Are These Filter Words Weakening Your Fiction? by Suzannah Windsor Freeman

“Are These Filter Words Weakening Your Fiction?” is a useful article on words to eliminate to make your fiction stronger. Well, ok, to make *my* fiction stronger.

Comparative and Competitive Book Analysis, by Catherine Fowler

From: Presentation at Write On The River, Wenatchee, Washington, on May 16, 2009 It is critical that writers understand how their books stack up against the competition in the marketplace. Any good agent will perform a cursory market analysis before presenting a new book to a publisher. In actuality, the writer should do this in advance. It gives: the writer confidence that his/her product will compete well in the market for which… Read More

How Outlining Can Bring Out Voice, by Gabriela Lessa

From:  https://janefriedman.com/2015/08/24/how-outlining-can-bring-out-voice “I got some rejections where the agents said they liked the premise but it lacked voice. How do I fix voice?” As a freelance editor, I hear this question a lot from my clients. It’s something that seems to baffle authors. What exactly is voice? How do you see if your character has a voice? How do you fix it? The whole “it’s a subjective business” thing can be frustrating… Read More

Story Porn, by John Voorhaus

  From: http://writerunboxed.com/2015/09/24/story-porn I’m in the outline/development stage of writing my next novel, a mystery/thriller called Stella Blue, and as I do with every major new writing project I take on, I have lately asked myself, “What do I want to learn this time?” It has become clear to me that my writing gets better, faster and is more fun (well, scary fun) when I’m out on the face of the wave between… Read More

How To Write Children’s Picture Books, by Tara Lazar

From:  http://writetodone.com/six-best-tips-writing-childrens-picture-books “Anyone can write a children’s book!” Yep, that’s the response I get when I tell people I write for kids. “After all, they’re just kids,” they say with a flick of the wrist. As if kids are simpletons. As if kids don’t care what they read. As if kidlit publishers will buy any drivel. We know this is not true. Kids are smart, and picky about what they read. Publishers… Read More

The Second Draft, by Molly Best Tinsley

From:  http://writerunboxed.com/2015/08/13/the-second-draft In ancient times, when I was trying to leap the genre divide between short fiction and the novel, an editor turned down my first, full-length effort with this explanation: “You have a lot of activity in these pages, but I’m not discerning the action.” As a plot-challenged, right-brain lover of language and quirky characters, it’s taken me years to wrap my mind around the difference. What my early novel lacked… Read More

Story Glue, by Anna Elliott via WriterUnboxed

I found this article interesting, and thought the rest of the Wordherders might too. In Story Glue, Anna Elliott discusses what makes her pick up a book in her limited reading time.

Mystery Story Structure, by Maureen McQuerry, based on Hallie Ephron

MYSTERY STRUCTURE — HALLIE EPHRON  ACT I ACT II ACT III Introduction of the crime (mystery) and the sleuth Direct the investigation toward a conclusion which later proves to be erroneous.Change of focus and scope of the investigation. This is the pivotal point in the story where it become evident that the sleuth was on the wrong track. Something unexpected occurs, such as the appearance of a second body, the death of… Read More

Plotting the Mystery Novel, from ticket2write

From: http://ticket2write.tripod.com/id28.html The classic mystery is popular fiction which follows a specific formula. Clever writers may try to change the formula, but the most clever will cling to it for a very good reason. They work within the bounds of the formula because it works! The following outline serves the modern mystery novel, as defined by editors and publishers. A typical story will contain 60,000 to 65,000 words (205 manuscript pages) and… Read More

5 Questions You Must Immediately Ask Yourself Upon Finishing Your First Draft, by Voyage Media

From: http://voyagemedia.com/so-you-finished-your-scriptnow-what You’ve finished your script!   Now what? Well, give yourself a pat on the back and take a moment to appreciate your labor of love… Now roll up your sleeves and make a fresh pot of coffee because it’s time to get back to work! The first thing you should do immediately upon finishing your first draft is think about your next draft, and that means asking yourself some tough yet necessary… Read More