You might have noticed the *spoiler* in the Blood-Red Pencil blog post for May 27 , so I might as well confess that my go-to book on writing is The Elements of Eloquence: Secrets of the Perfect Turn of Phrase , by Mark Forsyth. You won’t see the book on my shelves in the photo in the May 27 post because it’s by my side at my computer, at the ready for a figure of speech or a smile. Imagine 39 chapters, covering such abstruse turns of phrase as hendiadys , zeugma , catachresis , and scesis onomaton . A favorite of mine is diacope , which gave us the 22nd greatest line in all of cinema (yes, Forsyth asks precisely how the American Film Institute can be so precise). The line: Bond, James Bond . Or, consider extended diacope, Free at last, Free at Last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last. Repetition in wording seems to do the trick, the trick it does. It’s also fun to read Chapter 20, on enallage , a deliberate grammatical mistake (if a mistake can be deliberate, he wonders). Forsyt...

I’ll start with a confession. I neither like nor enjoy most modern “literary” fiction. I’ve tried repeatedly to get involved with some Pulitzer Prize or National Book Award winner, only to throw it down with a combination of disgust and boredom within a few chapters. Not every single fictional character or family must suffer from such extreme dysfunction that they can barely make it through a day without booze or pills. A book needn’t feature only repellent people who have overpowering murderous urges toward their closest friends or family members in order to qualify as “literary.” But apparently, the gods of modern literature have dictated it must be thus, so bookstore shelves sag with a ponderance of these bleak modern novels. I’m not saying every book I read must be a variation on Pollyanna…simply that once in a while, I’d like to read a story of struggle, hope, ambition, and obstacles overcome that actually has a happy ending. Why can’t books about joy be considered as wort...

Edward Unspooled Craig Lancaster File Size: 3117 KB Print Length: 286 pages Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited Publisher: Missouri Breaks Press (July 23, 2016) Publication Date: July 23, 2016 Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC Language: English ASIN: B01I2D7HU2 BOOK BLURB:  Change keeps stalking Edward Stanton. He and his new wife, Sheila, have retreated to his small house in Montana after an unsuccessful attempt at operating a motel in Colorado. That failure has left wounds, especially for Sheila, and now they face a bigger challenge: pregnancy and impending parenthood. Edward begins penning notes to the child (ever precise, he refers to the gestating being as “Cellular Stanton”) as he navigates married life with Sheila, who is unhappy and unfulfilled in Montana; a work partnership with his friend Scott Shamwell, whose own life is teetering; and the emergence of a long-buried family secret and the effect of this revelation on his relationship with his overbeari...

It was quite a delight to win one of the ARCs for Author In Progress by Therese Walsh, Editor & the Writer Unboxed Community. If you are not familiar with the Writer Unboxed Blog , you might want to hop over there, when you are finished here, and spend some time reading the wonderful posts. I found that community a number of years ago when one of my writing friends had written a guest post there. While I was at the site,  I read a few of the other posts, and immediately subscribed to the blog. Every day there is a new bit of writing advice and wisdom and inspiration, and the writers who share so freely on the blog have contributed to the book. The book is organized in such a way as to take a writer from the very beginning of a journey of words through to the end. Part One is Prepare, with an opening essay by Barbara O'Neal, Why We Write . She says, "Story is why writers exist, and story is why you are driven to the page. In a world so overwhelmed with everyday trivial...

I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of Timothy Hallinan's most recent release, Fields Where They Lay , a new Junior Bender mystery. Tim has been nominated for the Edgar and Macavity Awards, and Herbie's Game won the Lefty in 2014 for  the best comic mystery. As a long-time fan of Tim's writing, I was thrilled to get the advance copy of this book that releases in October. I first got acquainted with his work when I was reviewing for BloggerNews.com and received a copy of Breathing Water, a Poke Rafferty Thriller . That was back in 2010, and I have read a number of other books in the Poke Rafferty series, as well as the Junior Bender series. It's hard to say which I like better, as they both are so well-written and packed with fascinating characters and interesting places. Junior Bender is not your ordinary thief. He's a cultured thief, if cultured and thief could actually be used in the same sentence, but as you get to know him, you recognize that he is wel...

By Catherine DePino (reviewed by Linda Lane) The preface of this book opens with these words: “No matter what your circumstances, Excuse Me, Your Participle’s Dangling! will give you the bare essentials of grammar that you’ll need to write like a pro. This book also offers a simple yet foolproof method of writing under pressure, the key to success in any college program or workplace.” While this sounds like a practical approach for many folks, how does it work for novelists, who rarely fit into the “academic” category and whose grammatical needs can sometimes be extensive and complex? Chapter one appropriately addresses verbs. Why appropriately? Verbs empower sentences. Verb choice can determine whether a sentence lies on the page, soon to be forgotten, or rises up to compel a reader to digest its content and continue reading for more gems. This chapter focuses on verb types, weak and strong verbs, active and passive voice, and irregular verbs, covering the “bare essentials...

I first discovered Eric Maisel’s creativity books about ten years ago, as I stood at the threshold of a creative career change. I’d worked as a professional painter for more than ten years with my artist husband, and found myself yearning to write. So I switched careers and over the past ten years, added blogging, social marketing, and editing to my professional hat rack. I’m happy to report I’ve made a living at it and earned a good deal of satisfaction in the process. That doesn’t mean my life is perfect. Often it's like riding a roller coaster. Maisel understands the ups and downs of the creative life and building a career, and that’s what Making Your Creative Mark is about. From the book cover: Writers, painters, singers, filmmakers, musicians, craftspeople, and actors confront daunting challenges every day. It is hard to produce new work, find success in the marketplace, manage relationships, and keep spirits up… Intended for professional artists and those aspiri...

Last week I introduced Louise Penny and all the awards she has won for her books, most notably, The Agatha. When I first started reading her latest, A Trick of the Light , it reminded me a bit of the great Agatha Christie. I loved the quaint little village of Three Pines and the assortment of people who live there; unique characters, made very real, much like Christie made her characters real. While that similarity is there, Penny takes her stories and her people to deeper places than Agatha Christie ever did. Consider this brief description of the story: “Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.” But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and ...

The Diviner’s Tale Bradford Morrow ISBN 978-0-547-38263-0 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010 The Diviner’s Tale , by Bradford Morrow, is not what it appears to be. I knew this before I even started the book. “It’s by a man, writing from a first-person female point of view,” said Dani, one of the web mistresses here. “I’ll be interested in your opinion.” I’ll be honest: throughout much of the book I thought Morrow didn’t quite pull it off. The story was engaging. Cassie's parents, Nep and Rosalie, are well-drawn and engaging. Jonah and Morgan, the narrator Cassie’s two sons, are interesting and funny. The settings in which the story takes place are vividly drawn. But as I read I found it difficult to visualize Cassie. There are hints—she’s tall, thin, and has curly red hair—but even those details have a curious unreality to them. What is heart-wrenchingly clear about her is that she is very much her parents’ child—she is both a water diviner, like her father, and a schoolteac...

A Bad Day for Pretty by Sophie Littlefield Mystery Minotaur Books, An Imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group ©2010 ISBN 978-0-312-55975-5 Hardcover 292 pages, $24.99 US Reviewed by Patricia Stoltey When Stella Hardesty had taken all the abuse she could handle from her no-good husband, she took him out with a wrench. It was self defense, plain and simple, and Stella was acquitted. Nowadays she owns Hardesty Sewing Machine Repair & Sales and runs a little vigilante attitude adjustment service on the side. Word gets around, whispered from woman to woman. When a wife or girlfriend needs protection from the jerk she hooked up with in a moment of stupidity, she’s likely to hire badass Stella to pay the jerk a not-so-friendly visit. Since her marriage was abruptly terminated, Stella has kept a tight rein on her emotions and a lock on her heart. But wouldn’t you know it? She’s gone all mushy-kneed over Sheriff Goat Jones. He cooks, cleans, would never hurt a woman, and he h...

In yesterday's post, Patricia mentioned Grammar Girl who is also known to us as Mignon Fogarty. Let me get straight to the point: I worship at this woman's feet. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate a bit, but not much. Since I first discovered the site and the book, Grammar Girl's Quick & Dirty Tips for Better Writing, I've become a loyal fan. This book sits on my bookshelf along with my favorite dictionaries, thesaurus, and other reference books I use to edit. I've signed up to get a tip in my mailbox every day (and read them, too, unlike so many other bits of email that end up in the virtual trash can), and if ever I have a question that truly stumps me, Mignon is the person who springs to mind - she of the final and absolutely correct answers. If that isn't enough to convince, you can listen to the podcasts, buy a cool mug or tee shirt, even holiday greeting cards. Add to that iPhone apps, tips on Twitter and Facebook , free book chapter downloads, and you...

When I joined the fine editors here at The Blood-Red Pencil, Dani asked me to review editing books. Since then, I've been wading through different books, looking for one I could both recommend and use for my own editing. After many months of disappointing starts, I found one: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers Renni Browne and Dave King Quill Publishing copyright 1993 ISBN: 0-06-272046-5 paperback non-fiction This book has everything I've been looking for: descriptions and examples of non-grammar editing, followed by suggested writing/editing exercises (with sample results). Who could ask for more? The short introduction describes the changes in the publishing industry and the resulting burden placed on writers to present edited manuscripts to agents and publishers. The authors do not believe self-editing can replace professional editing. In fact, the authors make a point of thanking their editors and suggest that ...