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As you self-edit, what kinds of things do you start with? Today’s tips show you a quick and easy way to edit your writing. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some editing tips to help you improve your writing: Start Big Novice writers often edit by agonizing over word choices. That’s fine, but not the […]
In a culture that has promoted being “nice,” remember to keep your protagonists squirming as you hold their feet to the fire. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips to keep tension building as you force protagonists to squirm: Make Goals Count If your protagonist isn’t passionate about the story goal, readers will likely […]
We’ve gone through structural, intermediate and copy editing for your fiction. Now let’s talk about Beta Readers. Writing Tip for Today: What are Beta Readers good for and how can you find them? The What Beta Readers are usually unpaid volunteers who read your manuscript and then give you feedback. Before you get to this […]
If you’re writing a novel, but you’re not an outliner, you know the scenes must all move toward a climax and resolution. Why not map your scenes to see how they advance the goal? Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips on scene mapping techniques: One Sentence As you finish a scene, write the […]
As we work on a novel-in-progress, we can lose sight of the stakes our character faces in order to achieve a goal. Writing Tip for Today: What are some ways to increase a novel’s stakes? Why it Matters Your character’s motivation for pursuing a goal (and your logic for writing it in story form) depends […]
As we get back to our projects, novelists always face the same dilemma: How much should my character “lose” in the story? Writing Tip for Today: Let’s examine some ways that making your character lose is a winning strategy. Your Alter Ego Many of us give our characters the qualities we ourselves have or wish […]
We know that stories are about conflict and tension and how characters resolve or overcome it to achieve a goal. How you write those scenes matters. Writing Tip for Today: Let’s look at how to build scenes that grow tension up to the climax scene. Start Passionately In your opening scenes, the Main Character must […]
In nonfiction, essays are one of the trickiest to master. Even if you write only fiction or poetry or memoir, knowing your theme can help you stay on track. Writing Tip for Today: Here are some tips for discovering and adhering to a theme: Only One Thing One of the first rules of essay writing […]