Formatting your submissions according to a publication’s writer’s guidelines is essential. Finding those guidelines isn’t always easy, and even in this day of digital everything you often have to request guidelines via email.
For easy reference, FreelanceWriting.com provides a database of 836 writer’s guidelines, by category. http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages/
Recently I had more than one person comment about their struggle with waiting. I’m talking about the wait between when you submit (or pitch) your work and when you hear back from the editor (or publisher). We all have a different tolerance level for waiting, and the instant society we live in compounds the problem. But we…
As writers we know we have to hook our reader at the onset — no matter what it is we’re writing. But as novelists, the opening act of our story needs to accomplish six tasks to keep our readers interested and wanting to know what’s just around the bend. For the next several Tuesday Writing…
I met today’s Friday feature author Nshan Erganian through the local writers’ guild I belong to here in St. Joseph, Missouri. He’s a very interesting guy with quite a sense of humor. But I think you’ll discover that for yourselves as you read his interview. Q: What did you know going into this whole publishing…
For those of you who missed last month’s Facebook live Ask the Editor video, I’m sharing it here today. Never mind that I couldn’t seem to say my name that day–the hazards of live video. 🙂 The question is “Should I use real restaurants, stores, and places in my story?”
While worded in various ways, many of my readers stated they struggle with structuring their book, aka developing a plot. So, let’s take a look. (I’ll cover structuring nonfiction next month.) I’ve written various posts on this topic throughout the years, and you’ll find links to several of those posts listed at the end. Why…
Earlier this year I looked at 4 important elements in fiction writing. Here’s a quick review: What does the hero want? (This is the story goal.) Who or what is opposing the hero getting what she wants? What will the hero’s life look like if she does (or does not) get what she wants? Who…