(Part Two ) Opening Hooks and Setting Scenes that Don’t Get Weighted Down In Part One of CRAFTING BETTER BEGINNINGS, I gave examples of using too much back story, of actually polluting our story openings with information dumps. Today we’ll talk about opening hooks and setting scene. One of the big problems with poor beginnings […]
Crafting Better Beginnings
September 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
(Part One) Examples on Stowing Away the Back Story and Cleaning Up Information Dumps Which opening is better? This one? There once was a prince named Erasté in a faraway land called Trevelyan. His father, King Elián Ruelle, was a kind a gracious ruler, loved by all — all but one. Faeries dwelt in the […]
Writing Lesson 3.25 – Your First Hundred Words
March 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
I recently read about a contest where writers could send a portion of their work to an agent. One person would receive a request for the full manuscript. Nice offer! The rules allowed each writer to send the first 100 words of their book. Yes, you read that right. One hundred words, plus or minus […]
Self-Publishing on Amazon Kindle
August 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Self-publishing an ebook for Amazon Kindle couldn’t be easier! Start by going to the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) page and opening an account. From that point, publishing your story is as simple as following the instructions, but I also downloaded AmazonKindle’s free ebook, Publish on Amazon Kindle with Kindle Direct Publishing. Of course, it helps […]
Writing Lesson 2.18 – What Are You Talking About?
January 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
If you babysit or have younger siblings, maybe you’ve had a child burst into your presence and start talking a mile a minute. Having no context, you probably stopped said kiddo after a minute or two and asked, “What ARE you talking about?” Readers need context. It would be a mistake to just dive in […]
