Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen A blog reader asked me recently to address the question of description in fiction. How much is too much? How much is enough? And why are contemporary novels so devoid of physical character description? Is this a new rule — or is it lazy writing? The answer to all of […]
by Anne R. Allen Mickey Spillane famously said “They read to get to the end. If it’s a letdown, they won’t buy anymore. The first page sells that book. The last page sells your next book.” I can see the creative writing students rolling their eyes. Mickey Spillane wasn’t exactly a great prose stylist. But […]
by Anne R. Allen Yes, I’ve already written a warning to writers about publishing scams this month. But I heard about a new, diabolical one only a few days ago. This can affect both traditionally published and indie authors. And everybody needs to help spread the word. That’s because the author won’t know it’s happening. […]
The dying Google Plus. Will its demise affect you? by Anne R. Allen If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you probably know I’ve had something of a love-hate relationship with Google Plus. It was clunky and annoying, but I recommended it as a way to get blogposts noticed by the Google search […]
Amazon’s paid review crackdown may have punished “over a million” innocent customers. by Anne R. Allen My inbox has been bursting with unsolicited emails for the past few weeks. I must be on a new list of “easy prey” circulating in the the author-scamming community. Several sleazy guys with dodgy language skills have hit me […]
by Anne R. Allen “The one with the biggest email list wins” is the current mantra of pretty much every book marketer on the planet. The author newsletter is supposed to be the most important weapon in your book marketing arsenal. Marketing experts tell authors their #1 goal should be to collect as many email […]
by Anne R. Allen I first blogged about the plight of slow writers back in 2014, at the height of the indie publishing boom. All the indie superstar gurus were telling writers to grind out ebooks as fast as they could type to take advantage of the “Kindle Gold Rush”. Three years later, the Kindle […]
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 […]
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 Anne R. Allen We writers tend to get a tad delusional about our own work. Most of us know the average writer doesn’t make great money, but we secretly believe our own efforts will bring us fabulous fame and fortune. When we start out, we can’t help visualizing our books leapfrogging over all the […]
by Anne R. Allen “Be fearless… The world is filled with people who will be more than willing to give you self-defeating, negative advice. If you have a dream, the single most important question you must ask yourself is—how can you fulfill that dream? If your resources are very limited, that is not an excuse.” […]
by Ruth Harris This week Ruth Harris discusses one of the major elements that separates ho-hum storytelling from bestselling fiction: details. Yes, we know you’re often told to keep details to a minimum, and that’s a good rule, but like the judicious use of seasonings in cooking, choosing the right ones will make the […]
by Anne R. Allen My life continues to zoom along at warp speed. Mark Williams just told me that THE GATSBY GAME is up at Amazon this morning–a week ahead of schedule. It’s a book I had to write–one that’s been sitting in my head for decades. It’s based on the mysterious death of […]
