Constructed Languages like Elvish and Klingon are a vital part of much speculative fiction. But you needn’t be a linguist like Tolkein or Okrand to incorporate distinct fictional languages into your storyworld. You can use what we know about real-world languages to give the impression your characters are speaking different languages, even if your whole …
Category: Writing
How to Go Deeper into Characters’ Emotions
One of the most frequent comments editors make on new writers’ manuscripts is to go deeper into characters’ emotions. Readers come to narrative stories for an emotional experience. So authors, both of fiction and of narrative nonfiction, need to go beyond telling the reader how a character feels. The goal is to make the reader …
Tampa: How to Edit Your Novel Systematically
UPDATE: We had a great time at the Tampa workshop. If you were unable to make that event, I’ll be teaching the same workshop again in Orlando June 16. A Method for Revising Your Book Like a Pro Tampa: April 14, 2018, at 1901 S. Village Avenue, Tampa FL 33612 Writers know that great writing requires rewriting, …
2 Seminars: How to Edit Your Novel Systematically
A Method for Revising Your Book Like a Pro Tampa: April 14, 2018, at 1901 S. Village Avenue, Tampa FL 33612 Orlando: June 16, 2018, at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church, 1655 Peel Ave, Orlando 32806 (Hosted by the Central Florida chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers) Writers know that great writing requires rewriting, editing, and polishing a manuscript to …
Dictionaries Don’t Know Everything
One duty of a copyeditor is to check spelling, including whether a term should be solid, hyphenated, or open. Some terms are open, that is, they are written as two words, e.g., living room. If you search for livingroom (closed) at Merriam-Webster, you’ll be redirected to the page for living room (open).
Q&A: 3 Reasons to Attend Writers Conferences
Q: I’m working on a book, but it’s not finished yet. Should I attend a writers conference anyway, or should I wait until my book is finished and I’m ready to pitch agents and editors? A: Don’t wait. There are many benefits to attending writers conferences beyond pitching. Classes Writing conferences offer great teaching on …
Q&A: What’s the deal with spaces after a period?
Q: I saw a post online that said only people over the age of forty put two spaces after a period. But I’m under thirty, and my college professors said to use two. I’m confused. Which is correct? A: Both are correct in different circumstances. As with so much else that publishing professionals get needlessly …
The Prophet’s Chronicle Storyworld
One of the things fiction allows us to do is examine hypothetical situations that don’t exist in the real world. A novel is a large-scale thought experiment. This is true of any fiction, but doubly true in speculative fiction. The whole point of science fiction and fantasy is to explore worlds that don’t actually exist. …
Q&A: Do I Need Italics for Flashbacks?
Q: I used italics in a scene with a flashback, but my critique partner said I should never use italics. Here’s the part I put in italics: He sat in the cold hospital waiting room, feeling numb. This was just like when Mom died. We did all we could, the doctor had said. I thought …
Identifying the Passive Voice
I’ve written before about When Passive Voice is Permissible. Strunk and White admit that “Use the active voice … does not, of course, mean that the writer should entirely discard the passive voice, which is frequently convenient and sometimes necessary.” But one of the biggest problems writers face in critique groups is the problem …