Write – Page 17 – Publetariat

How to Write What You Don’t Know

February 15, 2016 by Publetariat

So you are writing an article or a book and there is a subject matter that you would really like to add, but you don’t know very much about it and don’t want to come off sounding like a newb. Amy Gustine over on Literaryhub has some great tips on how to research like a pro. What are your secret hacks for researching?

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How to Write What You Don’t Know

February 10, 2016 By Amy Gustine

One day I decided to stop letting fear prevent me from trying to write certain stories, specifically the fear of not knowing things. I didn’t disavow my penchant for realism, or deny the importance of accuracy. Instead, I resolved to find out what I could achieve with research. It began as a dare to myself, and also a kind of surrender to life’s limitations. I can’t always afford the time or money to do on-site research and there are places I wanted to go in my stories—Gaza, 19th-century Poland—that no amount of either would take me to.

I took up the task of researching from afar in a spirit of experimentation and learned that it was like most undertakings—you have to pick two: cheap, good, or fast. You can’t have all three. I always choose good and cheap, which means I’m not fast. Ninety-five percent or more of what I learn doesn’t make it into the story, but because I enjoy learning, and I suspect that everything is tied together, this doesn’t trouble me. It shouldn’t trouble you either, unless you’re in a hurry, and then you better pick a different profession.

To write what you don’t know, try these strategies:

Read the full post on Literaryhub

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If you liked this article, please share. If you have suggestions for further articles, articles you would like to submit, or just general comments, please contact me at paula@publetariat.com or leave a message below.

Using Ebooks to Understand Story Structure

February 15, 2016February 15, 2016 by Publetariat

Today we visit Jamie Gold, paranormal author extraordinaire. My 8th grade English teacher would often talk about stories needing woof and weave. The terms refer to old fashion weaving on a loom. You need the woof, the long threads, to define and hold the structure and then the weave, the threads that pull it all together until you have a complete product. Jamie discusses the need for story structure, which is like the woof and provides a base for your tale to be woven on. How do you organize your story structure?

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Using Ebooks to Understand Story Structure

by Jami Gold on February 11, 2016

When we’re on the writing learning curve, we have to learn so many aspects of the craft that we can become overwhelmed. We have to learn how to develop characters, follow grammar rules, include settings and emotion, etc.

One aspect that many writers struggle with is learning story structure. Story structure refers to how we can organize a story so it creates a satisfying experience for readers.

If we’ve ever had a friend try to describe a movie, book, or a real-life event and they keep rambling or going off on tangents, we understand the importance of a good structure for making a story enjoyable. A story that goes off the rails will be confusing (“Wait, who was that character again?”), boring (“Sorry, I zoned out for a second.”), or worse.

On the other hand, we might have a friend who can make their daily check of the mailbox sound like an adventure. We just know there’s going to be a point to their story, so we remain enthralled with every twist and turn.

In other words, good story structure is an important element of good storytelling. While our friend could use good story structure and still be bland in the storytelling, it’s harder to imagine a well-told story that rambled or went off on distracting tangents or dragged on too long, etc.

So let’s take a look at how we can better understand what story structure is, and how we can learn from other stories how to use it in our own…

Read the full post on JamieGold

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Start Strong or Lose Your Readers

February 8, 2016 by Publetariat

Over on DigitalBookWorld, Andrew Rhomberg has some interesting data about reader habits. The really interesting takeaway is that you have about 50 – 100 pages to get your reader hooked. I am curious if this is different from paper books? I would think so. With eBooks it is so easy to delete the file off my voyage, where as with a paper book there is something physical that nags at you. At least that is how I feel about the paper books stacked up on my night stand. Then I think of some of the classics, that take a while to get started. How would they fair today? Thoughts?

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Start Strong or Lose Your Readers

In the first post in this series, I introduced the notion of the “Internet of Bookish Things” to describe how (e)books were now nodes on the Internet that could record how books are being read. And in last week’s post, “Reading Fast and Slow – Observing Book Readers in Their Natural Habitat,” I began exploring what we can learn about readers using this new “superpower.” Today we will continue this exploration by looking at how the attention of readers decays while progressing through a book.

One of the data points we record at Jellybooks is how many chapters a reader finishes. Reading fiction is a very linear activity in which you start at the beginning of the novel and, following the story arc, read until you reach the end. You don’t usually hop in and out of chapters as you would do in a non-fiction book or textbook, and reading analytics bears that out.

However, what if the novel doesn’t grab your attention? What if you get bored? Reading analytics can measure that, too!

The way we display this is through a completion graph. To facilitate comprehension by authors and editors, the graph is deliberately structured like a Table of Contents (TOC), listing each chapter in the book. Next to each chapter is a horizontal bar graph in blue showing the percentage of readers who read that chapter (or substantial parts of it). The grey bars show front- and back–matter (introduction, dedication, prologue, epilogue, copyright page and so on) that are organized as chapters but are not part of the main narrative. As readers progress, the percentage drops off, showing that readers lose interest and even stop reading.

Below I’ve included two real-life examples of books. For confidentiality reasons, the actual chapter descriptions have been removed and replaced with numbers (as well as F and B for front- and back-matter). I can’t take the chance of you guessing what book is being shown, but rest assured that this is real data from real books being read by real humans.

Read the full post on DigitalBookWorld

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When to Give Up On Your Work-in-Progress (and When to Keep Going)

February 7, 2016 by Publetariat

Here is something I think everyone struggles with, especially since writing is so fluid. You can always edit and rewrite, so when do you stop and move to another story that has more potential? Over on Aliventures, Ali has some good guidelines on how to deal with writing indecision. How do you decide what to work on?

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When to Give Up On Your Work-in-Progress (and When to Keep Going)

This post was inspired by a discussion a while back in the Writers’ Huddle forums.

Have you ever given up on a writing project part-way through – perhaps after months or years of work?

I’ve abandoned plenty (three novels and two blogs, at the last count). I’ve also stuck with others even when I thought of quitting.

If you’re currently struggling with a major project and trying to decide whether to give up or stick with it, here’s what to do.

Don’t Destroy Anything Completely

This probably goes without saying … but don’t burn your novel manuscript and delete all the files or wipe your blog out altogether, however terrible it might seem might now.

If nothing else, you’ll want to look back in five or ten years and see how far you’ve come as a writer.

But there’s also the possibility that you’ll pick up the project at a later stage – perhaps when you’ve mastered new aspects of the craft and you can fulfil your vision for it.

So, hang on to what you’ve got, then decide whether you’re going to give up the project (at least for the foreseeable future) or plough on with it.

Read the full post on Aliventures

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How To Write When You’re A Parent

February 2, 2016 by Publetariat

This post hits home in a big way. And my kids are not little, in fact they are quite big. But it is almost 11 pm and I have spent over 2 hours helping my son with AP Chem before coming here to post. On Writer’s Digest, Danielle Campoamor gives good advice to all of us on how to adapt and still find ways to keep writing, even when the demands on your time increase. I may have to read this one daily.

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How To Write When You’re A Parent

It’s 10:30 in the morning and my son has finally succumbed to his morning nap. With his head on my chest and his ineffectual arms wrapped around my neck, I feel his body rise and fall with every seamless breath. I move ever-so-slightly, adjusting my body without moving him; a timeless skill every parent finds a way to master. I lift up my arms to lay my hands on my laptop keyboard, determined to finish an article and meet a deadline while my child dreams sweet one year old dreams.

Before I became a mother, I was borderline obsessive about the way I wrote. I had to listen to music and set up a clean area and definitely, under no circumstances, be bothered. I’d create a “writing space” that – I believed – fostered the best creativity and willpower and I was unwavering in its obsessive defense.

But then life happened and pregnancy happened and a child happened. And suddenly, the list I had created in order to obtain the perfect writing environment became impossible to adhere to. No one bothering me? Forget about it. A pristine environment? Try telling that to a child who has learned about toys and the ability to throw them mighty distances. Loud music? Not when the baby is sleeping. No way.

If I was to continue my career and my passion, I had to find a new way to write in an always-changing, consistently disruptive environment. Because unless you have someone paying your bills and a nanny to watch your children and a staff to clean and cook and fold your laundry, life will always get in the way of writing.

Read the full post on Writer’s Digest

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Top 10 Confused English Words [U-Z]

February 1, 2016 by Publetariat

Over on Daily Writing Tips, Maeve Maddox (what a great name!) gives us her top 10 confused English words, the final chapter. I have to admit that growing up in Massachusetts weather / whether were difficult for me because they both sounded like “wheatha”. I had the same problem with father and farther. What are your confused words?

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Top 10 Confused English Words [U-Z]

Having come to the end of the alphabet with my series of “words often confused with one another,” I find myself hard-pressed to come up with a final set of ten for the remaining letters, U-Z. I can’t think of any for U or Z, but here are some for V, W, and Y.

1. vane / vain / vein
All three sound alike and speakers know what they mean when they say them. The confusion arises with the spellings.

INCORRECT: A cupola sat astride the angled wedge of the rooftop, sporting a beautiful gold colored weather vain.
CORRECT: A cupola sat astride the angled wedge of the rooftop, sporting a beautiful gold colored weather vane.

INCORRECT: If we cut one of our vains what chance do we have to live?
CORRECT: If we cut one of our veins what chance do we have to live?

vane noun: a blade that rotates

vain adjective: 1. hopeless: “She continues to harbor a vain desire to write a novel that will make her rich.”
2. having an excessively high opinion of one’s own appearance, attainments, qualities, or possessions: “He is especially vain about his hair.”

vein noun: the tubular vessels in which the blood is conveyed through the animal body.

Check the rest of the post and the whole series on Daily Writing Tips

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Get Your First 10 Pages Critiqued by an Agent — Next Agent One-on-One Boot Camp Starts February 18, 2016

January 31, 2016 by Publetariat

Hey the next Agent One-on-One Boot Camp called “Your First 10 Pages.” is coming up! You have until February 18, 2016 to sign up. Head on over to the Writer’s Digest site and get the details from Chuck Sambuchino. This is a good resource even if you don’t plan on looking for a literary agent. The goal is to make your first 10 pages to make an impact on an agent or a reader, and that is a good thing. Have any of you attended the camp before? If so let us know your opinion and if it is worth it in the comments below!

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Get Your First 10 Pages Critiqued by an Agent — Next Agent One-on-One Boot Camp Starts February 18, 2016

As many writers know, agents and editors won’t give your work more than ten pages or so to make an impact. If you haven’t got them hooked by then, it’s a safe bet you won’t be asked for more material. Make sure you’ve got the kind of opening they’re looking for! In this invaluable weekend event, you’ll get to work with an agent online to review and refine the first ten pages of your novel. You’ll learn what keeps an agent reading, what are the most common mistakes that make them stop, and the steps you need to take to correct them. The best part is that you’ll be working directly with an agent, who will provide feedback specific to your work.

It’s all part of the recurring popular Agent One-on-One Boot Camp called “Your First 10 Pages.” Sign up by the end of the day, February 18, 2016, if seats don’t sell out beforehand. It’s taught by the agents at Talcott Notch Literary.

Read the full post on Writer’s Digest

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The Singular They is Now Officially Correct

January 27, 2016 by Publetariat

So have you heard? According to the Washington Post and other sources, you now don’t have to worry about awkward he/she him/her sentences but can now use the gender neutral they/them. Dave Bricker on The World’s Greatest Book has the details in his post dated January 21, 2016. I personally am a fan, although it will take some getting used to. How about you? Will you switch over?

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The Singular They is Now Officially Correct

peace,union and frienship concept (I, You, Them, Big Family) on a corkboard with color notes

Find your favorite writer and give them this message: They no longer have to mire their writing down with awkward “his or her” and “he or she” and “he/she” usages. According to The Washington Post, the singular they/them has been adopted as officially correct English by over 200 linguists at the American Dialect Society. The Washington Post has already integrated the new rule into its style guide.

Traditionally, they and them have been plural, referring to groups of more than one person. When referring to one person of unknown gender, the generic masculine served well until feminists took issue with practice.

Find a teacher in the hall and give this gift to him. I'm sure he'll appreciate it.

became:

Find a teacher in the hall and give this gift to him or her. I'm sure he or she will appreciate it.

Speed bumps? No. You know those tire shredders they have at car rental facilities that prevent drivers of stolen cars from driving out the entrances? What a quandary! Is eviscerating our sentences truly a sign of respect for women? Good prose is music. This is noise. Some settling of contents occurs during shipping and handling. Not good.

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Stop Making Excuses And Write A Book

January 25, 2016 by Publetariat

Today’s post is from the Bookbaby Blog, dated January 19, 2016 by Jim Dempsey. In the post Jim, analyzes the excuses we make for not starting to write your book, or edit it, or in my case finish it. It is a good read, so check it out and let me know what you think in the comments. What is holding you back from doing what you want to to do?

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Stop Making Excuses And Write A Book

The start of a new year is a good time to finally commit the time and energy to write a book. But first, ask yourself one important question to find out if you really have what it takes to be a writer.

When people ask what I do and I say I’m a book editor, they tell me they’d love to write a book some day, once the kids are grown up, when they have more time, or if only they were good enough. Some people have already given up trying. They say, “I suppose if I really wanted to write, I’d have done it by now.” Excuses File Contains Reasons And Scapegoats

But that’s just another excuse. That argument assumes we all fall naturally into what we want to do, when in fact it’s much more natural to find an excuse not to do it.

We all makes excuses. It’s a part of what we do. And the first step to making a commitment to finally writing a book is to recognize the excuses and to stop them getting in the way of your dreams.

Writing is an adventure

Inventing excuses is your mind’s way of protecting you, from keeping you from taking risks or using up too much precious energy. In evolutionary terms, that makes sense, but the excuses your mind invents can also keep you from enjoying some of life’s greatest adventures, of which writing a book is surely one.

Read the full post on Bookbaby Blog

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9 Ways to Stop Your Novel from Stalling

January 20, 2016 by Publetariat

How are your writing resolutions coming? To be perfectly honest mine are having some difficulty. Sometimes life… happens. The important thing is to get back to priorities. Tracey Barnes Priestley on Writer’s Digest talks about ways to get your momentum back. Dated January 5, 2016.

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I would be willing to wager that most writers have made New Year’s resolutions regarding their writing practices. I know I have.

Curious about this, I canvassed a few of my writer friends. Sure enough, many of them had frequently participated in this annual tradition that dates all the way back to the Babylonians. Each writer had faced January with a deep commitment and heartfelt enthusiasm for those resolutions. One promised herself she’d “finish the first draft” of her novel. Another told me she had written on her dry-erase board, in big, bold letters, “I will clean up the dialogue mess that’s drowning this book.” The least experienced of them, an as yet unpublished young man full of enthusiasm for his craft, swore he would “silence my inner critic and keep writing, no matter what.”

I followed up by asking them how successful they had been in keeping those resolutions. Unfortunately, all had experienced the same thing: disappointment. No matter how hard they tried, they had ultimately been unable to make good on what they had resolved to do.

I knew exactly what they were talking about. I gave up creating New Year’s resolutions about my writing years ago when I found myself at the end of yet another cold January, with nothing more to show for all of my efforts than an exercise in futility. I was left feeling a range of emotions, from guilty to downright silly.

It’s actually quite comical just how few of us keep our New Year’s resolutions. It’s estimated only 45 percent of the population even tries to resolve making changes in the New Year. Of these brave souls, a mere 8 percent are successful.

Yet I’ve wondered if writers might be even more inclined than the general public to approach the New Year with a list of things we want to change, accomplish or do differently. We seem ripe for this kind of experience. As creative thinkers, we face a unique set of circumstances when it comes to producing our work. Alone in whatever space we can manage for our writing, we pound away at the keyboard, with our thoughts, our characters, our struggles and the never-ending reality that we aspire to a tough, highly competitive profession. Why wouldn’t we try to capitalize on the fresh start, the clean slate that January offers us? Magical thinking is right up our alley!

Why Our Writing Can Stall

In my work as a life coach, I’ve come to believe that our writing can be derailed because of two fundamental processes. The first, naturally, is the very nature of our craft, the writing process itself—think plotting, character development, etc. Unfortunately, this intrinsic set of challenges dwells right alongside our individual writing processes—complete with procrastination, destructive thought patterns, negative experiences, ambiguous motivation, unrealistic expectations, etc. And we wonder why we can’t keep our writing resolutions.

By now you’re probably ready to chuck your computer out the window. Don’t! Think of these two processes as valuable tools. Once you understand how they may be driving your inability to meet your writing resolutions, you will be poised to utilize effective strategies that support you and your writing every step of the way.

What’s Holding You Back?

Let’s begin by identifying the warning signs that your writing may be about to stall out. Consider current or previous writing resolutions you failed to keep. Ask yourself if you have experienced any of the following: lack of initiative; inability to prioritize writing tasks; frequent distraction; failure to establish a consistent writing pace/routine; inner dialogue that is one negative message after another; finding yourself simply “too busy” to get anything done. This is hardly an exhaustive list. Reasons writers stall can be varied and unique. Your task is to be as exact—and as honest with yourself—as you can in identifying what gets in the way of your ability to make progress on your projects. Make a list.

Next, evaluate this list from the perspective of the work-in-progress itself. As an example, let’s use my writer friend’s resolution to finish her first draft.

Every time she sat down at her computer, this writer felt lost about where the story should go next, and unclear about the relationship between her two main characters. She found herself thinking, This is useless, and, It’s not a strong enough idea for an entire book—maybe I should ditch the entire thing.

First, she tried to address the problems in the work itself. She sought craft and technique help with her plot and eventually resolved some backstory problems that had delayed the action and confused things between her characters. But the problems with her own lack of clarity persisted. Now she was fairly certain that the problem was within her writing process.

Read the full post on Writer’s Digest

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How to Find and Work with Beta Readers to Improve Your Book

January 19, 2016 by Publetariat

Having a quality product is vitally important for successful indie authors. One way to improve the quality of your story is to get beta readers to read the manuscript and provide input. Getting a fresh pair of eyes to view your work can’t hurt. Kristen Kieffer (@ShesNovel) guesting on janefriedman.com offers eight tips on how to find and work with beta readers.

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How to Find and Work with Beta Readers to Improve Your Book

Note from Jane: Today’s guest post on beta readers from Kristen Kieffer (@ShesNovel) is an excerpt from her upcoming e-course on self-editing, Self-Editing Success.

No creative act is a solo endeavor.

Editors, designers, marketers—it takes a team of professionals to help authors bring their novels to life. But lurking behind the contracts and cut checks is a valuable set of hands many authors fail to exploit: beta readers.

Just as film directors benefit from the insight of test audiences, authors can learn much about the state of their novel’s appeal by working with readers willing to critique their story before it hits the market. With these readers often offering their time and feedback free of charge, what’s not to love?

Working with beta readers can provide authors with invaluable insight, helping them see their work through that pesky objective lens. With the feedback digested, authors can use what they’ve learned to better tailor their novel for marketable appeal, increasing their chances of releasing a commercial and critical success.

But not all beta reader experiences are created equal. As with any interaction involving an honest critique, working with beta readers can quickly grow into a regrettable experience if it isn’t designed for the benefit of both parties.

Let’s avoid any mess the first time around. If you’re ready to screen your novel with a test audience for honest and invaluable insight, here are eight steps to follow for an ideal beta-reader experience.

1. Identify Your Ideal Reader

There’s no use in sending your manuscript to an uninterested reader. By taking time to discover your novel’s ideal reader before sending out beta copies, you’ll be able to cultivate a list of betas who most accurately represent your future readers, saving you—and those unenthusiastic partners—a wealth of time and trouble.

How can you identify your ideal reader?

Think about the type of person most interested in your novel, then create a quick profile. Here are a few questions you might answer in your sketch:

What is their age and gender?
Do they read to be entertained or emotionally engaged?
What are their favorite books, television shows, and movies?
What makes them happy, sad, or angry?
What do they fear or regret?
Why do they enjoy reading?

If you’re struggling to form a strong image of your novel’s ideal reader, run a Google search of books related to your own. Begin reading through the reviews for each listing to identify the type of person who most enjoyed the work. Use what you learn to strengthen your answers to the questions above.

2. Cultivate Relationships with Beta Readers

If you’re starting from scratch, you’ll need to identify a group of potential beta readers to whom you’d like to pitch your manuscript. Though the easy route would be to email the first interesting person you find on the internet, I highly encourage you to take a step back.

The work of beta readers should not be taken lightly. To read a novel may be a simple task, but to analyze each element with a critical eye in search of weak areas, errors, and inconsistencies is anything but.

Before contacting strangers to ask for their help, take time to cultivate strong relationships. You can do this by first identifying the group of prospective beta readers you’d like to work with.

If you haven’t yet made any connections, begin by creating an account on the social media site where your ideal readers hang out. Young and new adult crowds are often found on Twitter or Instagram, while more mature readers usually congregate on Facebook.

Once you’ve chosen a platform, it’s time to establish your presence. Begin by adding a headshot for your profile picture and a succinct profile bio. Then, like or follow the feeds of other authors and notable creative figures. This will help potential beta readers gain a quick understanding of you and your interests as you begin to interact.

Speaking of interacting, your next step is to find and follow potential beta readers. Not everyone you eventually contact will accept your proposal, so I suggest following at least thirty potential betas. If you reach out to all and only a quarter accept, you’ll still have a fantastic group of beta readers to critique your novel.

To find potential beta readers, follow popular writing tags like #amwriting and #writercommunity. Make sure to use these tags when you publish your own posts. You can also find prospective betas in online writing groups, such as Writers Helping Writers or Fiction Writers.

Once you’ve found a few potential beta readers, begin interacting with them by liking and commenting on their posts and statuses. Offer friendly conversation, sharing in their daily joys and challenges. After a few weeks of genuine interaction, it’s time to move on to step three.

Read the full post on janefriedman.com

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American Idol for writers? Skrawl – a brand new world of collaborative storytelling…

January 12, 2016 by Publetariat

Occasionally I get contacted by over excited people who want to share something totally awesome and new with me that will make everyone a lot of money. Since I am trying to keep this site indie and clean I usually say no. But every once in a while, there is actually something cool that I think you will like.

Full disclosure – I am not making one penny off of this. This is a really awesome site that some of you might enjoy, and the people I have talked with seem super nice.

So now that is out of the way, let me introduce you to Skrawl.com.

Skrawl.com is a collaborative and competitive group writing website. Users have the choice to enter into a writing competition based on a theme or topic, then the readers view the entries and vote on their favorite. The winner’s entry becomes a part of the story and that process continues until the story is finished. Writing styles can range from stories, scripts, articles and debates while breaking off into numerous categories from Action & Adventure to Fan-Fiction. It is free to enter, which is always nice. They also have “writing challenges” where you can win prizes, on top of bragging rights.

It looks like a great way to get some practice in, meet other writers, and possibly get some exposure. Plus you get to vote on your favorites to move up. If anyone joins, could you come back and let us know how you like it and also give us a chance to root for you!

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7 Steps to Go From Slacker to Writing Machine

January 11, 2016 by Publetariat

This is about the time when my new years resolutions on writing start to get pushed aside. So in the spirit of trying to last a little longer I present you with this article from Lifehack. Author Antonio Tooley shares seven steps to help you become a lean mean writing machine! Care to share your writing goals for this year in the comments?

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We all love being lazy from time to time, and that’s perfectly alright, as long as it’s done in moderation. However, some of us are less disciplined than others, which means our “lazy” time spills over into our daily obligations. Writers, for instance, are extremely notorious for being lazy and prone to procrastination, which is perhaps best evident through their portrayal in the media. Fictional movie and TV characters such as Californication’s Hank Moody, or Secret Window’s Mort Rainey immediately spring to mind.

While this image is certainly exaggerated, a lot of writers could use some help when it comes to organizing their time and improving their creative output. Since writing is often seen as heavily dependent on bouts of inspiration and ideas, the writers’ approach to occasional dry spells or writer’s block would be to wait it out, and not do much in the meantime.

The good news is, not only can you make yourself more productive during those less-inspired periods, but you also can avoid them altogether, and it doesn’t require you to do anything revolutionary, other than making some tweaks to your usual approach and adopting some useful writing habits. No e-books, no magic pills, just 7 essential tips you can use to turn yourself into a writing machine you were supposed to be all along.

1. Write Down Your Ideas

As a writer, you are probably aware that great ideas are hard to come by. There are two ways you can deal with this. The first one would be to do some serious brainstorming, organize and collect your thoughts, and distill them down to ideas you can actually use. The second one would be to always write down those ideas which appear inside your mind at the most unexpected moments and situations.

Although it may seem like there is absolutely no way you’re going to forget about them, you probably will. You can fix this by writing them down using a piece of pen and paper, your smartphone, or specialized note-taking apps. Even though you may not use them right away, it’s great to have some of them in reserve.

Read the full post on Lifehack.com

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Fantasy World-building Questions By Patricia C. Wrede

January 7, 2016 by Publetariat

Patricia C. Wrede created this awesome list on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Of America website to help writers create a more realistic world for their characters. Who doesn’t want a world with depth and dimension in their story! I am bookmarking this, as it is a super helpful resource. Thanks Patricia!

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Fantasy Worldbuilding Questions

By Patricia C. Wrede

The following list of questions is meant to aid authors of fantasy fiction who are seeking to create believable imaginary settings for their stories. While many of these questions may be helpful or crucial to certain stories, they will not all apply to every story. It is not necessary for an author to answer all, or even any, of the questions in order to start writing, (or to finish writing, either). The idea is simply to provoke people into thinking about the ways their settings and backgrounds hang together … or don’t. If it’s useful, use it. If not, don’t.

Some questions apply to more than one topic, and have been duplicated under more than one heading. This should not be considered as an exhaustive and final list, but as a beginning point from which each individual writer can compile a personal list.

The Questions

Read the full post on Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Of America

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Ten Easy Steps To Get your E-Book Ready For Editing

January 4, 2016 by Publetariat

Today we go to The Self Publishing Review where Cate Baum gives good advice on how to get your manuscript ready for editing and make your editor love you! I happen to disagree with #10, I do think there can be value added with a table of contents. Do you have any helpful hints or thoughts? If so, please share in the comments below.

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Ten Easy Steps To Get your E-Book Ready For Editing

As an independent author, there’s no getting away from the fact you will need to get your e-book edited professionally by the sort of editor who knows the differences between e-book and print book. However, these quick ten steps will help you prepare your book for the edit and final publication early on in the process. This is a ragbag of formatting and grammar tips, but trust me, your e-book editor will love you forever if you prep your book this way!

1. Strip out styles and fancy formatting

E-books don’t need styles manually applied in Word. The first thing any e-book editor worth their salt will do is strip them out. This is because on e-readers, the reader can choose which font family to read in, and any fancy scrolls or letters will be cancelled out and replaced by defaults. The best way to go is Times New Roman, and leave your choice of font for your print book. When you add headings later at the formatting stage, you’ll add these using your Styles and Formatting menu only.

2. Don’t use double spaces in sentences

The old-time habit of leaving two spaces at the end of a sentence is useless in the flowable text of an e-book. Flowable means that text is subject to change via the reader’s choice of font, font size, and spacing, so it’s not advisable to add typewriter-style formatting in a digital book. Double spacing is also moot in that since the advent of computers, spacing is configured to proportional adjustment.

The editor’s bible, the CMOS, states, ” p. 61. “2.12 A single character space, not two spaces, should be left after periods at the ends of sentences (both in manuscript and in final, published form).” p. 243. “6.11 In typeset matter, one space, not two (in other words, a regular word space), follows any mark of punctuation that ends a sentence, whether a period, a colon, a question mark, an exclamation point, or closing quotation marks.” p. 243. “6.13 A period marks the end of a declarative or an imperative sentence. It is followed by a single space.”

Sorry double-space people. Them’s the rules.

Read the full post on The Self Publishing Review

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