Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen Learning to write effective, believable dialogue is one of the toughest parts of learning to write narrative — whether fiction or memoir. We don’t want to simply transcribe the way people actually talk, with all the pointless “ums” and stammery filler-things we say in real life. But we also don’t […]
by Anne R. Allen One of the worst crimes publishing scammers perpetrate on new authors is bullying them into buying junk “book marketing packages.” Often these cost astronomical fees — $10,000 and more. The useless book marketing the scammers push involve Tweets (which haven’t sold books for over a decade), presence at book fairs (where […]
By Anne R. Allen Ruth and I write this blog to give back to the writing community we’ve lived and worked in for many decades. We offer warnings about scams, plus tips and helpful suggestions for writing fiction and creative nonfiction that contemporary readers will want to buy. We say “we made the mistakes so […]
Publishing scammers prey on newbies and seasoned pros alike by Anne R. Allen 2020 was a terrible year in so many ways. But one group seems to have thrived: the scammer community. Publishing scammers are everywhere now. I hear about new ones every week, each more heartbreaking than the one before. And more outrageous. Phishing […]
by Anne R. Allen A lot of authors get that deer-in-the-headlights look when I mention marketing books online. But it’s pretty much the only way to promote books during this “stay at home” pandemic. So we gotta do it. I understand your reluctance. Social media is full of trolls, scammers, and vast herds of bellicose […]
by Anne R. Allen I’ve had questions from several writers recently about how to approach a first chapter. New writers hear so many rules about what they must do in the first line, first paragraph, and first chapter that they can feel paralyzed, afraid to write a word. Let’s hope that NaNoWriMo is helping some […]
Mary Sue is not your friend. No matter how much your Mom likes her. 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. But “caring […]
by Anne R. Allen We live in a speed-obsessed civilization. Whatever it is we crave—cars, trains, electronics, food, dates—we want them ever-faster-and-furiouser. In fact, much of the developed world seems to be engaged some turbocharged drag race of the soul, hurtling our frenzied selves from cradle to grave, terrified of slowing for even a […]
