Articles on Writing Fiction The Editor - s Blog
Full Archives
of the Editor's Blog and Beth Hill
“Wasting Time” on a Practice Novel
(Most) Characters Can’t Read Minds
(Stop) Comparing Yourself to Successful Authors
2015 NaNo Encouragement
2016 NaNoWriMo Prep
A Heritage of Words
A Novel Ending
A Tale of Adverbs and the Comma
A Writer’s Style (Excerpt #4)—Launch Week Festivities*
A Writing Challenge for Genre—(April 2016)
Add Poetry to Your Prose—Write with Flair
Adventures in Self-Publishing—Yes, Try It
Am I Possessive?
Another Take on Dialogue Tags
Another Year—Encouragement and a Reminder of Goals
Answering Your Questions About Specifics
Anticipation and Uncertainty—Lessons From TV Sports
Anyone Can Write a Book
Apologies for Formatting Issues
Assess Your Writing Skills—Turn Weaknesses to Strengths
Bad Dialogue—Bad, Bad Dialogue
Be Bold and Assertive
Betrayal—the Ultimate Conflict
Beyond the Basics—Push the Story and Push Yourself
Bitches and Bastards, Maybe. But No Perfect Characters Wanted
Blog Milestone
Build Toward The Story’s End
Capitalizing on the Holidays—A Reader’s Question
Casting Your Scenes
Celebrating Year One at The Editor’s Blog
Celebrations in Story—Marking the Special Days
Challenge for the New Year—2015
Change It This Way or That Way?
Character Rants and Breakdowns—Let ’em Rip
Character Reaction—Make Your Characters Respond
Character Voices Shouldn’t Sound Like Yours
Characters Asking Questions
Characters Don’t Live in a Vacuum
Characters Need Goals
Charge Your Writing Batteries
Check Your Facts
Checklist for Editors
Claustrophobia—Don’t Imprison Readers in a Character’s Head
Clear and Simple Writing Advice
Clear the Dread from the Dreaded Synopsis
Clichés–Are They Really That Bad?
Clothe Characters Well—Choose Words that Fit
Coincidence Destroys the Suspension of Disbelief
Come to Your Senses
Coming Soon—Membership
Coming Soon—The Magic of Fiction
Coming Soon. . . Giveaway of a Free 30-page Edit
Comma Splice—A Common Writing Mistake
Commas with Subordinate Clauses—A Reader’s Question
Common Writing Mistakes
Compare My Manuscript to a Famous Book—A Writer’s Question
Compound Words—Using This Cheat Sheet is Not Cheating
Conflict—Beyond Arguments and Fist Fights
Consistency Can Trump Problems
Convincing Readers Your Fiction is Real
Couples Policy
Creating Emotion in the Reader
Creating Fictional Characters
Creative Genius vs. Editing Witch
Critique My First Paragraph—Launch Week Festivities*
Cut the Flab—Make Every Word Count
Dangling Modifiers—A Common Writing Mistake
Dare to Challenge Your Characters
Dealing with Discouragement
Dealing With Interruptions
Deep POV and Narrative Distance—Part 1
Deep POV and Narrative Distance—Part 2
Deep POV—What’s So Deep About It
Defining Genre Part 1 (Writing Essentials)
Defining Genre Part 2 (Writing Essentials)
Deflate Confusion and Cast Off Frustration
Deliver the Payoff
Deny, Deny, Deny
Detail Enhances Your Fiction
Details and Description—Getting the Facts Right
Dialogue—My Characters Talk Too Much
Dialogue—The Speech of Fiction
Dig Deep and Push Harder
Do Religion and Faith Belong in Fiction?
Don’t Call Me Ishmael—Name that Character
Don’t Explain, Don’t Explain, Don’t Explain
Don’t Fake It—Learn the Craft
Don’t Fear the Semicolon—It’s a Useful Writing Tool
Don’t Let Your Writing Be Ordinary
Don’t Shortchange Those Second and Third and Tenth Books
Don’t Write the Bland and the Boring
Drive, Passion, and Creativity
Dual Duties of Chapter Endings
Duties of an Editor & How Editors Help Writers
Edit in an Instant? Ain’t Gonna Happen
Edit While Formatting—One More Chance to Get It Right
Editing Odds and Ends
Editor’s Lament
Editors Are On Your Side
Either, Neither, and Subject-Verb Agreement
Engage Readers Through Character Reaction
Engage Readers—Feed Them Tasty Fiction
Entertain the Reader
Equip Your Characters
Even More Punctuation in Dialogue—A Reader’s Question
Everybody Does It—Common Writing Mistakes
Everybody Doesn’t Like Something . . .
Exclude Us From Novels
Experiencing Story From the Inside—Feel Your Stories
Feed the Reader Within the Writer
Fiction Talk on Creating an Emotional Impact
Fiction Writers Can’t Be One-Trick Ponies
Final Day for Introductory Price ($35/1st Year) Membership
Find Inspiration When You Are Uninspired
Finding Commas in All the Wrong Places
Finish What You Start
First Drafts (Excerpt #1)—Launch Week Festivities*
First Impressions and Introductions
First Paragraph Critique—Launch Week Festivities*
First Steps in Formatting for Print
Fish Out of Water, Character Out of Time
Five Million and Counting
Focus—What’s This Story About?
Forget the Writing Rules
Format Your Novel for Submission
Fragments and the Incomplete Sentence
Get ‘er Done
Get and Keep the Words Flowing
Get Pushy—Push Character Conflict and Reader Emotion
Get Ruthless—Cutting Back in Order to Add
Get to Know Your Characters
Getting Back to Work and into the Rhythm of Writing
Getting Specific—Addressing Readers’ Examples (Part 1)
Getting Specific—Addressing Readers’ Examples (Part 2)
Go 2017 NaNoers!
Go For Correct, But Don’t Go Crazy
Goodbye 2016, Hello New Year
Goodreads Giveaway of The Magic of Fiction
Grammatically Correct or Culturally Acceptable Wording
Great Expectations vs. Realistic Ones
Habits, Motions, and Common Actions of Fictional Characters
Head-Hopping Gives Readers Whiplash
Heads Up—Holiday Sale at Bowker
Hedge Words
Hold Off on Polishing
Honesty in Fiction
How Goes the Flow in Your Story?
How Long Should My Story Be
How Much Back Story Should I Include
How to Hook Your Readers
How to Respond to Rejections & Negative Feedback
How to Write a Novel
Hyphenation for Print Books
Imagine Beyond What is Safe
Include Surprises in Your Stories
Inner Dialogue—Writing Character Thoughts
Introduce Me with a Comma
Introduction to Description
Invite Readers into Your Story
Is Perfection Possible?
Is Writing “The End” a Bad Idea?—A Reader’s Question
Is Your Storytelling Unbalanced?
It Ain’t Over Till the Full Story Sings
It’s Not Cheating to Use Writing Tips and Tools
Jack of all Trades? That’d Be an Editor—A Reader’s Question . . .
Just Who is the Subject Here?
Keep https://leadership-essay.com to Action and Emotion
Keeping Adjectives in Line
Keys to Writing Better Fiction
Kill Soulless Writing
Know Your Character’s Language
Launch Week Bonus
Launch Week Prize Pack—Launch Week Festivities
Lay and Lie—When to Use Which?
Lesson from Mad Men Finale—It’s the Real Thing
Lessons from the Movies—The Force Awakens
Lessons From TV Shows and Movies
Let it Flow
Let’s Fall in Love
Light a Fire Under Your Characters
Like vs. As
Literary vs. Genre Fiction
Lyrics and Poetry in Fiction—Copyright, Drawbacks, and Other Problems
Maintain Point of View
Make Readers Care
Making Comparisons—Simile and Metaphor in Fiction
Making Plot Less Episodic—A Reader’s Question
Making Something Happen in Story
Male Writers & Female Writers—There’s a Difference in the Writing
Managing Days and Time—Lessons From TV
Marking Text—Choosing Between Italics and Quotation Marks
Marking Time with the Viewpoint Character
Mastering Scene Transitions
Membership is Now Available!
Misused Words—Common Writing Mistakes
More Punctuation in Dialogue—A Reader’s Questions
More Reference Books for Writers & Editors
Multi-Tasking Characters or Impossible Actions?
Must Editors Be Good Writers—A Reader’s Question
NaNo Prep Part 2
NaNoWriMo 2010 Has Begun
Narrative Modes in Fiction—Telling Your Story (Writing Essentials)
Narrative Tense—Right Now or Way Back Then
Need a Boost? Try NaNoWriMo This Year
Need a NaNo Write-In?
New Experiences? Use Them in Your Writing
No Comma Necessary—Coordinating Conjunctions Don’t Always Need Commas
No Explanation Necessary
No Golden Words or Sacred Cows
No More Excuses—Write That Novel
Nothing Words—People
Nothing Words—Somehow
Nothing Words—Thing
Nouns—The Parts of Speech (1)—Writing Essentials
Novel Writing Isn’t Paint by Numbers
Novelist as Director…And as So Much More
Now Available—The Magic of Fiction
Numbers in Fiction
On Grammar and Punctuation
One Adjective Paired with Multiple Nouns—A Reader’s Question
One-Manuscript Diva or Working Novelist?
Overflow Comments for Post on Manuscript Format
Parse Writing Advice
Participial Phrases? C’mon, You Made that Up
Piling On—Frustrate Your Characters
Plain Doesn’t Mean Boring
Please Learn the Rules
Plot Basics—The Events of Story
Plot, Goal, Inciting Incident—A Reader’s Question
Plot, Setting, and Character—Fiction’s Top 3
Point of View—Part Three
Point of View—Part Two
Point of View, the Full Story—Introduction
Practice Leads to Strong Performance
Prepare for the Critics, the Nasty Ones
Proofreading Pays Off
Pros and Cons of Prologue
Punctuation in Dialogue
Punctuation in Fiction—Are There Prohibitions?
Purposes for Connecting Words into Story
Push Yourself to New Heights or Explore the Depths
Questions About Deep POV
Quick Manuscript Clean-up
Quotes Within Quotes
Reader Perception is Important
Reader Saturation—Dealing with Changing Reader Tastes
Reader Takeaway
Readers are Smart—Respect What They Bring to Books
Real Writers Write Every Day
Recap of Past Articles—2011 Year-End Review
Recap—2012 Year-End Review
Recommended Book for Editing Fiction
Reference Books for Writers
Release Announcement for The Magic of Fiction
Remember Your Readers (Excerpt #5)—Launch Week Festivities*
Resolution—Tying up the Ends
Restraining Accents
Restrictive or Not—When Do Clauses Need Commas?
Reviews for The Magic of Fiction
Revisiting Dangling Modifiers
Revive A Scene With Verbs
Rewriting and Editing—So Many Possibilities
Right Place, Right Time Syndrome
Rules of Grammar & Punctuation—The Weird, Odd, or Unfamiliar
Rules vs. Practice—Prescriptive and Descriptive Grammar
Sagging, Soggy Middles
Sampling, Borrowing, Homage, and Plagiarism (Writing Essentials)
Saving the Day, Solving the Problem
Search Inside Books at Amazon
Second Bananas and Sidekicks
Self-Editing Tips
Set Story into Motion—Use Meaningful Verbs
Setting Details—Mastering Technology
Setting Sets Your Stories Apart (Excerpt #2)—Launch Week Festivities*
Setting Up a Series—A Reader’s Question
Setting—The Place and Time of Story
Sex in Fiction—Do They or Don’t They?
Should Editors Write?
Should I Use Absolute Phrases? Absolutely
Should I Worry About Word Count—A Reader’s Question
Show and Tell—Not Just a Game We Play
Show the Love—Genre Requirements (Romance)
Showing and Telling Particulars
Single Quotation Marks—A Reader’s Question
Site Restored
Slapped Silly by Exclamation Points
Smiling or Laughing Dialogue—A Reader’s Question
Spelling Interjections and Exclamations
Stand-Out Stories
Step Outside Your Story World
Stir Reader Curiosity
Story Inspiration From the News
Story Openings in a Digital World—The First Page is a Sales Tool
Story Threads—Tie the Elements Together
Story-specific Words—Fitting Word to Story
Strengthen Middle Chapters (Excerpt #3)—Launch Week Festivities*
Style Sheets—The Setup and the Benefits
Sub-plots, Main Plots, and Digressions
Subtext—Revelation of the Hidden
Take Me Somewhere New—Tell Me A Story
Take Off the Brakes—Write Boldly
Talk About Gerunds
Thank You—Launch Week Roundup
That Final Manuscript Cleanup
That’s Not a Real Word
The Curse of First-Person Narration
The Editor’s Blog on Facebook
The Editor’s Blog—Purpose
The Elements of Fiction—The Basics & Beyond
The Eyes Don’t Always Have It
The First Book is Seldom the Best
The First Draft—What it is and What it isn’t
The Magic of Fiction (print edition) Now Available
The Magic of Fiction–Holiday Sale
The Mean, the Bad, and the Nasty—Writing Villains
The Outline Dilemma—Plotting vs. Pantsing
The Perspective From Inside a Character
The Power of Repetition
The Princess Bride—Storytelling Done Right
The Psychology of Character
The Rudest Awakening
The Sterile Story—Don’t Write Another One
The Story Question is Vital
The Ubiquitous, Wandering It
Those %!@# Expletives
Tips for Writers—The Down and Dirty
Tone, Mood, & Style—The Feel of Fiction
Treating Dependents and Subordinates Properly
Twist Words to Surprise Readers
Use a Rewrite to Add What Your Story Lacks
Use and Misuse of Dialogue Tags
Use Beta Readers to Strengthen Your Stories
Use Words, Not Punctuation, To Tell Your Story
Using Font Styles When Formatting for Print
Using Names in Fiction—4 Tips
Using Time Wisely
Variety in Character Voices
Viewpoint Character and the Need to Choose Wisely
Weed Out Author Intrusion
Welcome Students and Educators
What About Adverbs—A Reader’s Question
What is Theme
What Should an Editor Do for a Writer?
What To Write First When Writing Fiction
When a Comma Isn’t Enough
When Characters are Affected by Events
When the Emperor is Naked, Tell Him
When the Familiar is Too Familiar
When To Bring Backstory Out of the Shadows
Where Should a Second Chapter Start?
Who Needs an Editor
Why Doesn’t My Story Read Like a Published Novel–A Reader’s Question
Why I Would Decline an Edit
Why Write a Novel—Your Reason is the Right One
Why Writing “The End” Doesn’t Mean You’ve Finished
Why Writing Fiction is Hard
Win a 30-page Edit—Article #100 at The Editor’s Blog
Win a First-Thirty Edit—Launch Week Festivities*
Word Choice, Word Order, and Word Placement Can Matter
Word Choices—Contractions and Dialect
Write for Your Readers
Write Hot, Edit Cold? It’s Still Great Advice
Write Like a Native
Write Scenes Rather Than Reports
Write to Universal Acclaim? Not Likely
Write What You Know? Maybe Not
Write with Fire
Writer’s Block—Real or Imaginary?
Writers Are World Creators
Writers Need Friends and Critics
Writing Advice—Behind the Advice (Part Three)
Writing Advice—Listen or Ignore?
Writing Advice—Weighing the Advice (Part Two)
Writing Advice—What About -ing Words (Part Four)
Writing Basics—The Paragraph
Writing Challenge (NaNo Write-in)
Writing for the Emotions
Writing Novels vs. Telling Tales
Writing Prompts—ICYMI
Writing Questions Answered—Launch Week Festivities*
Writing the Query Letter
You Can Write Today
You Can’t Hook a Reader with a Yawn
You Got My Attention, But Where’s the Action?
You Gotta Start Somewhere
Your Character’s Code
Your Own Something Special
Zeroing in on Words
NaNo Info
available in paperback Reviews Here
So maybe it's not only about the words. It's about syntax. And plot. And action. It's voice and pacing and dialogue.
It's about characters with character.
It's about putting the words together to touch, to entertain, to move the reader.