Hello~ Due to my crazy schedule, I haven't been blogging much lately. While I work on my next big blog post, here's the 12th collection of my writing and editing tips from Twitter. As we all know, it's difficult to convey a message when you're on Twitter, which has a limited space. But I do try to be succinct and make the tips easy to understand. They're not grammatical, complete sentences, but I hope they are useful to the writers. But these short tips aren't the only thing I do on this blog!
I've covered the basics of creative writing by doing posts on subjects like POV, prologue, dialogue tags, etc ( long writing and editing tips). There are special posts where indie writers can promote their book, a post with links to over 200 literary agencies, or a post with a collection of commonly misused and confused words. Also, you can read all the guest posts by other writers and editors or read my guest posts on other blogs. So, take a tour of this blog to learn about creative writing and editing. If there's any topic, big or small, that you don't see here and would like me to cover, just let me know. If you need my editing service, please visit my editor website for fees and services. Thanks for visiting my blog. Happy writing~
Newbie #writers' 1st book is a series. Stretching a
simple plot to death with unnecessary filler words & scenes
Your eyes miss errors in your MS b/c your brain
reads them as how you meant to write them. Read your MS aloud
Be careful taking writing/editing advice from
fellow writers. They may mean well, but most had no formal education or
training.
Adverbs modify verbs. Hence, they're called
adverbs, not adjectives.
"I yelled loudly"--Yes
"I yelled loud"--No!
If writers insist on replacing rich, vivid
descriptions with adverbs? I, the editor, insist on deleting those adverbs.
Writers. Lately, I'm seeing MS with all short,
impact fragments or comma-filled run-ons. Variety in sentence structure is a
must.
Consider editors/betas' advice in MS length. You're
writing for readers, not yourself. And they don't want to read an unending book
Writers. Are you writing for yourself or the readers? If you're
unwilling to learn/change/adapt, your only audience will be YOU.
If your book is in a genre that has been
written to death/saturated the market (ex: para romance), the plot & protagonist
MUST stand out.
#Writers! You
revise/rewrite. #Editors edit. Leave the editing to the pros,
and your MS will be corrected & polished, i.e. publishable.
The effort writers put in to writing something
does not automatically entitle them to readers. So keep learning.
Breaking all the rules doesn't make you a
"rebel" or "unique." It makes you a "yet another idiot
who can't learn the rules."
A basic sentence has a subject, a verb, and an
object. When adding a modifier, make it clear which one of those you're modifying.
Building platforms & networking are all
good. But first and foremost, a writer must write good books. Or learn how.