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April 18, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 69 Comments

Naming Fictional Characters: 10 Tips to Avoid Pitfalls

Naming Fictional Characters: 10 Tips to Avoid Pitfalls

by Anne R. Allen The old-school advice for naming fictional characters was to comb the obituaries. But not a lot of people get newspapers these days, so we need other sources of inspiration. For me, spam is turning out to be one of the best places to find unique names. Every week I cull a […]

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Filed Under: Writing Craft Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, character name research sites, Character names, How to name fictional characters, The Queen of Staves

May 17, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 74 Comments

Does Your Novel Confuse Readers with “Too Many” Characters? 8 Ways to Unconfuse Them.

Does Your Novel Confuse Readers with “Too Many” Characters? 8 Ways to Unconfuse Them.

by Anne R. Allen One of my personal writing issues is I tend to pack my books and stories with way too many characters. If a fascinating person walks into one of my stories, I feel it would be rude not to let them join the party. I suppose my inner Manners Doctor takes over. […]

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Filed Under: Writing Craft Tagged With: Character names, number of characters, The Lady of the Lakewood Diner

February 23, 2014 By Ruth Harris 44 Comments

From Pathetic to Professional: 8 Ways to Beat the First Draft Blues

From Pathetic to Professional:  8 Ways to Beat the  First Draft Blues

by Ruth Harris You’re happy, even delirious. You’ve finished your first draft! Then you read it. OMG, you think, did I write that?Yes, you did. 🙂 It stinks. It sucks. It’s so rancid it threatens to warp the time-space continuum. Think you’re alone? Here’s Hugh Howey in a blog post: “I suck at writing. Watching a rough […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Character names, crutch words, how to write dialogue, Hugh Howey, know your genre, reverse outlining, Ruth Harris, Scrivener, Self-Editing, self-editing tips, sh***y first drafts, Zuri a love story

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writers digest 101 best websites for writers award

Anne R. AllenAnne R. Allen writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. She’s a contributor to Writer’s Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Ruth Harris NYT best selling authorRuth is a million-copy New York Times bestselling author, Romantic Times award winner, former Big 5 editor, publisher, and news junkie.

Her emotional, entertaining women’s fiction and critically praised novels have sold millions of copies in hard cover, paperback and ebook editions, been translated into 19 languages, sold in 30 countries, and were prominent selections of leading book clubs including the Literary Guild and the Book Of The Month Club.

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