Tag: how to write fiction

I’m a poet, but I don’t know it.

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[found on writingforward.com]

“36 Poetry Writing Tips

    1. Read lots of poetry. In fact, read a lot of anything if you want to produce better writing.
    2. Write poetry as often as you can.
    3. Designate a special notebook (or space in your notebook) for poetry writing.
    4. Try writing in form (sonnets, haiku, etc.).
    5. Use imagery.
    6. Embrace metaphors but stay away from clichés.
    7. Sign up for a poetry writing workshop.
    8. Expand your vocabulary.
    9. Read poems over and over (and aloud). Consider them, analyze them.
    10. Join a poetry forum or poetry writing group online.
    11. Study musicality in writing (rhythm and meter).
    12. Use poetry prompts when you’re stuck.
    13. Be funny. Make a funny poem.
    14. Notice what makes others’ poetry memorable. Capture it, mix it up, and make it your own.
    15. Try poetry writing exercises when you’ve got writer’s block.
    16. Study biographies of famous (or not-so-famous) poets.
    17. Memorize a poem (or two, or three, or more).
    18. Revise and rewrite your poems to make them stronger and more compelling.
    19. Have fun with puns.
    20. Don’t be afraid to write a bad poem. You can write a better one later.
    21. Find unusual subject matter — a teapot, a shelf, a wall.
    22. Use language that people can understand.
    23. Meditate or listen to inspirational music before writing poetry to clear your mind and gain focus.
    24. Keep a notebook with you at all times so you can write whenever (and wherever) inspiration strikes.
    25. Submit your poetry to literary magazines and journals.
    26. When you submit work, accept rejection and try again and again. You can do it and you will.
    27. Get a website or blog and publish your own poetry.
    28. Connect with other poets to share and discuss the craft that is poetry writing.
    29. Attend a poetry reading or slam poetry event.
    30. Subscribe to a poetry podcast and listen to poetry.
    31. Support poets and poetry by buying books and magazines that feature poetry.
    32. Write with honesty. Don’t back away from your thoughts or feelings. Express them!
    33. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Mix art and music with your poetry. Perform it and publish it.
    34. Eliminate all unnecessary words, phrases, and lines. Make every word count.
    35. Write a poem every single day.
    36. Read a poem every single day.”
[found on http://www.writingforward.com/writing-tips/poetry-writing-tips]

How to Write an Author’s Bio

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[found on annerallen.blogspot.com]

“How to Write an Author Bio When You Don’t Feel Like an Author…Yet

(by Anne R. Allen)
  • Maybe you’ve got a novel finished and you’ve been sending out queries. Lots. And you’re getting rejections. Lots. Or worse, that slow disappointment of no response at all.
  • Or maybe you write short fiction and poetry and you’ve got a bunch of pieces you’ve been sending out to contests and literary journals. You’ve won a few local contests, but so far you haven’t had much luck getting into print.
  • You may still be afraid to tell more than a handful of people you’re a writer. You’d feel pretentious calling yourself an “author.”
  • But it might be time to start—at least privately.
  • Because one day, in the not too distant future, you’ll open your email and there it will be:
    • The response from an editor: “You’re the winner of our October ‘Bad Witch’ short story contest. We’d like to publish your story, Glinda: Heartbreaker of Oz in our next issue. Please send us your Author Bio.”
  • Or just when you were giving up hope, you get that reply from your dream agent:
    • “I’m intrigued by your novel Down and Out on the Yellow Brick Road.Please send the first fifty pages, and an Author Bio.”You’re so excited you’re jumping out of your skin, so you dash something off in five minutes and hit “send.”  Wow. You’re going to be in print! Or maybe get an agent. Let’s get this career on the road!
  • Whoa. You do NOT want to dash off an author bio in five minutes. Every word you send out there is a writing sample, not just those well-honed pages or stories.
  • So, write it now. Yes. Right now. Before you send off another query or enter another contest. Even though you’ve never published anything but the Halloween haiku that won second prize in your high school newspaper.
  • Actually, you want to write two bios: A paragraph suitable for a magazine byline, and a longer one-page version for sending to agents and later posting on your website, blog, etc.

♦♦♦

How to Write an Author Bio

  • Title it only with your name. Write in third person. Keep to about 250 words: one page, double-spaced–or 1/2 page single-spaced, if you include a photo above it. (I advise against this unless it’s specifically requested or you have a great, up-to-date, professional photo that makes you look like a contestant on one of those Top Model shows.)You’re aiming for a style similar to book jacket copy. The purpose is to make yourself sound professional and INTERESTING.
  • This may be perfectly accurate:  “Mrs. H. O. Humm is a stay-at-home mom who lives in Middle America with her dentist husband, 2.4 children and a dog named Rex.”
    • But a bio is all about making yourself stand out. “Hermione Oz Humm was born in the Emerald City and is an expert balloonist, ventriloquist and voice-over performer.”

♦♦♦

Things to consider including:

1) Whatever might make you newsworthy: OK, so you aren’t the baby who got rescued from that well forty years ago, and you never cheated on Robert Pattinson, but whatever is quirky or unusual about you, trot it out. Keep homing pigeons? Run marathons? Cook prize-winning chili? Put it in.

2) Work history: Here’s where you say you’re a welder or a fourth grade teacher or whatever, even if it isn’t related to the subject matter of your book.

NB: Don’t call yourself a “novelist” if you haven’t published one.

If you’re seriously underemployed and want to keep it to yourself, you can call yourself a “freelance writer,” but consider saying what else you do, even if it’s less than impressive. I remember when Christopher Moore’s first book, Practical Demonkeeping, came out and all the Central Coast papers ran stories about how a “local waiter” had just sold a book to Disney. If he’d called himself a “writer” there would have been no story.

3) Where you live: Your hometown might make a good focus for marketing. Plus people like to be able to picture you in your native habitat.

4) Education: This includes workshops or conferences as well as formal education—especially if you worked with a high-profile teacher. If you took a playwriting workshop with Edward Albee, even if it was 30 years ago, go ahead and say so.

5) Life experience and hobbies that relate to the book, or fascinate on their own: If you collect vintage Frisbees, and the book is about angsty teen werewolves at a Frisbee contest, include it. If you invented the Frisbee, it doesn’t matter what your book is about: toot that horn!

6) Travel/exotic residences: “Rudy Kipling once took a two-week tour of Asia,” meh. But “Mr. Kipling was born in Bombay and spent a year as the assistant editor of a newspaper in Lahore,” is something you want them to know.

7) Writing credentials/prizes: Here’s where you can list some of those credits in small presses and prizes that didn’t fit in your query. Include any books you’ve published, even if they were in a different field.

If you’re writing this for an agent or publisher, remember books that didn’t sell well are going to work against you with a marketing department, so you might want to leave out self-published books if your sales weren’t in the thousands. You should also skip older books self-published with a vanity press, unless your sales were spectacular.
8) Family: Use discretion here. If you write for children and have some of your own, it would be useful to mention them. If your family has an interesting claim to fame (like your sister just won an Olympic medal) or if family history has made you uniquely qualified to write this book (Your grandfather was Dwight Eisenhower’s valet and you’re writing about the Eisenhower/Kay Summersby affair.)
9) Performing history: It’s helpful to show you’re not paralyzed by the thought of public speaking. You can mention you’re the president of your local Toastmasters, or host a jug band program on a public access station, or you played the Teapot in last year’s production of Beauty and the Beast at the local community theater.
10) Your online presence: This is where you can mention your blog. Also put in your twitter handle and list what other social media you participate in.

♦♦♦

How to Write a Short Author Bio

  • Again, write in third person. For the first sentence, this format works pretty well:
    •  “Name is a ______ who lives in ______ and does ______. “
  • Then you can add one or two of the following:

1. S/he is a member of _____ (if you’re a member of any writing organizations like RWA or SCBWI)

2. S/he has won_____ (writing awards—yes, you can mention the Halloween haiku.)

3. S/he has been published in _____ .

4. S/he has a degree in _____ from_______.

  • Then add something interesting and unique about yourself, preferably something related to the piece, like:
    • “S/he played Glinda the Good Witch in a Middle School production of The Wizard of Oz.”
  • When writing these bios, think like a reporter. What would make good copy in a news release? Think unique, quirky or funny.
  • All set? Good. Now go look in the mirror and say, “hello, author!”
  • Then sit down at the computer and write those bios. Right now!“*
 [found on http://annerallen.blogspot.com/2012/09/how-to-write-author-bio-when-you-dont.html]

What’s that word?

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Dictionaries—every writer needs them! This is the absolute best resource that Editing Addict has found on the dictionary front:

ONELOOK.COM

This dictionary allows you to type in ONE place, and yet see EVERY dictionary’s varied results.
 
Writing a book that takes place in Britain? Better find out if their definition of words are the same as yours!
 
This tool helps you to do that.
 
Perfection. Enjoy. Write!
 
 

Name that Character!

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[found on thescriptlab.com]

“There are a plethora of movie character names that become everlasting brands in American culture: Rocky, Yoda, Forrest Gump, and Shrek to name a few. And when it comes to naming characters, you want to choose wisely, which is no easy task.

Literature: Lennie Small: the mentally disabled but physically strong protagonist in John Steinbeck’s 1937 novella Of Mice and Men.

Drama: Willy Loman: the elderly salesman lost in false hopes and illusions in Arthur Miller’s 1949 play Death of a Salesman.

Film: “The Dude”: the unemployed L.A. slacker and avid bowler in Joel and Ethan Coen’s 1998 film The Big Lebowski.

Steinbeck’s Lennie is a gentle giant who is “Small” of mind, with a simple dream of tending rabbits. Miller’s “Loman” sounds no different than “Low man”, which is exactly what Willy is – “a dime a dozen” and “not a leader of men”. And the Coen Brothers’ “The Dude” is, as The Stranger explains, “The man for his time and place.”

Choosing the right name for a character is key. It should be unique and memorable to the story, yet not trying too hard to stand out. Each character name you choose should also reveal something about that character: who he is, where she come from, when he was born, how she was affected, why he likes or dislikes it.

There’s a lot in a name, and the perfect name can make a world of difference, so here are some helpful tips – the Top Ten Dos and Don’ts – in naming characters.

THE DOS: CHOOSE NAMES…

Tip 1: That Reflect Personality

Choose names that help to illustrate a character’s personality.  Is your character a hero, and if so, what kind: The Professional (Han Solo – Star Wars), The Warrior (Blade – Blade), or The Fool (Captain Jack Sparrow –Pirates of the Caribbean)? And if she’s your villain, what role does she play: The Seducer (Laure Ash – Femme Fatale), The Destroyer (Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty), or The Psychopath (Jigsaw – Sawseries)? Work hard to find a name that reflects the disposition or temperament of the character.

Tip 2: Choose a Name by Meaning

Selecting a name that reflects or symbolizes a character’s role in the story can add subtext to the character. For example, if a character in your action-adventure screenplay is a wise man, mentor, or guide to your protagonist, you might want to consider naming her Sage. And to add even more meaning to the character, you might consider making her a botanist – sagebrush of course being an aromatic plant used as a culinary herb or burned as an incense. Even if you decide not to name a character by meaning, it is wise to look up the literal meaning of all the names of your characters. Knowledge is power, and you never know when a new nugget of information may inspire you.

Tip 3: Make the Name Age-Appropriate

Many writers make the mistake of choosing a name they like because it’s popular now, but the name would have rarely been used at or around the time of the character’s birth. You might love the more contemporary girl names such as Madison, Chloe, or Riley, but if your character is an 80-year-old socialite who grew up among the plantations of the South during the Great Depression, you must choose a name that would have been common during the time of her birth: Virginia, Dolores, or Evelyn, for example. If your character was born in the U.S., browse the Social Security Name Popularity List for that year. And be smart to take into account the character’s cultural and ethnic background as well.

Tip 4: That Combine Common & Unusual

Creating unique and interesting names is one thing, but trying too hard to be memorable or exotic is usually a mistake -unless you’re writing a romance novel (Trent Jasper), soap opera (Logan Hawk), or porno (Seymore Butts). Names like these sound silly, out of place, or just plain forced. A good trick that helps to create a nice balance is to combine common first names with unusual last names (Edward Scissorhands) or unusual first names with common last names (Indiana Jones).

Tip 5: That Fit the World/Period

If you’re writing a historical period piece that takes place during The Spanish Inquisition of 1478, let research be your guide. Investigate the era to find out what names were common during the time, and if your characters have a specific ethnic background, it’s your duty to find out authentic names from that ethnic group. If, however, your story takes place in a fantasy world or somewhere in the future, you still must create names that are believable for the world of the story. If the world is separate from Earth, avoid names that are too closely associated with Earth. If your story is dominated by war, the names you create should reflect images of “strength”, “survival”, and the “warrior” mentality. On the flip side, however, if your characters live in peace and tranquility, their names should be reflective of their environment.

THE DON’TS: AVOID NAMES…

Tip 6: That Are Too Long

So you’re writing a new sci-fi/fantasy feature, and you’ve decided on what you think is an absolutely amazing name for your main protagonist: Archimedes. Considering your hero is a mathematician in this futuristic world, you have applied Tip #2 appropriately. Archimedes was a Greek mathematician c. 287-212 BC. However, when you start writing, not only does it become labor intensive to type the ten-letter name so many times, but it also takes up valuable white space. Solution: use short character names. But this doesn’t mean you have to lose the Archimedes name. Maybe his friends call him “Archie” or even better “A”. There is a reason that Indiana Jones is referred to as Indie throughout Lawrence Kasdan’s script. Short and simple.

Tip 7: That Sound the Same

Have you ever come across that family in which every child’s name starts with the same letter: Jacob, John, Jackie, Jessica, Jeff, Jennifer, and so on. If it’s annoying in real life, imagine the frustration your reader will have when the same naming strategy is applied to a script. It’s distracting and confusing, no matter how distinctly different the character personalities, actions, and reactions are. Another similar pitfall is to use character names that – even if starting with different letters – still sound very much alike, such as Greg and Craig.

Tip 8: That Are Too Weird

Many writers are so focused on giving a character an unusual or memorable name that the end product becomes something more distracting than complimentary to the character or the world of the story. When a character’s name is too weird, it tends to jolt the reader and pull him or her out of the story. The only exception is in sci-fi/fantasy, in which names like Deckard (Blade Runner), Korben (The Fifth Element), and Riddick (Pitch Black) work flawlessly. But can you imagine Riddick throwing a fastball to Deckard, who throws out Korben trying to steal second?

Tip 9: That Use Cute Spellings

There are few things more annoying to a reader than cute little “creative” spellings of a common, ordinary name. Trust me, readers do not find it cute to struggle through the traditional spelling of Chris as Khryss or Dewayne as Dee-Way-N. Just write CHRIS and DEWAYNE, and be done with it.

Tip 10: That End with the Letter S

This may sound like a trivial tip, but sometimes the most banal advice is the most valuable. As the writer, part of your job is to make it as easy on the reader as possible, and if you have character names ending in the letter S, you (as well as your reader) will have a difficult time with the possessive form of that name. Make it simple. No name ending in S = possessive ‘s every time.”

[found on http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/character/creating-characters/684-name-that-character-top-ten-tips]

Punctuation Hilarity

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[found on dailywritingtips.com]

“I’ve finally got round to reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss.

Here’s a book that is not only useful and fun to read, its phenomenal popularity carries a moral for every writer:

Don’t worry about following the market. Don’t try to produce another DaVinci Code or Harry Potter. Write what you’re enthusiastic about and kindred spirits will find your book.

Who could have guessed that a book about punctuation would hit the top of the charts?

First published in April of 2004, Eats, Shoots and Leaves spent 25 weeks on the NY Times bestseller list and by October of that year had gone back to press 22 times to bring the total of copies in print to a million. I can’t guess how many copies are out there by now.

At a bit more than 200 pages including the bibliography, this little book describes the rules that govern the use of:

    • apostrophe
    • comma
    • colon
    • semi-colon
    • dash
    • hyphen
    • period

Plenty of other writing guides exist that describe the use of punctuation symbols, but the Truss book livens the discussion by throwing in history, examples of offensive punctuation, and the cheeky attitude that any English speaker smart enough to achieve an elementary school education ought to be smart enough to use apostrophes correctly.”

[found on http://www.dailywritingtips.com/review-of-eats-shoots-and-leaves]
 

Affect an Effect…What?

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[found on writersdigest.com]
“The misuse of the words “affect” and “effect” is such an epidemic that some folks are considering assembling regional support groups to deal with the problem. But while the words are often used incorrectly, deciding whether to use affect or effect isn’t as tough to as you may think.
 
Let me explain.
 
Affect is generally used as a verb: A affects B. 
The eye-patch affected my vision. 
In this sentence, the eye-patch (A) influenced my vision (B).
 
Effect, on the other hand, is almost exclusively used as a noun: (A) had an effect on (B). 
Acting like a pirate has had a negative effect on my social life.
 
So the basic rule of thumb is that affect is almost always a verb and effect is usually a noun.
There are deviations from this, but when in doubt, stick to the rule.
 
If you need help remembering, think of this mnemonic device: The action is affect, the end result is effect.“

[found on http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/affect-vs-effect-2]

Nom de Plume [Pen Name]

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[found on rachellegardner.com]

“Should I Use a Nom de Plume?

The question of whether to use a pen name comes up frequently among writers. People wonder what kinds of circumstances might dictate using a pen name, and how to choose one.

There are several legitimate reasons to use a pseudonym. You simply may not like your real name, or it doesn’t fit the genre in which you’re writing. Your employer may not want you known as an author, or your profession may demand your anonymity. (People who work in the mental health field are a good example of this.) Your real name might be the same as a celebrity’s or someone whose name has a negative connotation. Or you might write in more than one genre and use different names for each. (If you’re an unpubbed writer, you don’t need to be worrying about this one yet. First things first. Get pubbed in one genre.) Also, Kristin Nelson recently pointed out on her blog that if there’s a chance you could be job hunting, you may want to write under a pseudonym because potential employers might be scared off if they Google you and find your books. (They’ll think you’re not going to be committed to the job if your writing career takes off.)

If you’re choosing a pseudonym, you may want to choose something close to your real name, such as your first and middle initials along with a variation of your last name, but you’re not limited to that. Keep in mind real-world issues like where your books will appear on a shelf and what famous authors your book might be next to. Even more importantly, choose a name for which an Internet domain is available, and make every effort to ensure your name is not already being used by a celebrity, another author, or a porn star. Search the name in various spellings, using several search engines, to verify.

Finally, if you’re just starting out trying to get an agent and/or publisher and you’ve settled on a pen name, you can, if you like, start right from the beginning doing all your correspondence with that name. Get your email address in that name and identify yourself that way. You don’t need to tell an agent it’s not your real name until they offer representation; and the only time you’ll ever need to use your real name is on contracts. (Other agents disagree with this; I think it’s your choice. See Nathan Bransford’s great post on contradictory advice.)

What about platform? If you’re blogging, obviously the blog will only function as part of a platform if it’s written under the same name that will appear on your books. Now, most of what I’ve said about pseudonyms applies best to fiction. With non-fiction, it may be quite different since non-fiction is much more platform driven. Your platform is most likely already established under your real name so a pseudonym may not be an option. If you’re hoping to write memoir under a pen name to avoid hurting people in your life who appear in your book, be aware that simply using a pseudonym won’t avoid all potential legal, ethical and/or relational issues that could arise.”

[found on http://www.rachellegardner.com/2010/09/should-i-use-a-nom-de-plume]