“In like a lion, out like a lamb” Old Saying  Welcome to March - the month which does march toward spring or toward winter depending on where you live. Digression: How wonderful to be able to write something which can be read all over the world by just pressing a button - huzzah for the internet. In the spirit of the old saying at the top of this post, I’ve thought of a few fun ways for you to discover your writing style: Are you a lion or a lamb? Digression: Please remember that I am the creator of the Writing Sheep, so I may have a slight prejudice. Sheep #1: That’s not a baaaad thing. Me: Shhhh.  You may be a lion writer if… You roar through your drafts. You're male and have long hair. You’re female and you do the killing Hey - that’s me!   Sheep #2: EXCUSE ME??? Me: Shhhhh. You like to be the boss. Your writing is wise and powerful.  Okay, I admit it. My writing has never been described with those terms. Bring on the sheep....

Image by Karen Woodward , via Flickr Okay, I have a confession to make. I’m in the process of going against everything I believed about my writing style. As long as I can remember, I’ve started the writing process with nothing but my characters and a situation in mind. It’s the way things have always been. I, Merry Farmer, was a pantser. As comfortable as pantsing has been, though, I’ve had this sense that there might be a more efficient way to do this novel-writing thing. Over the years my pure pantsing style has evolved to having a clear idea of the end of the book and a few major plot points along the way, then writing notes about what I’m writing as I write it to make sure I’m still on track. It’s served me well…and caused a lot of editing and revision. This summer, a light bulb of sorts went off for me. I started talking to several authors who write super fast. The common thread between them is that they outline their stories extensively before they start writing. So I t...

 A few years back, I asked subscribers of my newsletter what kind of office they wrote in. I got some great answers. Author Doris Lakey offered a lot of info about her office. Her daughter called it clutter. Doris called it "sensory rich." Here's what she said: "I designed my office/studio/craft center the year after I retired, in 1999. One of those longheld dreams come to fruition, long after the need for a "closed door" space to shut out family expired. But it feeds my spirit, keeps clutter out of the rest of the house (I chose the sleeper sofa--the exercise equipment is in the converted garage, with heat, a/c, phone and cable--everything is there but me! You'll find me in the office.) "Some writers need a bare landscape to avoid distraction; I need a sensory-rich environment to trigger memories and feelings and my own history. My room is wall to wall paintings and prints, foreign postcards and maps, sewing machine, a u-shaped compu...

This question comes from Chris Stevenson, who is a member of Morgan Mandel’s Book Place on ning. Book Place Chris’s latest book is Gate Walker and it can be purchased here on Amazon.com If you'd like to know more about Chris and her latest book, visit her on her Web site Question : I’ve just spent months going over tedious track-change editing from my publisher. We were allowed little or no adverb/ly words in our manuscript. My question is: Just how much of my unique voice/style did I lose with this very thorough edit? I’m known for being a pretty good stylist, so it concerned me a little. Thanks. Answer: Ah, the old “ly” debate. My initial response to your comment is that I am leery of editors who issue absolutes: You must remove all adverbs. You must remove all uses of “was.” There are legitimate uses of both, and to strip a manuscript of them entirely is a mistake. The problem is that many new writers use adverbs and passive writing to an extreme and that is what can ...

Today I want to share with you another example of writing styles. It's all about pace - the speed of movement of your story. Here are two versions of the same scene. One is slow paced, the other fast paced. *** Crack! The ball went up. Up. Up. Out. Further. Higher. Further. Thirty thousand fans held their collective breath as time stopped and held them transfixed. Glen clutched at his sinking heart. Still there was hope. Maybe. A mighty west wind had held center field yard unbeatable all afternoon. The ball rose higher. Glen's heart sank deeper. Surreal, it seemed, as the slow motion play unfolded below. Like clay puppets struggling to scramble, but without actual muscles to propel them with any efficient motion. Fate seemed to mold their motions frame by frame in a stop/adjust/stop/adjust/stop/adjust impossible to believe lackadaisical series of jerky hiccups. Excruciating. The pitcher's pained face was fixed on yonder far yard. The catcher's mask was off, his stance a...

Last post from me, I wrote about developing your writing style and offered a few tips to help you on your writing journey. Here are more tips to consider when you get before the page with the idea of revising your work to heighten the STYLE of your work. 1. Check your VERBS. Do this for two things: to have active voice in your writing and to create strong verbs. Readers expect to see ACTION in your story. They want the characters to perform, to act – not necessarily be acted upon. When characters perform the action, we have active voice. When the characters are acted upon, we have passive voice – which is seen with the use of “to be” verbs. Let’s say Stella is the main character of a story. If we write, “Stella was killed by the angry mob,” are we doing passive or active voice? If you thought “passive,” you’re right. We could make this a stronger statement by writing, “The angry mob killed Stella.” Look for “to be” verbs and “have” verbs in your writing; if you can find strong, more me...

Language is not static. Language evolves over time. Words come en vogue (or are invented) and some words become passé or even archaic. As language changes, so do the “rules” of its use. For example: someone says to you that “every sentence ends with a period and that rule will never change.” Oh, really? That’s news to me! Here are examples where a period does not end a sentence: It ends with a question mark It ends with an exclamation point It ends with a colon “Never start a sentence with a conjunction.” But why not? This can be a personal preference or a “house rule” for a publisher or publication, but it is not a law and if you break it you go to jail. My husband, who also edits, follows this “rule” but I don’t. We still manage to have a happy, loving marriage despite this difference in our editing preference. “Sentence fragments are wrong.” Baloney. What kind of writing are you doing? I would say this is true for academic and professional writing, but in fiction writing, ...