problem. If she was lying down or sitting, it’s fine to say “she stood.” If she was lying down or standing, it’s fine to say “she sat.” But don’t allow the narrator to say the character stood unless she was lying down or sitting, or that she sat unless she was lying down or standing. This error most often happens when the … Read more

In Today’s Journal * Chapter 6, Part 1 * Of Interest Throw-Away Verbs and Phrases and Other Glitches I need to preface this chapter with a reminder. In fact, this is the whole chapter compressed into a single sentence: Your personal preferences as a reader have zero bearing on what you should or shouldn’t do as a writer. I mention that because a “prolific” (2 novels per year) professional romance writer once commented publicly in a forum for writers that she “doesn’t mind passages” like “Her fingers flew to her cheeks” or “His eyes shot across the room” or “He … Read more

In Today’s Journal * The Bradbury Challenge Report * One Update on Chapter 5 * Of Interest The Bradbury Challenge Report Participating in any challenge is a great way to have fun and grow as a writer. The requirement is to write at least one short story per week, then let me know the title, word count, and genre per the format below. During the past week, the following writers wrote these new stories: Erin Donoho “A Country Respite” 800 historical sketch Balázs Jámbor “Without” 3842 Thriller Vanessa V. Kilmer “Still. Life.” 3157 fantasy Christopher Ridge “The Memory Photo” 1827 … Read more