Editor Devil

My First Book On Kindle

2012-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce I published my first book to Kindle. No, it was not my romantic suspense but my book honoring my working dog, Bo, who died of cancer over Christmas (see "Bo Doesn't Know" http://www.amazon.com/Bo-Doesnt-Know-ebook/dp/B007A53PKK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329712144&sr=8-1). This book was a total work of love, a photo story about his time living with cancer and the silly

2012-02-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well, if you've wondered why I've been so silent, I can answer you in one word: PUPPY. *One of us (obviously not you!) forgot that puppies are like babies for the first few weeks--up every 3 hours and ready to be entertained and fed. Needless to say, sleep deprivation has taken its toll. I'm doing dumb things like putting my keys in the silverware drawer. Hey, they're shiny and silver, right?

Vote for My Book Cover

2012-01-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

I am putting my book covers to a vote. Here are two potential book covers for my romantic suspense. NOTE: these are mockups, so the images have not been purchased yet and therefore have watermarks and quality issues. And I'll change out the guy image, so the gun is more evident. But the color/layout will be the same. Also, this is going to be a series, so the other book titles are "A Taste for

Hope is A Puppy

2012-01-09T12:30:00.000-08:00

Our first week without Bo was not easy. My eyes are tired. I've cried every day since his diagnosis, every night since his death. And my home feels empty, alone. Like love is missing. Because it is. A third of my family is gone. Keeping myself busy isn't enough to fast-forward the grieving process. I've been finishing the book on Bo, working on photographs, prepping to teach my dialogue class

Dogs Dont' Cry

2011-12-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

I've been very absent from blogging, mostly due to deadlines, vacation, and now my working dog, Bo, who was diagnosed with cancer. Please follow his story at EveryoneLovesBo.blogspot.com. We are raising money to pay for his surgeries, so I'll be posting items for sale here and on his blog site, and I'll be publishing stories on Kindle about lives he's touched. Here's the first entry on his blog

ENCORE POST: Creating Characterization through Dialogue

2011-11-04T15:40:00.000-07:00

Here is an encore post from my Dialogue class (which I'm selling as a PDF now http://editordevil.blogspot.com/p/upcoming-classes.html): Characterization is the painting of a character in a story through narrative, dialogue and action. Done well, the character will come to life on the page as if they are a real person. Done poorly, and the author has succeeded in creating cardboard. And the

Getting to the Heart of Characters

2011-10-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Because it's such a difficult subject to get right, let's talk more about inserting Heart into your novel. Not the Heart of the story, but the Heart of the character, so that the reader cares whether the character wins or loses. First, what ISN'T Heart... When a character "owes" their life/career/marriage/etc to someone else, that debt does not constitute Heart. Neither does the fear of losing

Tips for Self-publishing Your Best Work

2011-10-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Since we've been discussing the self-publishing eBook path (and I spent the weekend doused in such conversations at NW Bookfest in Kirkland, WA.) I thought I'd give those who choose this route a few tips and tricks. 1. This Writer's Weekly article, Top Signs a Book is Self-Published, helped point out some of the no-no's that make you look like an amateur. 2. The reader forum on Amazon titled "

Know Your Business: Indie eBook or Traditional Publishing

2011-09-27T14:21:00.000-07:00

So I'm reading about the indie eBook publishing revolution till my brain is numb. But that's part of being a good author--being a solid business person. You have to know your business as well as your craft. After all, if I can't afford to stay in business, I won't produce much writing! My advice to fellow authors is to do your research and think very carefully about which direction you should to

Change Your Flat Tire Verbs

2011-09-09T12:26:00.000-07:00

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Protecting Your Character's Voice

2011-08-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

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Heroes as Villains: 6 Tips to Still Achieve a Character Arc

2011-07-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

In literary fiction, we get all kinds of heroes, from sassy and brash, to sweet and romantic, to the anti-heroes who are self-loathing or wildly edgy. I personally love the anti-heroes of James Joyce's "The Dead" and "Ulysses". Know the Villain Inside & Out Typically, heroes in fiction face an external villain as well as the villains inside themselves. Doing battle with both really ups tension

Description vs Plot

2011-07-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

One way to drag pacing and undermine reader engagement in fiction is to not offer a strong plot. And one reason for this problem is the substitution of extreme detail in lieu of plot. Some authors are so good at writing description and setting and micro events, such as body movements, that they focus on this material at the expense of a larger plot. They literally give play-by-play movements of

When to Stop Editing

2011-05-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

One lesson I've had to learn the hard way, but I warn students about all the time, is that over-editing is worse than not editing at all. Tightening is good and healthy, and it usually involves dropping the fluff words and moving toward more powerful verbs and nouns. But when I kept editing for word count, dropping and dropping every word I could find that wasn't critical, I lost both flavor and

Rattle the Reader's Cage Early

2011-05-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

First impressions count in this world, however unfair we may feel about it. Just ask agents and editors, who look at those first lines and decide if they will keep reading or not. Most folks think the beginning of a story starts with the first page of Chapter One, because that’s where the book starts. The real answer is: not always. Find Your True Starting

RE-POST: Hook vs. Heart in Story Openers

2011-04-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

SINCE WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HOOKS LATELY... LET'S REVISIT HEART...Many students in my recent Create Characters That Last! class asked me about introducing a main character in the first scene of the book and what was required to make the intro powerful. Well, besides the necessary scene details--setting/location, time (at least night or day, future/past or present) and POV--we should get a

On Hooks & Crooks

2011-04-05T10:40:00.000-07:00

The Whidbey Island Writers Conference is small and intimate. Just the place to get all your questions answered and pitch agents/editors without pressure. Or just socialize and take classes, which is what I did. So nice to be the student once in a while, and I got the lovely opportunity to work with Mary Buckham, a great teacher, who bent my brain about hooks. Now, as a journalist we learned to

Using Scenes to "Show, Not Tell"

2011-03-17T11:10:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of screenplay writing is that it forces the author to focus on Dialogue and Action, the two critical aspects of the "show, don't tell" theory. This winning formula in screenwriting is also good for writing book scenes. NO Prattling Allowed In screenwriting, Dialogue IS Action. In other words, what people say in a scene should move the story forward. Such as conveying

Sensational Scenes Class Via Savvy Authors

2011-03-07T12:28:00.000-08:00

I'm teaching my Sensational Scenes class through Savvy Authors this month. Come on down and join us! Strong scenes structure is the favored model in the current publishing industry. This will be a fun and rewarding class. And tough. We’ll examine the micro and macro issues that make up great scenes, and we'll discuss books as well as movies for inspiration. You'll learn from an editor's

Show Me The Heart...

2011-02-25T10:48:00.000-08:00

Since we talked about hook vs. heart in my last blog post, I'd like to see some of those rewritten openers that everyone mentioned. Post your first 3 paragraphs and let's see if you've got the heart in the story. Remember, you got to get it in there at the beginning! Bring it on!!! Your Editor Devil

Hook vs. Heart in Story Openers

2011-02-22T10:33:00.000-08:00

Many students in my recent Create Characters That Last! class asked me about introducing a main character in the first scene of the book and what was required to make the intro powerful. Well, besides the necessary scene details--setting/location, time (at least night or day, future/past or present) and POV--we should get a physical and emotional glimpse of the main character. A few details will

Elmore Leonard Was Wrong About Character Description...And Right

2011-02-01T13:13:00.000-08:00

The great and prolific author Elmore Leonard created a list he dubbed "10 Rules of Writing." This list is now in book form (it originally ran as a New York Times article called “Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle”), with humorous art work, and makes a lovely gift for the writer or editor in your life. If you don't know Leonard's name, think of the movies "Out

Don’t Tell Me You Care, Show Me

2011-01-20T17:18:00.000-08:00

(more character development do's and don'ts from my upcoming class) Don’t… explain a character’s response to a situation—or to another character—when action would prove their response. Especially don’t use internal dialogue to do the ALL work for you. This is cheating the reader from experiencing the hero/heroine’s reactions and coming to their own conclusion about what the hero/heroine is

Don’t Get Unreal When Reality Works Better

2011-01-10T22:33:00.000-08:00

More character development Do's & Don'ts... Don’t… make your hero/heroine so perfect, they are inhuman. When you don’t include fatal flaws (physical, emotional, and mental), then your hero/heroine will feel rigid, one-dimensional. Readers can only bond with three-dimensional characters. Flaws make the hero/heroine not only have more obstacles, but they make hero/heroines three-dimensional. And

Don’t Describe Cardboard When Lace Works

2011-01-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

Don’t… use vague, cliche physical descriptions to describe your hero or heroine. Brown hair, tall, strong build. That’s been done. Over and over. These words don’t convey the hero/heroine’s energy or uniqueness. Remember, vague means boring. Don’t be afraid to counter the typical description by showing scars, ugly aspects, or what they don’t have. Do… use unique words and phrasings to convey