Is asking editors for free samples a good or bad idea? Most of the time, it’s a bad one, for several good reasons. For one thing, …
Read MoreWhen Self-Help Writing Fails: Avoiding the Temptation of Personal Journaling
But readers of self-help don’t want to be dumped on by someone else’s pain. They’ve got enough to handle of their own. They don’t want to read what sounds like someone else’s journaling and catharsis-in-progress. That makes them feel overwhelmed. Instead, they want the writer to get to the point, to summarize their past (if they’re going to mention it at all)—not deal it out to them, wound by painful wound.
Read MoreHow to Start Writing a Nonfiction Book—Outlining Made Easy
How to start writing a nonfiction book? If you’re like many business people, life coaches, and other subject-matter experts, there’s a book idea rolling around in your head that has perhaps been there for years. Maybe you’ve taken the plunge and started writing, only to find yourself stuck in a ditch. Or maybe you’ve no idea where to start, and ... Read More
Present Tense or Past Tense? First Person or Third? Which to Use for Your Novel or Memoir
You’re getting ready to write your novel or memoir. How do you decide which tense you should use: past or present? In the case of a novel, you also need to decide whether to write in first person or third. These are common dilemmas and ones worth exploring, because selecting the right tense and point of view from the start will save you getting stuck part-way into the writing, unable to make that choice work for the remainder of your story.
Read MoreDo You Torture Your Metaphors? The Problem of Self-Conscious Writing
Do you torture your metaphors, linking unlike things in outrageous comparisons? Do you manufacture odd phrases and invent “words” in an attempt to seem “literary” and “sound like a writer”? If so, you probably don’t even know you are doing this, yet the pretentious writing that results is one of the marks of an amateur writer.
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