In Today’s Journal
* Author Intrusion: How Fiction Writers…
* I Still Have Available
* Of Interest
Author Intrusion: How Fiction Writers Kill Their Own Work
On Friday morning I finished up Author Intrusion and published it.
I also finally learned how to make Word formulate an interactive table of contents for me (instead of me enduring the laborious back-and-forth process of creating one manually). So it has that too.
Plus the finished book contains a few easter eggs that were not included in the blog posts.
Author Intrusion is available wherever ebooks are sold for $9.99. In the meantime, it’s also live on my online discount store for a dollar less.
If I’m able to publish it in paper also, the paper edition will cost at least $5 more.
Anyway, please do me a favor and tell your writer friends. Here’s the sales copy:
Forewarned is forearmed, right?
After telling a good story in the first place, your number one job as a fiction writer is to not sabotage your own work.
Yet many fiction writers lay a minefield that sabotages their own work without even realizing it.
This prolific, professional fiction writer will point out many of those mines and teach you how get rid of them.
Author Intrusion: How Fiction Writers Kill Their Own Work is replete with examples.
In the ten generous chapters the author discusses
- The Physical and Emotional Sense Verbs
- The Problem with Faux Writing Instructors
- Misplaced Modifiers
- Human Parts Do Not Have Human Traits
- Abusing Dialogue Tags & Narrative Beats
- Throw-Away Verbs & Phrases
- How to Avoid Beating the Reader Over the Head
- How to Get the Details Right
- Cycling vs. Editing
- Final Notes
This is a must-have book for any writer who is dedicated to the craft of fiction and who would rather not be a purveyor of the soup sandwich.
I Still Have Available
In case anyone wants them, I still have available examples of
- my annual production spreadsheet (with explanatory text)
- Blackwell Ops 10: Chapters 1 & 2 (shows timestamps, sample VaporStream message, etc.)
- notes on manuscript formatting
- a sample novel template (if you get this, click Save As, save it with a new filename, then add your own text. Formatted for ebook publication)
Also, there are several
- “gifts” at the Journal website, and
- a series of essays On Writing Fiction
Finally, visit this page at StoneThread Publishing and scroll down to “The books listed below this line are FREE.” Click any cover below that line and a PDF will automatically download.
Back tomorrow with the Bradbury Challenge report.
Of Interest
Escape from 2026 Time Travel Story Bundle This is a great value. For $30, you get several books and also the How to Write Time Travel classic workshop (a $150 value). (I recommend ignoring the political bent of the sales copy.)
How to Choose a Pen Name (with Generator + Tips)
Dr. Mardy’s Quotes of the Week: Incompetence