Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Ruth Harris You’re swamped and there are alligators in that swamp. They have sharp teeth and they bite. Their names are Stress, Clutter, Distraction, Disorganization, and Interruption. You’ve got a book to write, a cover to create, tweets to tweet, promos to set up, blurbs to polish, and pins to Pin. There’s metadata, […]
by Anne R. Allen We get lots of questions from new writers who have spent time in forums and online writers’ groups where they’ve been given advice by other newbies. Some of that advice is fine, but a whole lot is dead wrong. Unfortunately, the wrong stuff is usually delivered with the most certainty. […]
Most writers know we require editors. The need for editing is drummed into us from the time we venture into our first writing class, blog, or forum. We know if we’re offered a contract, we’ll be assigned an in-house editor, and if we self-publish, we’ll want to hire a freelancer.These days, agents do a lot […]
by Anne R. Allen I often run into new writers who want to be reassured they have talent. They sometimes ask me to read some fledgling work in hopes I’ll pronounce them “talented.”I always decline. (A wise author never goes there.) It’s not simply that I can’t fit one more thing into my already […]
by Ruth Harris Writing a novel based on the lives of real people is much more than simply recounting their story—even if it’s a whizz-bang, humdinger of a story. The challenge is turning real people and real events into fiction. Having no guidelines at the time I wrote Decades, I figured it out as I […]
by Anne R. Allen We’ve all met those people who think their sojourn on earth is meant to be a fault-finding mission. They can spot lint on your jacket at fifty paces, provide a litany of your imperfections whenever there’s a lull in the conversation, and be counted upon to tell you why your pumpkin […]
by Jessica Bell A good chapter ending is like having one mouthful of your favourite food left on your plate, but not yet feeling full, so you go for seconds … and we hope, thirds, and fourths. The key to a great chapter ending is to introduce a new conflict. It doesn’t have to […]
by Ruth Harris Stuck? Can’t get there from here? Something’s wrong but you don’t know what. You’re chasing your tail in an endless loop with no off-ramps in sight. You’re stalled out at a dead end in a dark, scary forest. Happens to every writer and no one knows why, but your book—and you—have come […]
by Anne R. Allen Beginning novelists are like Tolstoy’s happy families. They tend to be remarkably alike. Certain mistakes are common to almost all beginners. These things aren’t necessarily wrong, but they are difficult to do well—and get in the way of smooth storytelling They also make it easy for professionals—and a lot […]
by Anne R. Allen It’s been an exciting week for the blog. Marketing expert Penny Sansevieri named us to the Top 30 Websites for Indies and blog guru Molly Greene named us to her list of must-read “leaders” in self-publishing. (I’m only recently self-published—and most of my work is still with a small press—but […]
by Ruth Harris According to the sublime Cole Porter lyric: Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.Writers do it, too. Often. Collaborate, that is. Peter Staub and Stephen King paired up to write horror and dark fantasy in The Talisman. Their Black House is a Stoker Award winner. Joe Konrath, an […]
by Anne R. Allen New writers contact us every day, asking questions about everything from how to start their first short story (answer: butt in chair; hands on keyboard) to how to deal with trolls and bullies (don’t respond; walk away; report abuse.)We answer them all—as time permits—but there’s one kind of writer we […]
by Anne R. Allen You can learn all you want about writing powerful prose, well-planned story arcs, lyrical descriptions—or any other aspect of fiction—but if you don’t have a protagonist your readers care about, none of the rest matters.I don’t think it’s terribly relevant to talk about character “likability” in the sense of “niceness.” The […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris