Only You Can Prevent Rejections

While perusing my RSS feed I came upon a post I’d like to share with you from Anne R. Allen’s wonderful blog. It’s title is Don’t Give Your Readers a Reason to Reject your Novel and if some of you are like me you’ll need to hear this again. We’ve all been guilty of one……

The Fourth Prometheus Edits

My editor returned the manuscript to me, and included with it was a thirteen page assessment of the work covering, characters, setting, plot, POV, and voice. It is quite thorough and at first a shot to the ego. This is the most challenging part of the writing process. Your work is laid bare and dissected.……

Critequing the Critueqe Group

While strolling through my RSS feed I came a cross this article on Killzone. “Getting pecked to death:Are critique groups worth it?” I had the joy and pleasure of being part of an excellent critique group while I was living in Connecticut. They name of the group was Pentimentos and we met every other Wednesday……

Undead Heart is Still Coming

The problem with deadlines is that once you set them you have to be ready to deal with missing them. I began writing Undead Heart almost three years ago. The plot came together quickly in my head and the characters needed little development. I finished writing the book in ten months, I figure three maybe……

The Early Bird Gets Worms

I know I have made this mistake. That novel you just wrote is itching to be a breakout success  You know if you could just get it out there it would take off in no time. Slow your roll. Nobody is itching to read a crappy book. Make sure that you aren’t giving them one. As if this……

Part 2 of POV for Writers

The folks over at the League of the IronQuill have published the second part of my three part series on Point of View for writers. Give it a look here.

Point of View for Writers

I recently gave a talk at the West Valley Writers’ Workshop on the elements of point of view. To go along with that I wrote a three part article for The League of the Iron Quill. You can read the first part here. http://www.ironquill.net/point-of-view-for-writers-part-i/

Put your ego aside, and hire a professional editor: A sci-fi specific example | Novel Publicity

I came across an interesting guest post on Novel Publicity & Co. from Dr. George H. Elder. The main premise is that no matter how attached to our words we may be as writers a good editor can only help. I try to always remind myself of that. Sometimes what I think is the greatest……

Italics Are Not Your Friend

I have begun to notice the over use of italics in fiction. It’s always bugged me but lately it seems to be on the rise. So I am going to say it now and you are free to disagree. New writers, if your “literary style,” involves italics as a means to show what your characters……

Editing the Undead

Writing a novel is the entertaining part. The real excitement comes when it is time to begin the editing process. And i do mean process. Never kid yourself into thinking that one time past your eyes doth an edit make. You are also kidding yourself if you think you can edit while you are creating……