Don’t blame me for this one:
HT: Deborah Raney
Blog
Easily Entertained
Recently my husband, daughter, and I had dinner with my parents at King’s Barbeque in Petersburg, Virginia. My paternal grandfather discovered this restaurant in the 1950s and it is still one of our family’s favorite places. Since it was near Christmas, they displayed a unique decoration – a pig wearing a Santa hat. Amused, I took pictures with my cell phone. I heard voices. “That’s a first!” I …
Remove the Barriers in Fiction
Few things empower fiction better than well developed characters. Which is why you don’t want to create unintentional barriers between your characters and your readers. What barriers, you ask? Well, here’s one that affects POV characters: John knew he was about to learn something important. Do you see it? The barrier? No? How about here… Sally realized she wasn’t getting it at all. This barrier is …
The Isolated Writer
In general, writers do not do their best work in a group. The very nature of creative writing is a solitary pursuit, but without taking great care, can morph into a feeling of isolation. And this can occur whether an author lives in a quiet rural town or in midtown Manhattan. (The one in New York, not Kansas) So, how does an author, feeling isolated and alone stay motivated? How do they develop …
What is Your Attention Span?
I came across the study that claims the average person now has a shorter attention span than that of a goldfish. Eight seconds. This means most people tend to lose concentration in less than ten seconds. As an experiment, I read the above paragraph out loud. It took about 10 seconds to complete. That means I just lost you. At least the goldfish will swim around its bowl and come back to the same …
Should I Join a Professional Organization?
Thinking about joining a professional organization? This post is geared to the writer who has decided what type of books to write and wonders if memberships would enhance the proposal. Those who are undecided would be better served by attending a few conferences as a nonmember to discern career direction. When investigating professional organizations, I recommend asking yourself questions: Can I …
Contrived is a Four-Letter Word
Few things irritate fiction readers more than a story peopled by characters who act and react without any apparent reason for what they’re doing and saying. No reason, that is, except to illustrate the author’s message. Or prove the author’s point. Well, you say, don’t we all have a message or point in what we write? Isn’t fiction about letting our characters take the readers on a journey of …
What is Your Writing Worth?
The entire book publishing industry, both traditional and self-published, is dependent upon creating books other people will pay money for in sufficient number to make it worthwhile. Just about everything discussed on this agency blog is intended for people involved in revenue-generating publishing. Most authors can write something and give it away for free. Fewer can write something, which others …
The Extroverted Writer
Since we looked at the introverted writer last week it is only appropriate that we address the extroverted writer. Before we go further it is important to understand the intrinsic weakness of any label. People are much more complex then introvert or extrovert. At the same time such labels can help us understand each other’s inclinations and limitations. Extroverted can mean many things. …