Editing

How to Cut Your Word Count

by Sabine Berlin The dreaded word cut! We’ve all been there and are with you in spirit! For starters, if you need to know the standard, accepted word counts of your genre, here’s a great article on the topic (pretty critical to getting picked up in traditional...

Conscious Language: Writing with Respect and Compassion

Guest post by Crystal Shelley Writers have many factors to keep in mind when trying to decide what words to put down on paper or type on a keyboard, such as their audience, message, and intent. Another important element to consider is how their language can affect...

Writing a Screenplay? Five Tools to Get Started on Your Blockbuster

by Julia King with screenplay editor Amy Jones Captivating entertainment begins with a great story, and a great story starts with a great script. Are you inspired to develop an idea for a movie or turn your novel or short story into a movie script or play but don’t...
Outlining versus “Pantsing”

Outlining versus “Pantsing”

by Lindsay Flanagan To outline or not to outline…that is the (much-debated) question. As a writer you may feel like you’re on team outliner (or plotter) or on team “pantser.” Maybe you haven’t decided which side to join. Or maybe you’ve joined one or the other but...

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Internal Dialogue—Getting It Right

Internal Dialogue—Getting It Right

by Heidi Brockbank As editors, we’ve noticed that one of the tools new and even intermediate writers most often mishandle is internal dialogue. While internal dialogue (also called internal monologue) is a powerful tool the writer can use to help a reader make an...

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Top Three Short Story Mistakes

Top Three Short Story Mistakes

by Kristin Ammerman Bestselling authors such as Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jeff Wheeler, Cassandra Clare, Neil Gaiman, and others write novels as well as short stories. There are several reasons why novelists also write short stories. Sense of...

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The Most Common Advice May Be the Worst

The Most Common Advice May Be the Worst

  by Angela Eschler Next to “Write what you know,” the most common piece of advice I hear at conferences is “Just write every day.” I always cringe a little when I hear that. Not because it’s not good advice. It is. But because it’s not the best advice for a...

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The Most Common Advice May Be the Worst

The Most Common Advice May Be the Worst

  by Angela Eschler Next to “Write what you know,” the most common piece of advice I hear at conferences is “Just write every day.” I always cringe a little when I hear that. Not because it’s not good advice. It is. But because it’s not the best advice for a...

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Three Tips for Self-Editing Your Prose

Three Tips for Self-Editing Your Prose

by Emilee Newman Bowles Congratulations! You've written your true story or breathed life into characters who once existed only in your imagination—now what? Whether you’ve got fiction or nonfiction under your belt, now it’s time to take a look at your sentences, to...

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Avoiding Narrator Intrusion

Avoiding Narrator Intrusion

by Emilee Newman Bowles Hello, “dear reader” As a young English Lit  student, I laughed to myself when a story addressed the reader like this. It used to be common to tell the “dear reader” the moral of the story. These days it’s passé. Even if you know you should...

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Boost your confidence with our free author tools.
Feeling overwhelmed or unsure about your book project?
PHEW!