Questions about manuscript formatting pop up frequently in online discussion groups for writers. Sometimes you’ll get great help asking virtual strangers, but just as often the advice you receive will conflict, not apply to your particular situation, or be just plain wrong. (And how many novels could we write with all the time used on online forums to “debate” whether there should be one or two spaces after a period?) This post was inspired by an online discussion where one … Read More »

If I were to ask you to describe a writer, what would your response be? If someone posed that question to me, initially I’d describe someone hard at work at a desk, typing, staring into a computer screen, or balling up wads of paper and tossing them into a wastebasket (perhaps as they tear at their hair in frustration). All of those images are clear in my mind, but I also do a good share of writing away from my … Read More »

The first ideas drafted for my middle-grade novel were done via pencil and lined tablet. Once I settled in front of my computer, I entered a delusional state where I believed the document on my screen would be the only one I’d need to worry about for the rest of this story’s creation. In my college creative writing classes, my professors spoke of creating character profiles along with other notable, vital story timelines and elements. I thought it a tedious … Read More »

We can probably all agree that time slows down painfully when someone is reading our writing in draft. And we’re particularly anxious about what our first reader will say about a first draft, yes? When you decide your work is ready to be read for the first time, who do you ask for feedback? A spouse? A friend? Another writer? Your writers group? Recently I came across an article from Poets & Writers that I’ve kept for a long time. Kevin Nance interviewed novelists … Read More »

It’s one thing to kill your darlings, but have you ever wondered how renowned authors get away with murder? That is, not the CSI: Miami kind but killing their sentences with poor proofing skills. One bestselling novel identifies “Chapter Fourty” and has Orlando east of Daytona Beach. The author got into deep water for that geographic goof. Common mistakes are innumerable. Use “it’s” only as a contraction of “it is.” “Who is” contracts to “who’s” and whose denotes ownership. And … Read More »