How to tell a good story

I’m taking a blogging break this week, but here’s a little something: Ira Glass of the radio show This American Life discusses the elements of storytelling in this series of videos from Public Radio International. Glass is speaking of nonfiction, particularly short nonfiction for broadcast. But the principles apply in …

How to format different kinds of quotations

When you’re incorporating quotations in a nonfiction work, there are two ways to do it. Short quotations can be placed inline, in which case you use quotation marks. Longer quotations should be placed in a block format, in which case you don’t need the marks. For example, a short quotation …

Q&A: What to make of those -ic and -ical suffixes

Hi, Kristen— What about the usage of terms such as: Historic vs historical Geologic vs geological Biologic vs biological etc.? Thanks, —John Great question, John! Odd pair of suffixes, those, and between them they form a mountain of adjectives that may or may not differ in meaning.

When to use single or double quotation marks

Considering that the rules for quotation marks are relatively simple (I mean, compared to something really complicated like the comma), it’s surprising how often we see errors with them. In dialog, stuff that’s said aloud goes in quotation marks. “I can’t believe she said that.” (Stuff that’s not said aloud …

Fiction Q&A: Using italics for character thoughts

Hey Kristen — Sorry to pester you, but I didn’t know who else to ask. I was going over a critique someone gave me, and they mentioned that top editors teach to never use italics, even with internal thought. Some say never to use italics at all. Here’s my concern. …

The ‘rules’ about exclamation points

Much advice about the use of exclamation points in fiction comes in the guise of “rules.” I’ve heard several: Never use exclamation points. You may use one exclamation point per book. Only use an exclamation point if the character is shouting. By now you know me well enough to know …

New marketing podcast for novelists

My Rating: ★★★★★ Thomas Umstattd of Author Media teamed up with author James L Rubart, owner of Barefoot Marketing, to produce a great new podcast: Novel Marketing. Within the first hour or so of walking into any writers conference, you’ll hear someone complain about marketing. People bemoan the loss of …

How to write a book if you’re not a writer

Many people feel they ought to write a book, or they’re told by other people they ought to write a book, but when they sit down to write…nothing. Writing is often called a craft, and it is something most people learn to do competently. I find that businesspeople, especially, are …

Use Excel spreadsheets to organize writing projects

Novelists are often advised to keep a story timeline, especially for complicated plots. But if your plot gets too complex, or you have multiple storylines going on, you may need more than a linear list in Word or on a notepad. I started creating my timelines in Excel years ago, …