I’ve had several occasions now where I’m talking to an author, and they mention how frustrating it is that this publisher has the rights to their book and, for one reason or another, the publisher refused to give the rights back when the author asked for it. I promptly ask the first question that comes to my mind: “So, do you think you’ll exercise your termination right when the time comes?”
Some writers enjoy the process of rereading and combing through each word, looking for ways to strengthen sentences, remove extraneous detail, sharpen plot and develop characters. But for many it’s pure torture. Editing can feel like it lacks the punch and excitement of the initial writing, too analytical and uncreative.
On one of my recent weekly Wednesday live chats (on the 7 keys to author success), a writer asked me how I juggle working on my fiction while working full time. As you may know,...
I participated in Pitch Madness last year on twitter and while preparing I realized I had no idea what genre my book was. Before you begin they give you a list of what genre to put at the end of your tweet so that agents and editors can see if they would even represent your book. There were so many to choose from so I did some research on each of them.
I’ve always been one of those people that learns the hard way, by doing. I’m also one of those people that says “I can do it myself”. This is what led me to my most recent pitfall.
For all those who have interacted with small humans in the kinder-to-third grade arena, you might be familiar with Flat Stanley (also known in some cases as Flat Lizzy). For those who haven’t had the joy of meeting this illustrious character, a quick introduction.
How many times have we read a book, or a short story, or a terrific blog post and thought to ourselves, “man, this is great. I wish I’d written it.” I do that all the time.
A writer I know recently asked for song ideas to build her writing playlist—the music she’d play while she worked on her latest WIP, a fantasy adventure tale. She wanted songs that would speak to the acts of the book—her heroine on a mission, in trouble, fighting her way out, and resolving her issues. I thought of “I Need a Hero,” sung by Bonnie Tyler, who asks for a street-wise Hercules.
DIY memoir is a memoir based on crafts. These memoirs are either historical — the author looks back and says, wow, there is a pattern here; I can construct a book around that pattern — OR the writer picks up a craft on purpose and as she creates each item — the cupcake, the sweater, each recipe in the cook book — she uses those projects as triggers and organizing memes for each chapter in her memoir.
Please welcome author and book coach in training Carol Malone. Today she’s sharing her article regarding personal book coaching verses writer education found on the web. Enjoy! *** I’ve been doing a lot of editing lately,...
When you sit down to create a novel, graphic novel, screenplay, or any other piece of writing, chances are you have a purpose in mind—an idea to get across, or just characters and a story to share with the world.
Each chapter will be an essay by a different author on what they’ve learned through inspiration to write fiction, through applying the universal truths of their lives to fiction, and other gnosis learned through the process of writing. Wherever this wisdom comes from, it all qualifies as long as it occurred in the author’s mind due to writing fiction.
Hello everyone, It’s that time of the year again: It’s time to ENTER THE LITERARY CONTESTS AT THE SAN MATEO COUNTY FAIR! There are various categories for different types of writing: publisher’s choice novel,...
Welcome to our guest columnist, David Strom. An author who puts funny into his superhero stories, as he shares with us “Writing What I Am Not.” Enjoy! *** Dirty Harry said, “A man’s got...
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Creativity Coach for Writers, NLP Master Practitioner, and Master Teacher, Beth Barany has been there and knows how hard it can be to take your idea and turn it into a real book, that people will actually be interested, and even yearning, to read.
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