Have you ever picked up a writing how to book and followed the tips only to find they don’t work? Before you go blaming the author for giving you worthless advice, think about this… Think about something besides writing that you wanted to learn. Drive a car, learn to ski, play the guitar… Did you…
Tag: how to write
Essential Elements of Any Great Story
Want to write a great story every time you sit down to write? Read on… Last weekend, I decided to clean and organize the pantry. A boring chore and I really wanted to sit and read but I decided to make the most of it. I pulled out my Ipad and clicked on the Tubi…
How to Give Your Readers An Emotional Read
In the summer retreat I’m teaching, this week, we’ve been focusing on conflict and emotion. I told everyone that while we think we read books for entertainment, that’s only half the reason. The other being emotion. A great story makes you feel an emotion, whether it be joy, anger, fear etc. One easy way to…
Wednesday Writing/Journal Prompts-Stories
For this week, I thought we’d merge the short story and journaling prompt together. Think about a story you read and enjoyed so much that it’s been a keeper in your story collection. For the short story writer, this will get you thinking about what makes a good story and what made you enjoy…
Hi Susan-Dead End Dialogue
The Hi Susan letters are filling my e-mail so let’s dive into another one. This was sent by Ashley who wrote- I had a bunch of beta readers look at my manuscript and each person had the same comment, my dialogue stinks. Is there anyway I can improve that skill? Absolutely, anything that’s your Achilles’…
Saturday Seminar-Writing With Five Senses
Welcome to the first Saturday Seminar. What’s a Saturday Seminar? It’s a post that will focus on improving your writing. One small element that can make a good story, great. This first one will focus on writing with all five senses. One of the biggest challenges for us writers, is figuring out how to transfer what’s…
The Value of the Delete Button
Here’s today’s guest blogger D.V Stone with why the delete button is a good thing… Shakespeare said in Merchant of Venice, “All that glitters is not gold.” Unfortunately, for an author, neither are all your words. Many people think editing is chasing down grammar and punctuation issues. That’s true, but editing a novel is so…
Do You Have a Plotting Problem?
I’m teaching a class on plotting a novel and while I was putting together notes for the first lesson, something dawned upon me. I shared it with the students and I thought maybe you’d like to hear it too. I always hear people say their biggest problem is plotting but I don’t think that’s always…
Hi Susan-I’m In A Catch 22 Situation-Help!
I thought I’d pick a non-fiction question this time and this one was e-mailed to me from Lee. Hi Susan, I’m trying to become a freelance writer but every time I approach a market they ask to see samples of my previous work but I don’t have any. I feel like writing is the ultimate…
Economizing Prose
Say hello to today’s guest blogger, Kathy Otten who offers tips on cutting out extra baggage in our writing… In the same way a driver economizes their gas mileage by condensing trips and monitoring driving habits, as writers we need to do the same with the words we choose to put on paper. During that…