I am taking a look yet again at my first novel, Fatal Score (initially called Hack the Yak), which I am preparing to query. I asked an editor to look at the first three chapters. The results were eye-opening. When I began writing, I used interior monolog (protagonist’s thoughts), which I laid down in italics. …
It is said (apparently inaccurately) that the Inuit have many words for ‘snow.’ Why would that be? Why, because they see a lot of snow, of course. English has very few words for ‘smile,’ even though we see a lot of them (I hope). Grin. Grimace. Beam. Smirk. Maybe even Simper. And you can drag …
I am a product of my age and education. As a result, I read instruction manuals rather than pounding buttons on gizmos to see what happens. When I open the box, I look for the manual (or, these days, for the web address of the manual). So quite naturally, I looked for instruction manuals on …
As I pass through the stations of writing skill improvement, I am realizing that I have a custom set of writing weaknesses. I got a notion of it from critique groups … the same issues kept coming up again and again. It was cemented by the editor who raked over my second novel with a …
I got a great birthday card, the front of which said: Dear people of the World, I don’t mean to sound slutty, But please use me whenever you want. Sincerely, Grammar A great card on several levels. The “use me” is so much more economical than most of the explicit things one could …
There are two approaches to writing fiction. A Pantser writes from the seat of the pants. The writer lets the characters pull the story along. An Outliner (maybe we should say ‘Engineer’) lays out the story … the plot line … then begins writing. So far, I’ve been a Pantser. My third novel has a …
I read a submission guideline the other day that sliced novelists into ‘beginner’ and ‘experienced’ using the following cleaver: “you may consider your work for the experienced category if it has been critiqued by people other than friends and family.” I get it. Your wife’s going to tell you it’s great. Family harmony vs. weak …
Ahh, the pitch conference. Three minutes to explain your darling child of a novel to a polite but dubious agent. Three minutes for her to ask probing questions that tear it apart. I enjoyed most of the Writers Digest pitch conference in St. Paul, Minnesota last Saturday. The classes were more reminders of ideas we …
A fine Minnesota writer, William Kent Krueger, plans his mystery novels out in detail, I’m told. He is well known for going to a diner each morning and writing. His stories are detailed and coherent, and his prose is clear and finely balanced. His Ordinary Grace won the 2014 Edgar for best novel. Clearly, he …
