What do I mean by line editing? To me, line editing is not just catching typos and correcting grammatical errors, although it certainly includes that. It’s about improving and tightening your prose. It’s about killing your darlings, cutting unnecessary words, and rewriting first draft sentences with stronger, more precise language. So, as much as I want to, I’m not going… View Post
I met Claire Forrest in 2015 at a Young Adult writing conference at The Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Like me, she was volunteering in order to attend for free. (One of the reasons I knew right away she was my kind of person.) I was going to be moving away from Minneapolis soon, so I told Claire she should… View Post
Are you writing dialogue the wrong way? Every scene in a novel or story is created with four main pillars: action, dialogue, description, and internal thought. So if your dialogue isn’t working, your entire story could crumble. Have people told you your dialogue sounds stilted or unrealistic? Do you want to increase the tension in your dialogue? Are you making grammar… View Post
I knew Sarah Fontenelle what seems like a lifetime ago — when we were both carefree twenty-somethings, acting in the occasional play at The Actor’s Theater of New Orleans. I knew Sarah was a psychologist, so I was surprised when I saw on Facebook that she and her father (also a psychologist) had started a publishing company called Le Bovier… View Post
Souped-Up Suspense! If you’re writing/revising a mystery, thriller, horror, or suspense novel, or if you’re simply looking to add more page-turning suspense to your manuscript, this do-it-on-your-own-time course is for you. The lessons (in both written and audio format) offer practical tools and writing exercises, as well as examples from novels such as Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Drowning… View Post