Archive for the 'Editing & Rewrites' Category
The Lure of a New Project
If you visit a lot of writers’ websites, you’ll soon find a large majority of them openly admit to starting more stories than they finish. There are several reasons for this, but I’m going to talk about only one of those reasons today - the lure of a new project.
Yesterday, after a strong fight […]
Posted by: Scribe on Wednesday, 10 Oct 2007
How to Murder Your Muse
A muse is similar to a witch’s familiar, which is usually associated with a black cat. The cat is a companion to the witch, but it doesn’t do the work of the old hag (although it can be a pair of extra eyes, which I suppose she could find helpful). A muse on […]
Posted by: Scribe on Friday, 24 Aug 2007
How to Plot Your Novel
I’ve been plotting novels and short stories for some years now, but that doesn’t mean I think I know everything that needs to be known on the subject. Because of this, I continually borrow books from the library, or purchase them if they are being sold at the right price, to ensure I’m not […]
Posted by: Scribe on Tuesday, 12 Jun 2007
Being Invisible
Excerpt from The Business of Writing for Children: An Award-Winning Author’s Tips on Writing Children’s Books and Publishing Them, or How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Book for Kids by Aaron Shepard.
All at once, in the middle of the story, I “woke up” with a shock. For just a few seconds, I had […]
Posted by: Scribe on Wednesday, 20 Sep 2006
Where to Start
As a reader, no matter what I’m reading - a children’s book or a book for adults - I always enjoy the books that start right in the middle of the action. It’s exciting! It makes me keep reading to find out who the characters are and what is happening to them. […]
Posted by: Scribe on Tuesday, 19 Sep 2006
Burn It, Bury It, Let It Live
Sometimes, especially when we first start writing, we reach a point where we no longer like or want to work on the story at hand. Usually as we grow as a writer, we can see the errors we’ve previously made and that “spoils” the story altogether.
It’s possible that we might rewrite the manuscript entirely, […]
Posted by: Scribe on Wednesday, 6 Sep 2006
Evil Editor
Evil Editor was recommended by a member of my message board. This is what they said:
Basically, he edits someone’s real query everyday and writes about how to make it better. Also, people send him the first page of their story for suggestions. The whole thing is extremely humorous and helpful at the same time.
Posted by: Scribe on Sunday, 30 Jul 2006
Why do we edit?
Editing means that we try to make our story as flowing and reader friendly as possible. It means that we take away the confusion of awkward sentences, bad grammar and spelling and allow our readers to enjoy the story. Constant mistakes will distract the reader and eventually they will focus on how terrible […]
Posted by: Scribe on Wednesday, 22 Feb 2006
What’s the Point Anyway?
What’s the point of a scene? There’s only one answer to this question - each scene moves the story along. So if you’re writing scenes that don’t move the story along, then you’re wasting your time. Those scenes need to be deleted, no exceptions.
With my latest project, I’ve found myself asking “so […]
Posted by: Scribe on Tuesday, 11 Oct 2005
Writer’s Block
I saw this on the NSW Uni site when I was looking for time management tips and wanted to share it.
If you have ‘writer’s block’, try writing something-anything-down. Even if you change it completely later, at least you’ve started. The alternative is having nothing at all.
Posted by: Scribe on Wednesday, 20 Jul 2005