Four recommended books for all fiction writers
In this post, I highlight four books that, in my view, offer fiction authors helpful insights that can help them make their own writing better on their own terms.
How to prepare in Word a manuscript for publication
The standard manuscript format doesn’t really apply here. It’s not a bad starting point, of course; most book designers are used to starting with manuscripts that conform at least visually to some form of a standard manuscript format. But there’s more to be done before the manuscript is ready for book design.
The purpose of book trailers
You can’t just make a cool video and expect it to get people interested in the book.
13 best practices for creative writing critique groups
Nobody is born being able to critique well. You have to learn from doing it. Guidelines can help.
Semantic structure: Using Styles in editing, book design, and ebook formatting
Say what you mean. It’s so simple in books, right? If it’s an important idea, bold it. Or maybe italicize it. If it’s a section header, make it big. Chapter title, make it really big. That’s all there is to it, right? Not quite. Not anymore.
Not all commas are from Oxford
Commas congregate around the edges of rules. Some exist within the realm of necessity, but most commas waltz through lawless zones, following nothing more than a song in the author’s mind, required only, by their presence or absence, not to confuse or trip up readers.
What’s a rule and what is just style: Using italics for direct thought in fiction
As my first blog post here, I tip my hand about what gets my goat as an editor of fiction: words of wisdom, usually tossed out at writers by other writers, claiming some thing or other is “against the rules” when that thing is actually just a matter of choice—of authorial style.