In a recent episode of Fresh Air Weekend, there was an interview with author Thomas Mallon, renowned essayist and historical fiction novelist. It was a most fascinating interview, focused on highlights of his career, an article in The New Yorker Magazine, and the recent release of his novel Up With The Sun .    A story about  Dick Kallman, who was an up-and-coming actor in the fifties and sixties, a closeted gay man for much of his life. Kallman had faded into obscurity until his murder in 1980. Here's what Booklist said about Up With the Sun,    "Another superb novelization of real life . . . Fluidly written with well-realized characters, the novel is great gossipy fun to read. Film and theater buffs will be delighted." In response to the question of whether the characters he creates have to be real people who interacted with historical figures; or whether what he puts into the mouths of historical figures is credible, he said that the reader should alwa...

To help us improve our craft of writing, we’ve all taken classes. Read many articles on the rules of grammar and writing. Listened to members of a critique group talk about writing rules. Which ones should we follow? What advice should we take to heart, or more precisely to keyboard? Answer: Take what works for you and discard the rest. Nothing is cast in stone. My writing workshops all begin with the disclaimer that I don’t know everything, and nothing that will be suggested is a “must.”  Again, take what works for you and discard the rest. That goes for this blog post, too.

The more I write and the more I edit, for myself and for my clients, the harder it is for me to read for pleasure and not want to whip out that old red pencil. Sigh... Most of the time I've been able to ignore some simple craft issues. There seem to be more and more lately in so many published books, so I've told myself to throw away the editing hat, and the writing hat, and just read. That works for a while, then I come across another book by an author with a penchant for going to extremes in finding active verbs that absolutely make no sense in the sentence.  For instance: "Frank ditched around the door and headed for the desk." And: "Sam jammed out of the dining room and grabbed his briefcase before leaving for work."  Changing common verbs to something unique seems to be a thing now in writing, and I get it. We often tire of using the same ol' same ol' words for a character's movements. I can get so tired of having a character simply walk...

When I first got interested in writing a memoir, I started reading a lot of them, and in doing so I discovered that there’s a lot of similarities between a memoir and a novel of real life. In both, the writer is relating incidents and experiences that shaped a life, and each has to be written in a way that totally immerses the reader in the story. I came to that realization when I read The GlassCastle by Jeannette Walls, followed by Half Broke Horses , which is a book about her grandmother’s life. One is a memoir, the other is a novel of real life. It actually has the subtitle of A True-Life Novel. They both are compelling stories, and I loved reading them some years ago when I was just starting to write Evelyn Evolving , the story of my mother’s life. When I finished Half Broke Horses, I realized that I could follow the author’s example and write the story of my mother's life as a true life novel and then later write my memoir. As I mentioned here last month, writing my mo...

When I pondered what to write about for this month's theme of "Best writing hacks ever," it occurred to me that better minds than mine have probably made lists and offered suggestions on the topic. I decided to do a little search and see what I could find. As you might imagine, I found plenty! Without further ado, here is a random compendium of offerings from the vast world of the internet, in ever-ascending numbers of suggestions per list... From Learn How to Write a Novel: 3 Hacks to Write a Rough Draft , by Michelle Griep From Freewrite: 6 Neuroscience Hacks to Beat Writer's Block (This one includes additional links to articles in Psychology Today , The Guardian , etc., about writing and writer's block.) From Positive Writer: 6 Weird but Awesome Hacks for a Happy Writing Life , by Shanan Haislip From Lifehack: 8 Great Writing Hacks Every Creative Writer and Blogger Should Know , by Ivan Dimitrijevic From The Writing Cooperative: 12 Writing Hacks Yo...

I have to say, my year is starting off well, with MORTAL MUSIC (the 7th in my Silver Rush series) released on January 27. What a way to ring in 2020! But that one is now written and done. What would make this the "best writing year ever" for me is to figure out how to write Book #8 with less stress. For some time, I've joked that what propels me to write is deadlines and panic. But there's more truth than fiction in that statement. Adrenaline drives me and makes me productive in my writing life, but that sort of propulsion eventually takes its toll. One day I realized that when I begin to feel stressed and panicked, my right knee starts to buckle. When writing deadlines loom, the right side of my neck, and my right wrist and shoulder stiffen and ache to the point where it's difficult to go to sleep, much less spend hours at the keyboard. Stress! (There's gotta be a better way to write.) Image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay So, for me, if 2020 is...

Graphic courtesy of  WriteOpinions.com In case you missed it, there has been a recent controversy over plagiarism that has received international news attention. A story in The Guardian outlines the major points of the issue between American author Courtney Milan and Brazilian author Cristiane Serruya, who was accused of  plagiarism. The books in question are Milan's The Duchess War and Royal Love by Serruya. There were numerous instances of Serruya taking several sentences verbatim from Milan's book, and the following is just one example of what she copied: From The Duchess War - There was a reason they’d kept their conversations to inane niceties up until this point. There was no way to talk about anything else without bitterness. They had no common past to draw on, almost no shared acquaintances. His mother had spent more time visiting Sebastian’s mother—her husband’s sister—than she had lived in Robert’s household as a child. And she’d chosen to do it. He mig...

I once read a free Kindle book that purported to be a novel about a woman who is kidnapped by some vaguely Middle Eastern ruffian and taken back to their homeland. There is she taken under the wing of a strong local woman who eventually helps her to return to her home. I know that there are very good books being self-published, but this one did not fit into that category. The oddly named characters (an Arab name that translated to “zucchini,” for example), the blatant stereotyping, and the clunky use of odd spelling and word order to denote a foreign language were distracting, but the book did not become laughable until the author attempted to portray the protagonist walking around in African/Middle Eastern garb. It was painfully obvious that the writer had no idea not only what the clothing should consist of, but what it would be like to move around and function in it on a daily basis. Being a Muslim woman who wears Islamic clothing when I go out, the deficiencies in the book ...

Here's a truth for you: Writing is a lifelong-learning endeavor. As writers, we should always  strive to strengthen our writing, and we can do that by Well, writing Reading - books in the genre(s) you write in, books outside those genres, books on the craft of writing, etc. Connecting with other writers for advice, for an ear to hear your writing woes, and for critiques of your work Subscribing to sites (like BRP!), newsletters, magazines, etc. that provide invaluable knowledge on many aspects of writing Here's another nugget of truth for you: Editing is a lifelong-learning endeavor. As you have learned through this 8-part series, editors tend to be writers, too, and because of that, they are voracious readers. They also connect with other writers (and editors) and subscribe to sites, organizations, and magazines that help them to better their editing craft. While we are working, like writers, to strengthen our talents, we also find our learning through...

*Breaking News* No one is perfect. And that includes editors. So, in part seven of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we had to ask BRP editors the following question: What are your strengths and weaknesses as an editor? Linda Lane Website | Denver Editor  | FB Linda Lane - I have a strong sense of story, character development, and dialogue, which makes me a better fiction editor than a nonfiction editor. Because I rely on The Chicago Manual of Style as my guide, I am not well qualified to edit works that have been written using a different style. Shonell Bacon Website | FB | Tw Shonell Bacon - I think my biggest strength is that I truly care about the author. I want to know her purpose for writing the project, what she wants readers to get from the project, her concerns about the project, and then as editor (thinking like a reader), I work to help the author develop a story that delivers everything she needs. I also love gramm...

Today in part six of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den , we ask our BRP editors the following question: How do you edit? ⟽⟾ Elle Carter Neal Website | FB | Tw Elle Carter Neal - I use the Track Changes and Comments features of Word. Linda Lane Website | Denver Editor  | FB Linda Lane - I prefer to work in MS Word on the computer. On occasion, I have also done final edits/proofs in Adobe Acrobat. Shonell Bacon Website | FB | Tw Shonell Bacon - I use both the tracking and comments features in Microsoft Word to edit. And you know, although we often tell writers not to let the Spellcheck of Word be your guide to strong writing, if you go into File>Options>Proofing>Settings, there are many writing issues you can have Word check for, such as passive voice, wordiness, clichés, and vague adjectives. Maryann Miller Website | FB | Tw Maryann Miller - Word Tracking is my friend. I have used it ...

Welcome to part five of our September series Inside the Editor’s Den . In the first two weeks, we talked to our BRP editors about their reasons for becoming editors , their training and expertise , their favorite genres to edit , and their editorial style(s) . This series provides a wealth  of information for writers who are looking for an editor for their literary baby. Today's question asked to our editors is... What services do you offer to your clients? Maryann Miller Website | FB | Tw Maryann Miller - My editing services include content and copy-editing novels and nonfiction books, as well as screenplay evaluation and editing. On special request, I have helped clients with query letters and articles. Elle Carter Neal Website | FB | Tw Elle Carter Neal - I usually work closely with clients chapter by chapter, providing a thorough copyedit along with developmental advice. Sometimes that results in the author rethinking elements down the lin...