Use Action Beats with Dialogue
An action beat is a sentence that follows a line of dialogue, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. The speaking character does something before or after their line of dialogue.
Further or Farther?
When should you use FURTHER and when should you use FARTHER?
Studying Writer’s Craft: An Interview with Den Streeff
Learning about writer’s craft takes time and a great deal of effort. You have to find solid resources, study them, and practice what you’ve learned. Then try to synthesize that new knowledge in your own manuscript. So many authors feel pressure to publish quickly, so even if they want to learn more about writer’s craft, they end up skimping on their education.
I interviewed Den Streef to find out what motivates him to invest in writer’s craft study.
5 Ways to Edit a Comma Splice
Comma splices sound much trickier than they are. Basically, if you’ve written a common splice, you’ve tried to connect, or splice, two independent sentences with a comma in an incorrect way.
Early Readers Provide Critical Feedback
Most writers are aware they need to enlist the help of early readers to get critical feedback for their books, but it can be confusing to know what kind of reader you need and when you need them.
To be clear, having people read your manuscript before you publish it is an excellent idea. Not only will you receive valuable feedback, you’ll build your capacity to be vulnerable when you share your work.
Let’s dive into the different types of early readers you may need, when to utilize them, and the best strategies for ensuring the feedback you receive will be helpful.
Numbers in Books
The “rules” about how to style numbers still trip up veteran writers (and editors). There are a lot of rules, and numbers is one of the topics that style guides often have very different ways of handling, which adds to the confusion.
In the US book-publishing world, we use the Chicago Manual of Style to determine how to treat numbers in text, whether fiction or nonfiction.
Self-Edit: Trim Unnecessary Words
Tighten your writing by trimming unnecessary words and let your verbs do the heavy lifting.
Filter Words Manipulate POV
Writers can use filter words to manipulate point of view.
Filter words “tell” readers what a character is experiencing, often via their senses.
Optional Commas
Commas seem to be one of the greatest stressors for writers, including my clients. It makes sense–the comma is the most versatile punctuation mark and is used in so many different ways.
Adding to the confusion: there are instances where you–yes, you the author–get to decide whether or not to include a comma.
Said Is the Best Dialogue Tag
If a writer sticks to speaking words (said, asked) for their dialogue tags, then the tags will fade into the background for the reader, keeping their attention on the good stuff, the actual dialogue.