Your characters need to be more distinct from each other. We all have different personalities out here. We want to identify with one character. If you make us look less-than-unique, we will get bored and decide you don’t understand us. Your plot needs to be more solidly structured. Cause. And… Read more“8 Ways Your Story Needs to be Tweaked”
Category: Editing Services
Would you like your work edited into a high-quality manuscript suitable for submission to the best literary journals and agents? See here for how it’s done.
4 Ways Social Media Can Screw Up Your Writing
It can EAT YOUR LIFE. Go ahead. Spend all your time and energy blogging, texting, IM’ing, hunting down great writers’ articles and posts on Twitter, connecting with other writers on Facebook, updating your LinkedIn profile, registering with StumbleUpon, Digg, Squidoo, and all the other bazillions of blogonetworking tools out there…. Read more“4 Ways Social Media Can Screw Up Your Writing”
Guest speaking on exposition on Twitter Sunday
That’s today. I know. I’m springing this on you. Sorry about that. Today, Sunday, 3:00-4:30 Pacific Time, I’ll be talking about exposition on #storycraft on Twitter. I’m the guest speaker. I don’t know what time that is where you are—you’ll have to break out the ole calculator. Just go on… Read more“Guest speaking on exposition on Twitter Sunday”
The 5 Reasons Your MS Keeps Getting Rejected
Ever wonder why you keep getting all those form rejections from agents and editors? When I was in college, there was a guy in my Early American Lit class who complained that he didn’t understand why the teacher even took his papers, she ought to just carry a big rubber… Read more“The 5 Reasons Your MS Keeps Getting Rejected”
21+ Things Your Characters Should Never Say
“Stand right there and break the wind.” “He was waving his arms and ejaculating at the top of his lungs.” “I have the same problem when my pants get hot.” “What a sweet kitten. So delicious!” “You’re not supposed to spread them that far apart.” “Tie it off with that… Read more“21+ Things Your Characters Should Never Say”
Channelin’
Somebody please tell me this doesn’t mean what I think it means: Ursula James’s THE SOURCE, part fable, part spell-book, an inspirational work that contains prophecies of relationships, love, forgiveness, and healing from Mother Shipton, a 16th century Yorkshire prophetess and healer, as channeled by the author. . . sold… Read more“Channelin’”
Starting an advice column for fiction writers
If you haven’t seen it yet, please feel free to visit: An Advice Column for Fiction Writers Yes, I’m going to start an advice column for you. It will be similar to the old Future Topics feature I used to have on this blog, except I won’t be able to… Read more“Starting an advice column for fiction writers”
Philosophizing—why are you here?
I’m going to be in San Francisco next week—my husband will be presenting at the 2010 Embedded Linux Conference, and I’m taking my son to see the King Tut exhibit for the second time before it goes home to Egypt forever—therefore I won’t be trawling the Internet much for writing… Read more“Philosophizing—why are you here?”
Getting recommended by Preditors & Editors
This is worth breaking the Weekend Silence for: I just got an extremely cool recommendation from Dave Kuzminski of Preditors & Editors ™: “The only thing Victoria doesn’t reveal in The Art & Craft of Fiction: A Practitioner’s Manual is the secret handshake. Otherwise, a lot of authors are going… Read more“Getting recommended by Preditors & Editors”
E-release, on She Writes
I wrote about the release of my book for She Writes today, my final guest post for them.