Craft

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.

Loving to Laugh

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon September 29, 2011

At least once a week I'm asked if romantic comedy is currently marketable. While sometimes this category seems hot and then cold, I'd say that sharp, witty, well-executed romantic comedy can find a good home no matter what the publishing season. Note that I take the adjectives I used seriously. This is not a category that most writers can whip off with little effort. Successful writers of romantic …

Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Genre, Get Published, Tamela, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Ideas, Pitching, Romantic Comedy, Tamela, 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

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

The Wrong Point-of-View

By Karen Ballon July 27, 2011

Last week we identified Point-of-View (POV). This week, let’s consider some common POV misteps.

What's My Line?: When POV/voice doesn’t fit the character.

Here's an example. The POV character is male and a construction worker. So is the following appropriate for his POV?

Category: Craft, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Karen, Point of View, Writing Craft

Out of Their Minds: The basics of point-of-view

By Karen Ballon July 21, 2011

Ever been reading a novel, cooking along with the character, when you realize you’re not seeing things through that character’s eyes any longer? Somewhere along the way, something shifted and you’re inside a different character’s head. Jarring, huh? Probably jolted you out of the story, if only for a few seconds while you figured out what happened.

That, my friends, is what you want to avoid at …

Category: Craft, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Karen, Point of View, Writing Craft

True Words

By Karen Ballon July 6, 2011

Several months ago someone challenged me to read an article by Marilyn McEntyre entitled “Letting Words Do Their Work.” Because I respected the editor who made the recommendation, I hopped right on over the the link.

It’s not easy reading. Nor is it a “quick read.” But I’ll tell you what it is:

Powerful truth. If you're a writer, speaker, agent, reader, or simply one who loves--truly …

Category: Craft, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Karen, Writing Craft

The Care and Feeding of … WORDS!

By Karen Ballon June 29, 2011

“Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs.”
Pearl Strachan
“By words the mind is winged.”
Aristophanes
“The turn of a sentence has decided the fate of many a friendship, and, for aught that we know, the fate of many a kingdom.”
Jeremy Bentham
Amazing, isn’t it? Something so small as words can have such huge impact.

The right word in any circumstance can bring …

Category: Craft, Creativity, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Creativity, Get Published, Karen, words, Writing Craft