Be sure to watch Hugh’s video on his original blog! Thanks! š
What To Do Now WordPress Have Deleted The ‘Press This’ Sharing Button
Thank you, Hugh, for informing everyone about this. I personally have never used it, I’ve only reblogged. It is good to know. It is too bad that WP didn’t inform us. Has anyone else had issues with Press This? Let me know! š
EDITING 101: 59 – Character Profiles…
Great tips as always from Adirondack Editing. Thanks, Susan and Chris! This is where I’m hitting a snag in my plotting. Hopefully, this will get me over the hump! š
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as theĀ Dun WritināāNow Whut? series on this blog,Ā EDITING 101Ā isĀ a weekly refresher seriesĀ for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing
Character Profiles
Whether youāre a plotter or aĀ pantser (101:21), Iām almost 100% certain that at some point, youāll have to keep track of your charactersā details. The plotter/pantser post also covered some practical ways that some authors make sure these details are fresh in their mindsāor, at least, quickly available.
However, before you can list these precious tidbits of information, you have to either discover them (if your story leads you) or decide on them (if you lead your story). The obvious information is focused on physical appearance: eye color, hair color, stature, body shape, etc. But sometimes authors neglect to round out their profiles with other information that can play a critical part in your story. Iām talking aboutā¦
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EDITING 101: 58 – Showing Character Emotion…
Excellent tips (as always) from Adirondack Editing! Show don’t tell! š
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as theĀ Dun WritināāNow Whut? series on this blog,Ā EDITING 101Ā isĀ a weekly refresher seriesĀ for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing
Showing Character Emotion
Leilani was frightened.
Austin looked about nervously.
Willowās face was drawn into an angry scowl.
(insert unhappy readersā dramatic sighs here)
In the classic struggle to āshowā rather than ātell,ā emotions are an easy place to fall into ātelling,ā as each of the statements above demonstrate.
How do you show your readers what your characters are feeling? In some respects, you need to become a serious student of human nature. What kinds of body language tell you when your partner is angry, when your child is lying, when your co-worker is uncertain, or when your boss is about to get demanding? A slight tic next to the eye, a hand clenching repeatedly at oneās side, an emotionless faceā¦
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EDITING 101: 56 – ‘Shoulda Woulda Coulda’…
Here is another informative article in this series from Susan and Chris. I hope you find it as helpful as I do!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as theĀ Dun WritināāNow Whut? series on this blog,Ā EDITING 101Ā isĀ a weekly refresher seriesĀ for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing
āShoulda Woulda Couldaā
These three words are sometimes used together as a phrase, implying regret: A writer should have hired an editor, would have used some beta readers, or could have spent more time on self-editing in order to dodge the poor reviews heās received.
While that shoulda-woulda-coulda phrase might be accurate for an Ape blog post on how to improve your sales or reviews, thatās not what weāre focusing on today. Weāre going to look at the actual words.
First, letās clarify the correct usage. Slang in speech has reduced this to āshould of,ā āwould of,ā and ācould ofā in writing. Thatās completely incorrect, even in dialogue, although an editor might leave āshouldaā alone in slangy dialogue. What youāre hearingā¦
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EDITING 101: 52 – Adjectives – and the Commas That Go With Themā¦
I have to admit that commas and adjectives trip me up. So, Susan is here to hold me up before I fall! I hope this helps you as much as it does me! š
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as theĀ Dun WritināāNow Whut? series on this blog,Ā EDITING 101Ā isĀ a weekly refresher seriesĀ for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing
Adjectives ā and the Commas That Go With Themā¦
So, youāre merrily typing along and your character wants to put on a blue, silk, handmade scarf. Oh, wait a minute. Is that a silk, blue, handmade scarf or a handmade, silk, blue scarf? A blue, handmade, silk scarf? Oh dear!
Aha! Super Editor to the rescue!
(Imagine me swooping over your house and flying in your window, red pen in hand!)
(Ok, now imagine me 10 pounds lighter. Another ten. Ok, thatās better.)
Adjective order in English is not completely random, although what weāre going to discuss are more along the lines of guidelines rather than rules. The exception is when youāre speaking of words of general description along with wordsā¦
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6 Ways To Practice Descriptive Writing
Wonderful post! I am now following. š So important for us newbies!
You can improve your novel with these tips
Wonderful post! Please comment, I love to hear from you. Read the entire post, great tips! š
Iām always searching for great writing tips. Believe me, I need all the help I can get.Ā
When I find a few good tips, I just have to them with yāall.
A few of the 42 listed in Melissa Donovanās post below, you may already know. But, out of her extensive list, I bet youāll find one or more that ring your creative bell.
Take a look and tell me what you think.
42 Fiction Writing Tips for Novelists byĀ Melissa Donovan
#1 is my favorite because I love to read.
#15 Iām still working on.
#22 is a tall order but Iām working to achieve.
#25 is a good reminder to stay focused.
#29 on my to-do list.
#40 important to remember.
Did any of these tips speak to you? Which ones?
Are you keeping a list of writing tips?
Do you have a favorite tip to share?
Iā¦
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EDITING 101: 47 – Dangling Modifiers…
Here’s another wonderful post for excellent grammar usage from Adirondack Editing. Susan explains things so well and this is one that has confused me. Pay special attention to the incorrect usage. You will LOL! š
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as theĀ Dun WritināāNow Whut? series on this blog,Ā EDITING 101Ā isĀ a weekly refresher seriesĀ for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing
Dangling Modifiers
In a previous article, we discussed dangling participles(EDITING 101:24). Today weāre going to discuss dangling modifiers.
If you remember, ādanglingā is another word for āmisplaced.ā A modifier is a noun or an adjective that amends or explains, adding description to another noun. So a dangling modifier is simply a word modifying a noun that is in the wrong place, thereby making the sentence ambiguous or confusing, and sometimes downright funny.
Incorrect: The woman walked the dog in purple suede cowboy boots.
Correct: The woman in purple suede cowboy boots walked the dog.
Incorrect: We saw several monkeys on vacation in Mexico.
Correct: While on vacation in Mexico, we saw several monkeys.
Incorrect: We saw severalā¦
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EDITING 101: 45 – Do All Your Characters Sound Alike?
Another informative post from Adirondack Editing and Chris the Reading Ape! Newbies: This is important for us to know before we begin whatever draft we are on right now. š If you do the exercises, let me know how they worked out for you!
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog
Originally posted as theĀ Dun WritināāNow Whut? series on this blog,Ā EDITING 101Ā isĀ a weekly refresher seriesĀ for some of you and brand new for others.
Courtesy ofAdirondack Editing
Do All Your Characters Sound Alike?
In todayās post, weāre not talking about a writerās voice, or style. Weāre talking about the actual voice your characters use in their dialogue or monologues, and character monotones is a chronic problem I see in many of the manuscripts I edit. As the author, you might not realize this is a difficulty in your own writing, but I think once you read this post and the accompanying links, youāll begin to see what I mean.
Character voice does not mean writing dialect or phonetic accents. This is dialect:
āHow do you make out?ā
āHow me mek out?ā He pointed upwards to the black rafters of the kitchen. āTatta Fadda a mek Provide-anceā¦
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