The Story Reading Ape makes us laugh with Diamond Lil. Thanks for the giggles, TSRA! I’m sharing the smiles!
Day: August 16, 2021
How Do Self-Published Authors Get an Agent? – Written By Amy Collins
on New Shelves:
If you are thinking about getting an agent and you already have a book published by a self-publishing company, what are your options?
Get Full Details HERE
3 Mistakes To Avoid with Your Side Characters – Written By Sacha Black
On Writers Helping Writers:
Everybody loves their heroes, some people even love their villains. But it’s a rare author that actively loves and spends equal time on their side characters.
Sure, some of them are fun to write, but they’re not who the story is about, which is why so many of them are simply slapped on and ill-thought out.
Today, I’m going to help you combat that by giving you three mistakes to avoid when creating your side characters.
Continue reading HERE
10 Excruciating Mistakes Even Experienced Writers Make – Written By Lucy V Hay
on Bang 2 Write:
So, you’ve been writing a while but there are still some excruciating mistakes you might make that could trip you up …
Why ‘excruciating’?
Because they’re SO EASY to avoid!
Continue reading HERE
Writing Character Descriptions that Hook Readers – Written by Angela Ackerman
on Writers in the Storm:
I think we can all agree that characters are the heart of a novel. We build worlds around our story’s cast, spend dozens of hours plundering their psyche to understand needs, motivations, and beliefs, and even envision complete backstories. Then, of course, we go on to produce tens of thousands of words about their vulnerabilities and strengths as they rise, fall, and rise again on the path to their goal. We also revise, dedicating yet more hours to ensure readers understand and care about our characters as much as do.
Yes, it’s fair to say we work hard to make sure our characters live and breathe on the page. But here’s the irony…in all that effort, many of us overlook or underutilize another important area of character description: their physical appearance.
It’s true, a character’s features and physicality can be hard to convey. We may not have a strong mental picture of them ourselves, or if we do, how to sum it all up economically. After all, at the start of the story when we need to provide details on a character’s appearance, we’re also juggling everything else we must show like the action, setting, circumstances, plus the character’s motivation, underlying problem, emotion, and so on.
So we find ourselves asking, does the character’s looks really matter? Isn’t it what’s inside that counts?
Yes…and no.
Continue reading HERE
Friday chuckles — pachyderm edition
Bluebird of Bitterness makes us giggle with ‘trunk-jokes’. Thanks so much for the smiles, bluebird!
Checklist: Preparing to Send Your Manuscript to an Editor – Written By Liam Carnahan
on Kindlepreneur:
So you’ve finished your manuscript? Your first instinct may be to celebrate, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a big deal, and you should be proud of yourself.
But you’re not done yet.
After you finish the champagne, the next major step will be to hire a book editor. But you don’t want to jump to this step too early. Before you invest in a professional, there are a few things you need to do: take the time to revise, work with beta readers, and revise some more.
In this article, you will learn:
How to reread your manuscript and take notes about what is and isn’t working
How to revise your manuscript
How to find and send your manuscript to beta readers
Review and apply beta reader feedback
How to self-edit your manuscript
Find the right editor
Continue reading HERE
Maintaining an Author Blog is Easier Than You Think – Written by Anne R. Allen
Should all authors blog? Of course not. We’re all different and we write for different audiences. There are lots of ways to establish an online presence. Anne Rice does a good deal of publicity from her Facebook page, and Stephen King is big on Twitter. Cheryl Strayed and Elizabeth Gilbert communicate with fans on Instagram.
Would a blog work for you? It might. Blogging is the best way to make friends with Google (otherwise known as SEO or Search Engine Optimization.) That means readers can find you through search engines. In other words, a blog helps readers find you and your books.
Continue reading HERE
HELP SAM AND ROSCOE MOVE TO THEIR NEW HOME – Written By Juliette Kings
Most of my readers know that I belong to the amazing writing group Writers, Poets, and Deviants. We publish themed anthologies with the fund going to MS charities. We also support and mentor fellow writers. Our goal is to be supportive and celebrate the success of all of our writers, providing a hate free, negativity free, and safe writing community.
None of this would have been possible without writer and my friend Mandy White. Mandy gives us all moral support, makes us laugh, give expert advice on publishing and writing, edits our books, coordinates all of the anthologies, runs our publishing group, and keeps us going in so many ways – all without pay. She is not only a phenomenal horror writer, but a phenomenal human.
Now Mandy need our help. Please see the message below, check the link, and help if you can.
SCAM ALERT: TRANSMEDIA AGENCY – Written By Victoria Strauss
Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®
A quick warning about a new impersonation scam.
I’m getting reports from writers who’ve received email solicitations from what appear to be real film companies. Here are a couple of examples:
Note the identical language.
Roth/Kirshenbaum and Bluegrass Films are real enterprises, with real track records. So if the writer–who may be a bit dubious because of the out-of-the-blue contact and the poorly-written text–does a websearch, they’ll learn that these companies actually do exist. There are some odd discrepancies: there’s no “&” in Roth/Kirshenbaum, and Scott Stuber left Bluegrass for Netflix in 2017. Still, the realness of the companies themselves makes it easier for hopeful writers to dismiss any niggling doubts.
Writer's Treasure Chest 
You must be logged in to post a comment.