Hi Folks, In the previous two posts I mentioned using action verbs in brief descriptive narratives. The same goes for longer narratives, of course. There are three kinds of verbs: state-of-being verbs, linking verbs, and action verbs. State-of-being verbs do not show action. As their name implies, they are used to indicate a state of being. The state-of-being verbs are am, is, are, was, were, be, being and been. These are often accompanied by have, has, and … Read more
Hi Folks, In the previous post I mentioned the nuances of the stuff between the quotation marks. Here’s a second installment on dialogue tips. This is all about the nuances. If you have questions about any of these, please ask in the comments section. Thanks! Well-written dialogue should be colorful, especially the dialogue of flat or secondary characters, and even more especially if the flat or secondary character is used to foreshadow a later event. Strive … Read more
Hey Folks, Because dialogue comes directly from the character’s mouth to the reader’s ear, no other part of your story is more intimate with the reader. No other part of the story will do more to engage the reader directly. Dialogue dialogue consists of three elements: two parts narrative and one part nuance. The narrative parts are tag lines and brief descriptive narrative. Nuance is composed of the subtleties of implication. What your character says is … Read more
Hi Folks, There’s some old wisdom that says if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. It’s true for gas tanks. If you keep the top half full, the bottom half will take care of itself. It’s true for health. If you eat right and exercise, you won’t have nearly as many health problems as a lot of folks do. And it’s true for writing. Oh man, is … Read more
Well, maybe not suicide, but at least a really severe professional mangling. Hey Folks, I’ve recently become aware there are still some writers out there who have made a conscious decision not to publish their work through Smashwords. Frankly, I suspect that’s due in part to the Smashwords Style Guide being so stinkin’ convoluted that it’s difficult to read, much less understand. That’s okay. I agree. In fact, I agree so much that after I finally … Read more
Wait! Before you click off ’cause maybe you aren’t interested in this topic, read this: If you are NOT a subscriber yet over at FrostProof808.com and if you ARE a writer, you want to do yourself a favor and stop over there to read yesterday’s post. I think you’ll enjoy it. (grin) Okay, now go ahead and read about Writing Memoir, below. Hi Folks, I’m pretty sure a lot of folks who read my blog are … Read more
Hi Folks, This is to introduce a new series of posts. Two of my recent posts have been about learning, but many others (especially those on FrostProof808) have been about writing into the dark, a function of the subconscious mind. The thing is, you LEARN with the conscious (critical) mind. You WRITE with your subconscious, creative mind. So this series will be nuts and bolts stuff to feed your conscious mind. What is important will sift … Read more
Hi Folks, Note: I’m not sure why this post missed going out on June 1, but I’m looking into it. In any case, here it is a day late. Harvey This is an important blog post. I first posted it over on The Journal in slightly different form. I encourage you to sign up for that blog. It is the more important of the two, and if this one goes away, that one will continue. As … Read more
Hi Folks, This post will be the last in my Microsoft Word for Writers series. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and gotten some benefit from it. Of course, I’ll be back in about 10 days with a new post on a topic of interest to writers, self-editors and self-publishers. Some have mentioned that I haven’t explained Microsoft Word’s styles function. That’s because this blog series is intended as a general guide to using Microsoft Word as … Read more
Hi Folks, Occasionally I receive an email from a writer who has no idea how to insert an em dash (there are a few ways) or what I mean when I suggest they use the Save As function to rename a document or how to save a document to a different folder on the desktop or to a flash drive, for example. Here are a few notes that might help: To form an em dash (a … Read more