I have been thinking a lot about first sentences/pages/chapters lately. I think the closer you get to being ready to submit your manuscript, the more you start to think about this in particular. You realise just how much weight that first page/s carry. You need to be able to hook readers in straight away. Some … More Writing Tip Wednesday: The First Sentence/Page/Chapter.
Every writer has those days where doubt creeps in and you start to wonder if you are really any good at all. I had one of these days just yesterday. I usually start to doubt myself when I receive a rejection (yesterday I got a rejection for a short story.). I think rejection is one … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Days of Creeping Doubt.
*So sorry that this is a day late, but better late than never, right? The first novel you write may never get published. That’s hard news to hear for those of you out there working on your first novel, I mean, you put so much effort into writing that novel, months or years of hard … More (A late) Writing Tip Wednesday: Practice Manuscripts.
Finding the right name for your characters is one of the most important things you will do when writing a story. Characters are people, too, and they need a name that suits them. People judge people by their names and they will judge your character by their name as well. When naming a character there … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Naming Your Characters.
I came across an article this week on a wonderful website I have discovered. ‘The Review Review’ is a must read website for all short story writers looking to submit to literary magazines. It has an abundance of helpful articles about the submission process. The article that I read was called ‘What Editor’s Want; A … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Submitting To Literary Magazines.
This week I read a great post by YA author Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver Trilogy) titled ‘Publishing Does Not Want To Eat Your Heart Out.’ It is a great post for all aspiring authors. She was asked a question from a fan about how to get an agent to say ‘Your book is interesting and yes’ … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Maggie Stiefvater talks publishing.
Inspiration is all around and can come from many different things at any given time. If you are anything like me, then you don’t just get one idea at a time. So what are you suppose to do with the abundance of ideas that come to you? How do you decide which one to write … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Dealing with an abundance of ideas.
Welcome to this week’s Writing Tip Wednesday, today I want to focus on characters. When I look at why I love the books I do it always comes back to one thing: the characters. Characters are so important, they are what make your story. You need to get your reader invested in your characters so … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Getting to Know Your Characters.
Welcome to this week’s Writing Tip Wednesday. Today I want to focus on proper manuscript formatting. Most publishers and agents and magazines will detail how they want you to format your manuscript in their guidelines, which you should find on their websites. I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow these guidelines – … More Writing Tip Wednesday: Manuscript Formatting.
Welcome to this week’s Writing Tip Wednesday. Today I want to look at the editing part of writing a novel. I recently followed the blog ‘Writing Novels in Australia’ and I’ve found the posts so far to be really informative. Last week I read a great post I’d thought I’d share with you. It is … More Writing Tip Wednesday: To delete or not to delete?
Rochelle L. Sharpe 