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The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Page 13

Writing Craft

So You Finished Your Novel Before Deadline

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon October 15, 2015
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Are you one of those fabulous writers who finishes your books well before deadline? Are there weeks, maybe even months, left before you’re supposed to turn in the novel? Or maybe you’re just talking a week or two. That’s still great. Celebrate!

Should you send your novel to the editor today?

No.

At least, there probably isn’t anything to be gained by turning in your novel early. Most publishers won’t pay authors promptly for an early turn-in. That’s because in most cases, they have to approve your work before they’ll release the paperwork for the check to be cut.

Editors have a schedule. They might be appreciative of the fact that you are conscientious and finish your work early. Turning it in well before expected might earn you some brownie points. But that’s about it. Most editors I know already have their reading scheduled, and have their editors under them scheduled. Everyone is busy reading books that are in process now. The editor is unlikely to stop and read your book to give manuscript approval now to cut your check today. Sorry.

So since you won’t be paid early, why send your work right now when you can use your time wisely? Here’s what I recommend:

  • Let it mellow. Wait a few days or weeks. Forget the manuscript. Go do something else.
  • A couple weeks before it’s due, come back to it.
  • Read it aloud. Yes, that’s right. Read it aloud. I used to do this with my manuscripts. Sometimes I congratulated myself on my brilliance. (Ha!) At other times, I couldn’t believe how cheesy my characters sounded. I was able to eliminate a lot of cheese before the editor saw it. I recommend reading your manuscript aloud to yourself if at all possible before you send it to an editor.

That’s it! Now you have something to do with all that extra time. That, and go out to dinner to celebrate a job done well done, and early.

Your turn:

Do you read your manuscripts aloud? If so, how has this helped you?

How much time do you usually have between the time you finish a manuscript and the time you need to turn it in?

 

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Category: Editing, Writing CraftTag: Deadline, Editing, Writing Craft

Doing Dialect Well

By Karen Ballon August 19, 2015
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“Aym t’inkin’ ye tol’ me, didna ya, dat dere be tips ‘n’ tricks ta doin’ de dialect da wey ye shud in buks?” Just in case you haven’t figured it out, here’s the translation of this bit of brutal brogue: “I’m thinking you told me, didn’t you, that there are tips and tricks to doing dialect the way you should in books?” There are, indeed. And the first line of this blog is the perfect example of …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, dialect, Writing Craft

Speaking of Dialect—Yea or Nay?

By Karen Ballon August 12, 2015
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I’ve had a number of people ask me lately about dialect in fiction. Next week we’ll talk about how to do dialect well, but for today, since I’m at the Oregon Christian Writers’ conference in Portland, Oregon, sitting in a hotel room with my roomie and buddy, Susan May Warren, writer par excellence and the mastermind behind My Book Therapy (pause to take a breath) I figured this was the perfect …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, dialect, Writing Craft

Name Brands in Fiction

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon July 30, 2015
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So, you’re driving down the road, and you see a Ford F-350 with Monster wheels and an NRA bumper sticker. And you see a Toyota Prius with a Go Green bumper sticker. You know these are two different personalities driving the vehicles, right? You probably have formed an image already. I would guess you even think the driver of the truck is a male and the Toyota is a female. Or you might see a …

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Category: Copyright, Craft, Legal Issues, Writing CraftTag: Copyright, Craft, Legal, Writing Craft

Nuance: A Key to Real-Life Characters

By Karen Ballon June 24, 2015
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I love watching movies and TV. Love being transported by the stories and entertained by the characters. Lately, I’ve been keying in on something, though, that is helping me with building characters in my fiction. Nuance. It’s defined by good ol’ Webster’s as “a subtle or small distinction,” but I’m finding that it could be defined as “the difference between real-life and stereotypical characters.” …

Read moreNuance: A Key to Real-Life Characters
Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Characters, Craft, Writing Craft

Why We Must Be Forthright

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 18, 2015
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 I’ve heard more than one writer say, “I’m sneaking Christianity into a book for the general market!” Wanting to reach the unsaved is a wonderful mission, but in my opinion, sneaking (and I’m not kidding when I say authors actually use this verb) Christianity into books isn’t the way to do it. Why not? Well, for one, that’s not the example Christ set. …

Read moreWhy We Must Be Forthright
Category: Branding, Craft, Creativity, Marketing, Trends, Writing CraftTag: Christian, Craft, Writing Craft

Eyes Open, Antennae Up

By Dan Balowon June 16, 2015
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I can find humor anywhere. It’s a gift…or a curse. I waver on that regularly. About 35 years ago I was in a small grocery store across from our apartment to pick up a few things we needed. We didn’t have much storage space so we went to the store multiple times each week for few things each time, usually diapers and baby formula. To this day, I can still see the well-dressed middle age woman in …

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Category: Craft, CreativityTag: Creativity, Humor, Writing Craft

What’s in a Name?

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon June 11, 2015
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Look at this list of names: Mary Maxwell Julius Cromwell Hector Williams Lucinda Smith Do they mean anything to you? Probably not, unless you happen to have some random connection to them such as you happen to have an aunt named Lucinda. Truth is, they don’t mean anything to me, either. I just made them up. (With apologies to the many people named Mary Maxwell, et al on Facebook.) But what …

Read moreWhat’s in a Name?
Category: Craft, Creativity, Writing CraftTag: Character Names, Craft, Writing Craft

Wordsmith Tools

By Karen Ballon May 27, 2015
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Thanks so much for all the great comments last week. I had such fun reading your thoughts and your must-edit words. It’s always so comforting to know we’re not alone in our struggles, isn’t it? So, now that we’ve confessed together, let’s take a look at some tools that can not only help you in the area of unique and effective word choices, but can actually increase your ability to portray …

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Category: Craft, Writing CraftTag: Craft, Resources, Writing Craft

Wordsmiths of the World, Unite!

By Karen Ballon May 20, 2015
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Did you know you’re a wordsmith? If you’re a writer, you are. A wordsmith is defined by Webster’s as a “craftsman or artist whose medium is words.” That, my friends, is you. Which is why I’m coming to you today and asking you to have mercy on your readers. (Yes, I’m making this same request of myself as a writer.) Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, let’s be done with empty words in our …

Read moreWordsmiths of the World, Unite!
Category: Craft, Editing, Grammar, Writing CraftTag: words, Writing Craft
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