Karen Ball

Beautiful Words…100 of Them!

By Karen Ballon November 9, 2011

As someone who has studied other languages (French, Spanish, and Russian), I love the physicality of words. When you speak either French or Russian, your whole lower face gets a workout. It’s as though you’re tasting the words as well as speaking them.

Happily, English has words like that as well. Consider the following:

• impecunious

• circuitous

• mellifluous

• exsanguinate

• ebullient

• flummery

Words like these are not only fun to use, they’re fun to say. The feel of some even reflect their meaning. Impecunious has a tight, stingy feel to it. Mellifluous rolls off the tongue. Flummery feels a bit foolish as it escapes you.

I was trolling the internet, just looking for articles on felicitous (there’s another one!) words, and came across a delightful site: The 100 Most Beautiful Words in the English Language.

Writers, Readers, Word Lovers, do yourselves a favor and check it out! I had a blast just trying to pronounce some of them. And I thought there were several that should have been on the list.

How about you? I’ll share my words after some of you share yours.

What Makes a Christian Book “Christian”? (Part Three)

By Karen Ballon October 5, 2011

So, there I were, surrounded by publishing professionals, faced with the question of whether or not we liked--or respected--our end consumer: the reader.

Publishing folk are a freaky bunch. They love to think and debate and share ideas and dissect and explore. Get a whole room of editors going and nothing is sacred. At the same time, everything is. At their core, publishing professionals …

Category: Book Business, Get Published, Karen, Theology, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Ideas, Karen, Theology, Trends, Writing Craft

What Makes a Christian Book “Christian”? (Part Two)

By Karen Ballon September 28, 2011

So what are some of the answers I’ve been given to the question "What makes a Christian book Christian"? Consider the following:

Written from a Christian world view
Story offers hope
Core of the story shows importance of faith in Christ

Similar to the things you all wrote in your comments (though I think your responses went far deeper.) But I’ve also been peppered with the following …

Category: Book Business, Get Published, Karen, TheologyTag: Book Business, Get Published, Ideas, Karen, Theology, Trends, Writing Craft

What Makes a Christian Book “Christian”? (Part One)

By Karen Ballon September 21, 2011

I had this discussion over a year ago on my blog, but thought it would be a good discussion for all of you, too. In some ways, publishing is in a state of unbelievable flux. In others, it's utterly grounded and unshakeable. Good and bad on both sides.

But here’s what I find fascinating--and a bit worrisome. There’s a seemingless endless debate on what makes a Christian book Christian? Is it the …

Category: Karen, TheologyTag: Book Business, Ideas, Karen, Theology, Trends, Writing Craft

En-TITLE-ment: Finding the Perfect Title (Part Three)

By Karen Ballon August 31, 2011

Remember that old adage for retailers, “The customer is always right?” Well, for novelists seeking the perfect title, that should be “The audience is always right.”

Tip #4: Remember Your Audience! Novelists do a great job, on the whole, of keeping their audience in mind as they write. But sometimes when trying to come up with a catchy title or cover image, they go a bit far afield of that …

Category: Book Business, Craft, Creativity, Get Published, Karen, Marketing, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Karen, Titles

En-TITLE-ment: Finding the Perfect Title (Part Two)

By Karen Ballon August 24, 2011

First, here are the answers to last week’s questions:

Name That Tone!
The Boneman's Daughters--chilling
Redeeming Love--romantic
The Shunning--Amish
The Riddlemaster of Hed--fantastical
A Vase of Mistaken Identity--whimsical
Without a Trace--suspensful
Three Weddings & a Giggle—humourous and romantic
Name that Genre!
Kidnapped--adventure
Sister Chicks Down Under—witty women’s …

Category: Book Business, Creativity, Get Published, Karen, Marketing, Writing CraftTag: Karen, Marketing, Proposals, Titles

En-TITLE-ment: Finding the Perfect Title (Part One)

By Karen Ballon August 17, 2011

One of the most difficult—and important—things we did when I worked in the publishing house was come up with titles for our authors’ novels. Sometimes it was a breeze, either because the author’s title was spot-on or because the story lent itself organically to a certain title. But more often than not, it was a long process of back-and-forth with the author, marketing, and sales. So how can you, …

Category: Get Published, Karen, Marketing, Trends, Writing CraftTag: Book Business, Craft, Karen, Pitching, Titles, Writing Craft

Show or Tell: How Do You Know?

By Karen Ballon August 10, 2011

As we discussed last week, it’s okay to tell at times, but in fiction you want to show the important, emotion-laden scenes. That way the reader gets the vicarious experience along with the character. So how do you know when you’re telling rather than showing? Here are a few tips:

Beware the dreaded –ly adverbs.
“Get out of my novel, you –ly adverbs!” Alice said angrily.
Ah-ah-ah! Any time you …

Category: Craft, Creativity, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Karen, show don't tell, Writing Craft

Show, Don’t Tell

By Karen Ballon August 3, 2011

Tweet5

I’m From Missouri—SHOW me!

Okay, truth be told, I’m from Oregon. But in the 30 years I've been editing fiction, I've discovered a number of issues almost all writers face, regardless of how much they've written or been published. If I had to pick the top issue I see over and over, it would be Show, Don't Tell.

What, you may ask, does that mean? It's actually pretty simple. It's the …

Category: Craft, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Karen, show don't tell, Writing Craft