Writing about writing. Mostly.
Book title generators because “A Christmas Carol” is taken Titles. The easiest part of the book to write. Right? All you have to do is pick, say, one to twelve words. Just make them clever, catchy, evocative, and a one-way ticket to making your book a block-busting bestseller. Easy! I don’t know about you, but […]
Groucho Marxists are definitely on the writer’s enemy list by Anne R. Allen It can be tough to be a writer at holiday time. Uncle Bob wants to know why you aren’t rich yet. Aunt Susie calls you antisocial because you insist on doing those rewrites for your editor instead of helping with her booth […]
Stupid writing rules–Beware the Dunning-Kruger Effect. by Anne R. Allen Fake news isn’t our only problem in the era of social media. Fake writing rules are everywhere. Even I get taken in. I shared a meme on Facebook yesterday that gave a spelling rule that was 100% wrong. Thank goodness an English teacher friend […]
Novel genre isn’t always obvious, even to the author. While we’re writing, (especially during NaNoWriMo) we just let the inspiration pull us along. But there comes a point where we have to decide where our work fits in the great bookish ecosystem – its genre and the age of its audience. Writing coach and novelist […]
Writing career dreams? How to prepare while you’re writing that novel. by Anne R. Allen Recently fellow mystery author Carmen Amato said she’d been asked by several new writers where they should be focusing their energies as they start a writing career. Carmen passed the question on to me and I wrote a short answer […]
Slang, jargon, insider lingo and the perfect word make dialogue authentic and put your dancers en pointe. by Ruth Harris 1. A few words about words: Big words and little words. Everyday words and words for special occasions. Polite words and the other kind. The right words, well considered and well chosen, can take a […]
Book titles are tough. Even the greats don’t always get them right. by Anne R. Allen Book titles are so important. Would the novels Trimalchio in West Egg, First Impressions, or Private Flemming, His Various Battles have succeeded if their publishers hadn’t changed the titles to The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, and The Red Badge […]
Amazon’s New Review Rules: Nobody expects the Amazon Inquisition! by Anne R. Allen Amazon has been tweaking its customer review rules. Some revisions appeared in late September and others debuted early in October. So how do they affect authors? Should we be worried? Is the Amazon Review Inquisition going to excommunicate more reviewers and banish our reviews? […]
Finish that novel! Janice Hardy can help. By Janice Hardy Fatal flaws can sink a story, but don’t lose hope if you find one in your novel. They require a bit of work to fix, but they usually are fixable. Review your manuscript objectively, pinpoint where the problem lies, and then take steps to […]
Fear of success: If you never publish, you can keep believing Midnight in Paris is a documentary. by Anne R. Allen What is “Publishing Success?” Our culture attaches all sorts of romantic ideas to the business of writing. Beginning writers tend to conjure up nostalgic writer fantasies like Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris reveries and ignore the boring […]
First drafts can be like mazes. The way through is never a straight line. by Ruth Harris A first draft is a maze you create that you have to find your way out of. Like a maze, the first draft doesn’t proceed in a straight line from start to finish, from beginning to end. In […]
Email marketing: the Holy Grail of book sales or Spamalot? by Anne R. Allen Email marketing is the only way to sell stuff online these days, we’re told. Get yourself an email address list and customers will beat a path to your buy page door, desperate to buy your deathless prose. Authors are abandoning blogging […]
Selling books on social media can be a time-suck by Chris Syme A mind-boggling 78 percent of Americans have a social media profile. And a little over half of them are on more than one channel. It is a given that authors can develop loyal audiences and sell more books with the help of social media. […]
