When considering whether to put an animal in a story, it is probably wise to decide what role the animal is going to play. Is it just to be there because you happen to like dogs, or cats, or rabbits, or birds? Or because you are trying to attract all the dog and cat lovers to buy your book? The books in the popular K9 series mentioned on May 8 by Patricia Stolty are good examples of animals being an integral part of the plot and characters in their own right. Not just a ploy to increase sales. Being a firm believer that all elements of a story need to be organic to the story, not just plopped in there, that is what I thought of when my co-author, Margaret Sutton, wanted to put a cat in Doubletake . I asked her why. "Because we both love cats," she said, as three cats wandered across her desk and bookcases in her office. My instinct was that that was not reason enough, but had a hard time articulating that to her at the time. It was later, after reading enough books ...

This top post of 2016 was first published on May 31. I have been absent from The Blood-Red Pencil for several months. Just thought I'd point that out in case you hadn't noticed (smile). I was laid low - really low - with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome the end of January, and it has just gotten to the point where I can do more than recline and listen to audio books. No reading, no writing, no television, no driving; and for several weeks nothing more than hobbling from the bed to the bathroom to the couch at my daughter's house. One of my sons joked that Ramsay Hunt must have been a CIA interrogator in a past life. I believe it. While being incapacitated, I did a lot of thinking about how other authors deal with health issues that throw great challenges at them. A blind writer who continually loses tools no amount of technology can replace. A friend who slogged through her last book hampered by the sludge of a mind drowning in personal problems. Another friend who continued ...

As promised when I started this series on editing I have more tips to offer. What I have been posting is taken from an editing workshop that I have given at writers' conferences. I didn't realize I had so much material until I started breaking it down for this blog and realized there are literally pages of tips. Hope you are finding them helpful. In the second draft I suggested you look at characterization, plotting and story continuity. In the third draft you will want to pay attention to pacing, voice, and style. Is the story going fast enough? Too fast? Is the dialogue natural? Concise? Is the rhythm of the words unique to your writing or does it read like every other book out there in your genre? Some editing techniques to use: FISH CLEANING - chop off the head and tail of scenes. It is not necessary to have characters walk into and out of every scene. In dialogue it is not necessary to have all the courtesy talk, “thank you.” “hello.” “goodbye” You don’t have to set up a c...