From Rick: Before I get into this week’s post, I want to note that I updated last week’s post regarding the uses of “anytime/any time” to expand on the one-word and two-word forms. If you already read that post, you
Read moreFrom Rick: For the next three or four posts, I’m going to dive into some interesting aspects of word usage confusion (with a little grammar thrown in). Writers need to put their best foot forward in terms of understanding and
Read moreFrom Rick: In Part 2, I talked about two ways in which writers may overwrite: —unnecessary use of characters’ names —repeated words and phrases In this last part I’ll finish up this series by talking about three other ways writers
Read moreFrom Rick: Last time, I pointed out several ways in which writers overwrite their stories and novels: —unnecessary dialogue tags —wordiness in general —unnecessary repetition of information To that list I want to add: —unnecessary use of characters’ names —repeated
Read moreFrom Rick: Mark Twain’s essay “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” is famous both for its typical Twain humor and for Twain’s rules for good writing. I’ve mentioned this essay before. You can do a Google search for it, or you can
Read moreFrom Rick: This week I promised no rants. So, no rants. No promises about next week though. We’ve all heard a line on TV or in a movie, or we’ve read one in a book that makes us think “That’s
Read moreFrom Rick: I’m sure our blog readers will at once notice that the blog looks a lot different. I had to do an update to the software on the site and the old template I had used for many years
Read moreFrom Rick: This week’s post is going to be relatively short because it’s designed to make you think about your story, ask questions about it, and to help you analyze it for effectiveness. Keep in mind that because each story
Read moreFrom Rick: In Part One (link below for your convenience), I talked about some of the wrong thinking indie authors made in the beginning of the new wave of self-publishing that some have called the “self-publishing revolution.” INDIE PUBLISHING: ARE
Read moreFrom Rick: One of the joys of being an editor is that I often get to read some great books and stories sometimes before anyone else has seen them. It’s even more exciting when I get to read work from
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