How to Find Critique Partners & Beta Readers –Written By Meg LaTorre

Thank you for sharing your informative and interesting blog post, Meg. We really appreciate it! To many of us it’s important they start looking right away.

---

Outside feedback is vital to the success of your manuscript.

As I’ve quoted many times before on my YouTube channel, according to Terry Pratchett, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.”

Our first drafts are imperfect translations of the perfect story in our minds. This version of the story isn’t ready for the eyes of the reader. But in order to improve the weaknesses in our story, we first need to be able to locate them. That’s where critique partners (CPs) and beta readers come in.

Before we get into where you can find CPs and beta readers, let’s first talk about what they are.

continue reading at:

Critique Partner Vs. Beta Reader

 

Six Superb Ways To End A Novel – Written By Lorraine Ambers

Lorraine Ambers provides us with six different was to end a novel, a blog post I immediately fell in love with and decided to share. Thanks for this article, Lorraine.

---

The ending of a novel needs to leave the reader satisfied and should reflect the pace and tone of the rest of the story. The truth is, endings are hard. The writer must conclude all subplots and bring clarity and resolution to the conflicts the characters face.

I’m going to share six of the most effective methods for concluding your novel.

To be continued…

This method is often used to entice the reader into continuing on with a series. So that the ending creates anticipation instead of resolution. I think this works best when the overarching plot remains and the characters continue onwards with their journey, for example, a looming war.

Warning: Conclude the subplots and character journeys set out for this particular story or the reader will feel cheated.

Continue reading HERE

Things to check for before submitting to a beta reader #amwriting

Connie Jasperson informs us about things to check before submitting to a beta reader. Thank you, Connie.

Life in the Realm of Fantasy

When we finish writing a story, an article, or a novel, we feel a rush of pride. The urge to immediately send it to a magazine or contest is strong, but the wise author must overcome it.

Don’t even show it to your writing group at this stage, because you are too involved in it, and there may be some awkward flaws that were introduced into the narrative during the rush of creation. You want their feedback to be constructive and not focused on the editable flaws.

Set your manuscript aside for a week or so then come back to it and look for

1. Dropped or missing words.
2. Words that spell check won’t find because they are spelled correctly but are wrong: They went their for breakfast.
3. Extra spaces in odd places, and after sentences. Editors want one (1) space after each sentence.
4. The paragraphs are indented, NOT WITH TABS…

View original post 938 more words

The Seven Deadly Sins of Prologues—What Doesn’t Work and What Does

Are Prologues bad? Read in Kristen Lamb’s blog what she recommends. It’s another great post she published! Thank you Kristen.

Kristen Lamb's Blog

We writers have a vast array of tools at our disposal to craft stories readers will love. But like any tool, it helps if we know how to use it properly. Theme is wonderful. It can keep us plunging a story’s depths for years when used correctly. Applied incorrectly? It just makes a story annoying and preachy.

Description! Love me some description! But pile on too much and we can render a story unreadable.

The same can be said of prologues. Now, before we get into this, I want to make it clear that certain genres lend themselves to prologues. But even then, we are wise to make sure the prologue is serving the story.

So, to prologue or not to prologue? That is the question.

The problem with the prologue is it has kind of gotten a bad rap over the years, especially with agents. They generally hate them…

View original post 1,779 more words

Three Ways to HOOK a Reader & Never Let GO

Kristen Lamb published a post on how to hook a reader and never let go. Thanks for your excellent guidance, Kristen!

Kristen Lamb's Blog

Image courtesy of Randy Heinitz via Flickr Creative Commons.

How do we sell our stories? That is the big question. It is the reason for craft classes and editing and cover design and agents and editors and all the time on social media. And while platforms and covers and algorithms do matter, there is one tried and true way to sell more books.

Write a great story.

And not just any story, but a story that hooks from the very beginning and only continues to hook deeper.

Think of great stories like concertina wire.

The danger of concertina wire is not just in one hook, but hundreds. And it isn’t even in the hundreds of hooks. It is the tension created by the coiled structure. If a person is snagged even a little, every effort to break free (turning a page for resolution) only traps the victim deeper in…

View original post 1,567 more words