The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

Writing Skills

Ask the Editor Day 4 – Will I Ever Be Done Editing?

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Today’s our last day for Ask the Editor. I’ve enjoyed this and seems you have too. So I’ve decided to continue Ask the Editor on my Facebook author page via live FB video. Visit today and like my page so you can be sure not to miss those live events.

Ask the EditorNow for today’s questions.

I feel that editing is a process I could literally be in forever with my book. How do you reach the point where you know that the editing process is complete?

I imagine many writers feel like this. But let me bring some distinction to the question. A synonym of edit is revise. So as writers, we edit/revise our own work. And this is where we can get stuck wondering if we’ll ever get past the process. For myself, I can look at my words in an already published form, be it digital or print, and think, I should have written it this way.

When revising your manuscript, you come that point of “it’s done” when you have [Read more…] about Ask the Editor Day 4 – Will I Ever Be Done Editing?

Ask the Editor – Historical Accuracy & POV

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Ask the EditorToday continues our Ask the Editor series.

I write historical romance. How important is it that all details be historically accurate versus making it understandable to modern day readers? For instance, most people nowadays think of dinner as an evening meal. Not so in the 1800s when it was the midday meal.

The degree of historical accuracy can vary from publisher to publisher. I know this only because of the books I read from various houses. I’m not privy to their rules.

But I advise my clients to be accurate. That doesn’t mean you can’t make the verbiage more understandable or smoother. Contractions weren’t widely used until the early 1900s, but I find it very tedious to read a book that doesn’t use them. In all things, it’s finding a balance. Let your dedication to accuracy lead you. If you want to be faithful to the language of the day, then be so (and I say kudos to you). You can put other clues into your story to help people know it’s the noon meal.

Where I insist on historical accuracy is [Read more…] about Ask the Editor – Historical Accuracy & POV

Ask the Editor–How do I know I have a good editor?

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Ask the EditorToday is part 2 of Ask the Editor and is a continuation of yesterday’s questions.

What clues can help authors in knowing they have a good editor?

What a great question. Many writers may wonder about this without ever really voicing the question even to themselves. Scams are everywhere in all arenas.

My take on this would be that the editor… [Read more…] about Ask the Editor–How do I know I have a good editor?

The Book Outline—Dispelling the Myth

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Outlining. It’s one of those touchy subjects among writers—should you outline your story or not?

But like my recent post “Are You Crippling Your Creativity?” there is a certain misconception about outlines many beginning writers have that I hope to dispel today.

Most of us grew up being taught the traditional outline. [Read more…] about The Book Outline—Dispelling the Myth

How does the power of observation affect our writing?

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candle flame blown by airGod designed us with 5 senses—hear, taste, touch, see, and smell.

In the majority of manuscripts I read, the sense of sight is heavily relied upon. It’s understandable to describe what we see in our world, but there’s so much more we can use [Read more…] about How does the power of observation affect our writing?

Are you crippling your creativity?

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laptop/coffee cup helping your creativitySomething I noticed this year as I met with writers across the country at conferences were their frustrations with the writing process.

Over and over they expressed frustrations in different ways. They couldn’t quite put their fingers on the problem. And it took me a few minutes of listening to figure it out: They were trying to fit their creativity into the wrong method.

We all work in different ways, but somehow many writers have gotten the mistaken idea that [Read more…] about Are you crippling your creativity?

3 Common Dialog Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

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Crafting great dialog takes work. And today I’d like to discuss 3 mistakes I see more often than any other.

Let’s look at definitions first.

A dialog tag (also known as attribution) tells the reader who is speaking, but also [Read more…] about 3 Common Dialog Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

11 Kinds of Magazine Articles You Can Write

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little girl looking through paper towel roll
Are you looking for ideas?

Writing magazine articles is a good way to bring in steady extra income while you work on your book. But do you struggle to find ideas?

Let the following list of 11 types of articles you can write serve as a springboard. Each type has it own requirements and purposes.

If you are a regular subscriber of one or two specific periodicals, consider how their articles fit into the following categories. Then think about [Read more…] about 11 Kinds of Magazine Articles You Can Write