If you're a novice writer, you are likely struggling with SHOW vs. TELL. Even with thousands of examples on the internet, implementing the rule within your own writing is often frustrating. If you plan to submit your writing to literary agents or publishers, or...
I edit nonfiction and spend too much time and energy trying to find better ways to say the same thing in a way that matches the author’s style, but fiction writers aren’t off the hook. This is my personal list of words/phrases that hit me hard when I find them.
In many historical novels, the setting is so alive and present it feels like another character in the book, and when readers see it that way, it’s a huge compliment to the author. I think we’ve all read a book in which the setting is as important as character, maybe...
In today’s digital age, much of the content you produce in Microsoft Word will be replicated beyond paper. Dissertations and theses are often published online. Authors of books, whether fiction or nonfiction, are choosing to self-publish, and that means making and...
You’re going too fast Every author needs an editor, but authors need to know how to edit themselves too. Carefully evaluate what you’ve written and then go back to improve it. Are you saying everything you have to say? Is your argument clear? Are your characters...
I read a lot, but it's mostly just for entertainment. It's not often that I tell myself, "Damn, I wish I could write like that!" and start studying someone else's work for pointers. In this essay, I'm going to tell you about someone whose work hit me that way,...
Novels that most of us read while in school probably opened very differently than successful novels of today. In the past, an author was allowed the luxury of giving the reader details right away about the main character's past, sometimes even going back to their...
I'm in a book store perusing the aisles when I run across a novel that takes place during a time period not well-known to me. I slip the novel from the shelf, read the back cover, and realize I've discovered another piece of historical fiction I'm going to buy and...
Writing one novel is hard enough. But how about 50, 100, even 500—all of them published, and with more to come? We asked six super-prolific writers for their secret and were unsurprised to learn that there is none. It’s all about work and passion. A calling? A...
How do you write a love story that sweeps people away? Here’s a start: make sure your leads don’t fall in love at first sight (or, if vampires are your thing, “first bite”). While I worked at Random House’s Ballantine Bantam Dell imprint, I read hundreds of romance...
A friend of mine who writes nonfiction once asked me what I thought was the difference between fiction and nonfiction writing: "Nonfiction is what's true, right?" I gave my friend an easy answer, that nonfiction is factual text or opinions and that fiction is stories,...
The literary definition of fiction Fiction is a narrative told in prose form about events not true to life. Many books include disclaimers that the work is made up solely by the author's imagination, and any similarities the tale bears to real events are coincidences....