Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by James Scott Bell When I started to teach writing in the late 90s, I channeled my inner Charlton Heston and announced 10 Commandments for Writers. A cheeky thing to do, I admit. But when I reviewed them recently, I found I wouldn’t change one of them. So here they are, with attached comment. 1) […]
Writing fashion changes, like the fashion in Easter Bonnets by Anne R. Allen Fashion. It sounds frivolous, but it has serious effects on us all. Right now, women are getting beard-burn from kissing men who sport the fashionable romantic-hero three-day stubble. And mothers are stifling their disappointment when their golden-haired boys get the fashion-victim shaved-sides […]
How to avoid boring your readers following “what you know” writing rules by E. J. Runyon I just finished reading Anne’s March post about how you don’t always want to follow the rule that advises, ‘Write What You Know’. It made me wonder how many writers understand that it’s only a ‘Writing Rule’ for getting […]
Follow word count guidelines to keep from snoozifying your reader. by Anne R. Allen A constant complaint I hear from agents, editors, writing teachers, and reviewers is that they see too many manuscripts with inappropriate word counts. If you’re getting a lot of form rejections or simply silence from agents, reviewers and editors, this may […]
Even if you have the writing talent of Lord Byron, you need these things. by Anne R. Allen I understand why new writers want to be reassured they have writing talent. They don’t want to embark on the long road to a writing career if they don’t have the chops. So I have sympathy with […]
Ruth and Anne wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2018. As Anne wrote earlier this month, you run into a lot of bogus information about writing in the Internet age. Other advice you run into can be helpful…but be wary of taking it all as gospel. Remember that rigid rules usually lead to […]
Do you know the “secret writing rules”? by Anne R. Allen Somerset Maugham famously said, “There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.” But pretty much everybody you meet in the publishing business will give you a list of them. (One is “never start a sentence with ‘there are’” —so watch […]
Writing contemporary fiction? Don’t rewrite War and Peace. by Anne R. Allen I recently read on an agent’s blog, “Nobody’s looking for War and Peace.” And alas, I fear it’s true. I can’t remember the last time I said, “I want to get into a big 19th century novel.” (And there was a time when […]
Writing guidelines can help us climb that “book mountain” by Ruth Harris A breath-taking article about a Polish team of mountaineers planning to climb K2 in the winter—a risky-to-the-max feat that has never been accomplished—reminded me that every book is K2, a mountain that has never been climbed. Like expert climbers, writers make progress step […]
Writing rules, rejection & why to forget them and have some holiday fun! Ruth Harris joined this blog five and a half years ago with a wildly popular blogpost on rejection. Because she worked as editor at a couple of Big Five Houses as well as being a New York Times bestselling author, she knows […]
by Anne R. Allen “Show-Don’t-Tell” is one of the most sacred commandments in the writerly bible. As Susan Defreitas wrote at LitReactor, “If writing advice were classic rock, this would be ‘Stairway to Heaven’.” “Show, Don’t Tell” is sound advice—up to a point. Nobody wants to read a novel that’s a dry recitation of incidents. […]
by Anne R. Allen The Harvard Business School recently did a fascinating study of toxic employees and their effect on a company’s bottom line. The researchers discovered the most difficult and costly employees aren’t the lazy ones or the gossipy ones. It turns out the worst are the ones dead-set on following rules to the […]
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. […]
