Contributed by Linda Wilson All writers experience it: low times. A low time can rear its ugly head after a particularly painful rejection, a bad case of writer’s block, or in my current challenge, a serious case of lack of writing time. At times like these there is only one thing to do: Seek inspiration….
Tag: writing tips
Writing for Children – Know What You’re Doing
As with anything you attempt to do, it’s important to know what you’re doing. My father was a contractor – he built homes. How structurally sound do you think those homes would have been if he didn’t know what he’s doing or didn’t know how to read blueprints? Or what about a musician who didn’t…
Talking Yourself Into Success or Out of It
I had a client who, after the book was almost complete, began to talk herself out of the project. Keep in mind this had nothing to do with money – the project was already paid for. The client simply began second-guessing herself. She wondered will there be a market for her story. She wondered if…
Chapter Book Guidelines
I like writing children’s chapter books. They allow the writer more freedom than picture books or early readers, but they’re not as involved as middle-grade or young adult books. The children’s chapter book is just right—at least to me. I’m currently working in three different genres: picture book, chapter book, and a young adult. And,…
Tips on Polishing Your Novel
Contributed by Linda Wilson, Children’s Author You’ve finished your book. All the major edits and rewrites are done. Now it’s time to polish. Polishing includes the obvious edits, including making sure the story elements are present, verbs are active, every chapter moves the story forward, etc. Fiction Short List: – Does the beginning draw you…
Writing – Do Not Worry About Failures
“Don’t worry about failures; worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” Jack Canfield had a dream. He and co-author Mark Victor Hansen, both motivational speakers, compiled true inspirational stories from people in their audiences. They put these stories in a manuscript, called it Chicken Soup for the Soul, and sent it…
What Do Fiction Writing and Film Editing Have in Common?
I read an interesting article on editing. Well, not just editing, but how to do it effectively. Did you know that in “Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola filmed and edited thousands and thousands of feet of film. Mental Floss puts the footage at 1.5 million feet.” (1) So, why did Coppola take so much footage?…
Selling Middle Grade
In my last post, Writing Middle Grade, I wrote about a webinar I attended through Writer’s Digest. It was presented by literary agent Andrea Somberg and focused on writing and selling middle grade (MG). The first article is about writing MG. This article is about selling MG manuscripts. To sell your manuscript, the manuscript itself…
Written a Picture Book? Are Illustrations or Layout Next?
I read an interesting article from a self-publishing service (1106 Design). The article explains that the best way to produce a children’s picture book is to create the interior layout before getting the illustrations done. This is something I hadn’t thought of. But it makes so much sense. I write a lot of stories…
Writing Ideas – 5 Ways to Find Them
Contributed by Debra Eckerling While you can use activity to find inspiration and breathe life into your projects, sometimes what you really need is a new idea. Whether you are writing blog posts, prose, or long-form fiction or non-fiction, sometimes you need to go back to basics and find a kernel of an idea to…