This post first ran on February 12, 2009 and it's as relevant as ever! ~ Dani QUESTION: What is your take on internal monologue? How frequently should it be used and how should it be formatted? Contrast its usage as opposed to indirect thought exposure where summaries of what goes through a characters head are exposed but not the exact wording. Donald James Parker http://www.donaldjamesparker.com/ Angels of Interstate 29 ANSWER: Internal monologues -- sometimes thought of as stream of consciousness or internal dialogue -- is different for different types of novels. A literary novel may have pages and pages of stream of consciousness. James Joyce, anyone? But it takes a deft hand to pull that off and not lose the reader in a jumbled mass of disconnected thoughts. In most contemporary commercial fiction – which encompasses a wide variety of genres – internal monologues should be used sparingly. Readers come to mysteries and romances and westerns and science fiction mo...

Holiday Etymology It's a tradition every December to dig into our ten-year archive and share posts from previous team members and our most popular posts. It's always interesting to ponder how much of the writing and publishing world has changed, as well as how much it has remained the same. We hope you enjoy the revisits!  Wishing you all happy holy days if you celebrate - may your days still be merry and bright if not. ~ Dani Greer/Chief Red Pencil

Welcome Scott Eagan , and thank you for participating in “romance month”. We’ve been talking to and about male romance authors, but you have a little different perspective in that you are a male agent who specializes in romance. How did you come to the decision to be a romance agent? When I first opened Greyhaus Literary Agency , I looked at representing a lot of different genres. After looking at the market, I realized there were a lot of benefits of focusing in on just this genre. At that time, there were few agents who were this focused. With this market always shifting, I felt that trying to keep track of trends, editors and lines of just the romance and women’s fiction market was going to be tough enough. I also believed that focusing my attention this much allowed me a chance to better work with my authors. I was able to really study the genre and know all the angles of it. On a personal level, I just love this genre. I like the fact that we get the chance to explore human...

This post has been reprised and updated from one that first appeared Oct. 17, 2011. False Evidence Appearing Real Having suffered from insomnia in the past and now facing a new journey of life alone after the loss of my husband, I know fear can raise its ugly head during the wee hours when you are between awake and doze. You are most vulnerable then and negative things keep running through your mind in a continuous loop. As writers, we all experience this to some degree at various stages of our work. First it might be “I can’t come up with an idea.” Then, after a great start where the story flows effortlessly, there is that sudden stop and “Oh no! Where do I go next? What if I can’t finish the story?” The fear seems real. After you finish the story and polish it to a high sheen, then fear sets in again: “What if I can’t get it published? What if nobody likes it?” Any small word of critique becomes that F.E.A.R. OK, say your book gets published and after the happ...

I love the Internet. Today while researching "street teams", I ran across a blog post by Angela Ackerman that nailed the basics. You can read it here. I immediately connected with her and was intrigued by her writing books, and in the course of our conversation, I invited her to visit the Blood-Red Pencil. Turns out, we've already written about her with this post from September 23, 2012. Well, it's worth a second read, and happily, we'll get to visit with Angela again. Very soon. Hooray! ~ Dani/Chief Red Pencil I have not read or purchased a new grammar or reference book recently, but rely on my old favorites, The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, Self-Editing for fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King and the Flip Dictionary (better than a thesaurus sometimes).  But I’m always preaching “feelings” to my students and editing clients. What is he feeling here? What is her reaction to this? How does sad (happy, angry, frustrated) feel? I sometimes have ...

From John Kremer's blog , Tips on Marketing Books and E-books , here are 32 great reasons to read more books. Please share. To escape your normal life. To travel to real destinations. To explore new worlds. To imagine more than you could on your own. To understand something new. To understand something old. To connect with the author. To connect with other readers. To dream a new life. To compare dreams, realities, and in-between. To laugh and enjoy. To deepen your understanding and insight. To know more than you could learn on your own. To learn what you don’t know. To learn what you do know. To discover something extraordinary. To meet incredible characters. To build a larger vocabulary. To cry after a great read. To be entertained by a great story. To relax with a great storyteller. To stimulate thought. To grow your spirit. To find motivation to do more. To go on a great adventure. To learn how others live or have lived. To expand your horizons. ...

How many of you are self-publishing your work? If you're getting it printed yourself, how are you doing it? Using a local printing company? Using Lightning Source? Going Print On Demand? Despite the emergence of e-books, a lot of writers still want their book in print. Now that's doable since we're into a new era of publishing. More and more authors are "doing it themselves". This is especially true when it comes to e-books. But it's also true for those who want to publish a print book. Putting your book into print is not all that difficult to do anymore. Admittedly, it takes time and the formatting can be a bit arduous. You can make it easier, though. We're now in a new era of publishing. Some of us are adapting and participating. Some are kicking and screaming. Either way, we're now in a new world of publishing. The good news is that the formatting is pretty basic. Whether you publish through Smashwords or Lightning Source or wherever,...

When my first book, Cowgirl Dreams , was published, I was shocked and surprised to learn that you don’t necessarily sell books in bookstores.  That just doesn’t seem logical, does it? Well, it does, if you think about it.  Bookstores shelve thousands of books.  Customers have their favorite well-known authors and usually they go in specifically to purchase that particular author.  Some may browse and run across your book and be intrigued enough to buy it, but unless your name is John Grisham or Danielle Steele or Nora Roberts, don’t count on it. Even when I put on a reading and PowerPoint presentation one time at a local independent bookstore, I had an audience of about twenty people, but I sold two only books. Seems daunting, doesn’t it?  Where do you sell books, if not in bookstores? Since my novels are based on my grandmother who rode bucking stock in rodeos, I look for any store or event where people might be interested in rodeo, horses, ranc...

A few years back, I wrote books for TSTC Publishing. The first one was called TechCareers: Biomedical Equipment Technicians and the Department Chair's name is on the book. The second book was called TechCareers: Automotive Technicians . Then came TechCareers: Avionics and TechCareers: Computer Gaming . Those last three books have my name on the cover. For the Biomedical Equipment Technicians book, I interviewed five people. For the remaining books, I upped the number of interviewees to at least 13. That meant a ton of transcribing, creating questions, typing and organizing. And it doesn't include the hours of researching schools in the U.S. that teach that career and what classes are required, etc. or travel time. For each interview, I created a profile for each subject. In this case, a profile is not a life story of the person. It’s a brief bit about his or her background in the field, then some of his thoughts on an aspect of the field. To determine where in the bo...

I follow the “social media maven” Kristen Lamb’s blog. She is a zany, savvy writer and social media marketer. Here are excerpts from a recent blog post “ Five Warning Signs Your Story Needs Revision .” I ditto her remark, “To maybe make you guys feel better, I’ve written well over a million words in blogs and articles alone. I’ve also written three books, two novels and scads of short stories. As much as I have written—and EDITED—even I have to seek outside editors to look for these issues.” Photo by Andrea De Stefani ,  via Free Images Kristen’s warning flags: 1. If Your Novel has More Characters than the Star Wars Prequels, You Might Need Revision. Whenever the author takes the time to name a character, that is a subtle clue to the reader that this is a major character and we need to pay attention. Think Hollywood and movies (good ones, NOT the SW prequels). If the credits roll and there is a named character in the credits, then we can rest assured this charact...

Now that you’ve created a character sketch , with your main character’s personality traits, flaws, quirks and secrets, what do you do with it? As beginning writers, we often think we need to put this all up front, so the reader will know exactly who this character is, what influenced him and how she got into whatever mess she’s found herself in. We’ve all read books that start out with a great hook—the character in the middle of a situation that makes us want to know how he/she gets out of it. So, we’re all primed for the action, the world of this story. But what happens if the whole next chapter takes us back to the character’s childhood, explaining how mistreated he/she was, describing all their physical traits, and reasons she hates men or he wants to climb the highest mountain. That should give us all we need to know about the character so we can go on and enjoy the rest of the story, right? Wrong. Including big chunks of backstory in the opening pages is like s...

Many writers like to do a character profile before they write the story. You can also create one as you go along. It’s handy to keep track of small details like hair and eye color, relationship to other characters, etc. But it can also help establish a backstory—the character(s) personality, motivation, quirks, philosophies, and why he/she might act a certain way when confronted with an obstacle. Along with the name, age, and birthplace, here are some characteristics you might want to think about: · Physical description (any scars, a limp, etc?) · Family background: (financial & social status, get along w/parents etc.?) · Occupation: · Hobbies: · Marital Status/children/pets? · Moral standards: · Extrovert or introvert? · Taste in music, books, food: · Character traits (strongest and weakest): · Philosophy of life: And digging a little deeper to help with your plotline: · Wha...

February is the month of “Love” and we’ve been discussing this theme in our writing all month. Love is an emotion. I have found that emotion is the KEY to rounded character development. If you write Sean loved Mary with all his heart , do you “feel” that love? Do you identify with him? Empathize? No? How can you “show” emotion without “telling” your reader what to feel? Here’s an exercise to put yourself “in the mood,” so to speak: • Close your eyes and think of the word Love and remember a time when you felt that emotion. • How is your body reacting? What are some of your physical reactions? • What are you thinking? • What do you see? Any specific colors? What color is love? • Is there a certain smell that goes with the feeling? (lilacs, Old-Spice aftershave, Neco Wafers?) • A taste? What does love taste like? (cinnamon, licorice, scotch?) • A sound. What does love sound like? Write for ten minutes based on your feelings without using the word “love”. Here’s an exce...

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a Roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the King's' wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. This fable seems to apply to our writing journey as well as to life in general. Perhaps, when we start out, we receive a critique that hu...

I am thankful every day for many wonderful things in my life. But during this special season of Thanksgiving, I want to focus on thankfulness for books. I am thankful my dad was an avid reader and passed that love to me. I’m thankful for the bookmobile, the libraries and the bookstores that have provided me with wonderful avenues of adventure throughout my life. And, I’m thankful for the gift I’ve been given to write books. I’d like to share a few of Marketing guru John Kremer’s 32 Great Reasons to Read a Book: • To escape your normal life. • To travel to real destinations. • To explore new worlds.  • To imagine more than you could on your own • To dream a new life. • To know more than you could learn on your own. • To learn what you don’t know. • To learn what you do know. • To discover something extraordinary. • To meet incredible characters. What are some of your reasons to read? A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in North-central Arizona. He...

"Work, the what's-its-name of the thingummy and the thing-um-a-bob of the what d'you-call-it."—P.G. Wodehouse, Psmith, Journalist A placeholder is what a writer puts in when she can’t think of the right line or idea at the moment. Placeholders can be a useful tool when you are making that mad dash through your first draft, especially during November’s NaNoWriMo challenge. How often do you get bogged down when you stop to try to think of just the right word or phrase? How many times do you make a detour to the Internet to search for that word or phrase and get further derailed by blogs, articles or that “ding” that signals you have a Facebook message? Well, turn off everything but your word processing program and remember “placeholders.” You can use a placeholder when you can’t remember what you named the heroine’s fifth child ten  chapters ago. “When he saw the huge shadow looming, Little Whosit dropped his books on the ground and ran.” You don’t need to take...

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” ― Mark Twain. Words can have more than one basic meaning and some words sound similar but have a completely different denotation. For example:    (Wrong) Older people often suffer infirmaries . (a place for the sick)    (Right) Older people often suffer infirmities. (disabilities) Some words are homonyms (sound-alikes) but mean very different things. For example, principal/principle or rain/reign/rein.  Then there are words with similar but distinct meanings.    (Wrong) Television commercials continuously (unceasingly) interrupt programming.    (Right) Television commercials continually (regularly) interrupt programming. Which vs That.  "Which" is used to introduce non-restrictive clauses (extra but not essential information) such as in The leftover lettuce, which is in the refrigerator, would make a ...

In any writing—non-fiction as well as fiction—try to use all five senses in telling your story. It will help to put your reader right THERE. Those five senses are: • Sight • Sound • Smell • Taste • Touch Sight is probably the easiest and most commonly used of the senses. And it is great to use colors and word pictures to make us “see” a scene. Use specifics: instead of saying “colorful flowers,” use “the delphinium’s bursts of magenta and blue” OR “the show-stopping red hollyhock blossoms.” But close your eyes and try to describe the scene with one or more of your other senses. Smell is perhaps the strongest sense of them all and certainly evokes the deepest memories and feelings. “My first boyfriend smelled like sawdust and Necco wafers.” Or “the potent brew of flowers, cigarettes and something musty I couldn’t identify.” Sound : How can you put the reader into this scene? Birds chirping, flowing water in a creek, the rustle of wind in the trees. What picture does t...