Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
Golden-Globe winner Gerald DiPego has a system to create believable characters. By Gerald DiPego We are honored to host a Golden Globe winning screenwriter on the blog this week! Jerry DiPego has written over 40 feature and television films including Words and Pictures, the Forgotten, Angel Eyes, Message in a Bottle, Instinct, Phenomenon, and […]
Is your book the right size? by Ruth Harris Despite what you may have heard to the contrary, size does matter. At least, when it comes to books. 😉 Too long or too short? Wordy and flabby? Curt and brusque? Novel or novella? Short story or novelette? From urban fantasy to space opera, thriller to […]
Is your author blog getting crickets? by Anne R. Allen You finally did it! You started your author blog. And put up your first post..and the second and third and fourth… Now…you’ve got crickets. Nobody’s reading your deathless prose. Sigh. Don’t give in to despair. It takes a while to build a readership. Usually a […]
The First Chapter is the toughest! by Ruth Harris Someone waves a gun in the first sentence. In the second sentence, Jim (or is it Jill?) is walking his (or is it her?) dog in the rain. In the third paragraph, the dog gets loose, runs into the middle of a movie set where the […]
9 Ways Editors Can Make You Look Good…and 7 Ways They Can Make You Miserable by Ruth Harris As a former editor, I’m biased but, as a writer, I’ve learned that for me (and for just about every writer I know), editing is the most productive and transformative part of writing a book. Whether […]
by Jacqueline Diamond Today we have an amazing guest. Jacqueline Diamond is the author of 101 novels! Yup. You read that right. Jackie writes in many genres, and she’s recently returned to writing cozy mysteries. She read a lot of contemporary mysteries to prepare, and discovered what made her—as a reader—put down a book. […]
By Anne R. Allen We all make mistakes. It’s how we learn. But some mistakes have the potential to end a writing career before it starts. Today I’m talking about the things a lot of writers do that can keep them from having a career—or derail it for a long time. How do I know […]
by Anne R. Allen “Think outside the box” has become a mindless cliché these days. So many people repeat it that the meaning has mostly been lost. In fact, most people are unaware they are in boxes, so they have no particular desire to think outside of one. But most of us are boxed […]
by Ruth Harris Male or female, good guys or bad girls, famous or infamous, VIPs are the Very Important Persons who go their own way, do their own thing, make their own rules and don’t give a damn about your plans, your ideas, or your outline. You create them but they have a life of […]
The Five ‘Insider’ Secrets Of Top Fiction Writers by Dr. John Yeoman How do you write a ‘killer’ novel or story that brings you a contract with an agent or publisher? Or that leaps over the short-list to gain a top prize in a contest? There’s a secret to it. But more than 90% of […]
by Anne R. Allen “Show-Don’t-Tell” is one of the most sacred commandments in the writerly bible. As Susan Defreitas wrote at LitReactor, “If writing advice were classic rock, this would be ‘Stairway to Heaven’.” “Show, Don’t Tell” is sound advice—up to a point. Nobody wants to read a novel that’s a dry recitation of incidents. […]
FROM MIKE TYSON TO ALBERT EINSTEIN: Why Writers Need To Goof Off And Space Out by Ruth Harris “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth,” observed philosopher-pugilist, Mike Tyson. Not just boxers, Mike. Ditto for writers. Whether you’re a plotter or pantser, you start out with some kind of plan. […]
by Anne R. Allen The Harvard Business School recently did a fascinating study of toxic employees and their effect on a company’s bottom line. The researchers discovered the most difficult and costly employees aren’t the lazy ones or the gossipy ones. It turns out the worst are the ones dead-set on following rules to the […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris