First Word

A novelist friend of mind mentioned she had writer's block. So I thought it was time to once more explore how to overcome writer's block. Before I discuss the subject, I do want to say something about accepting the "blockage" versus battling the clog. I didn't write anything major for two years after suffering some major losses in my personal life. Writing is a creative, intellectual and mind-intensive process. If your emotional house has been emptied of the furniture, so to speak, maybe it's time for you to sit Zen-like in that house and accept it. I wanted to say this because writer's block due to a pure emotional depletion isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's your mind's way of saying, "Whoa! Wait sister or brother give me a vacation. I don't have anything left to give." I just couldn't write anything major simply because I lacked heart and motivation. My distraction and life re-build took front and center. I was focused o...

I had this discussion with one of our authors yesterday. Some people mistake the editor's role on a book to be solely about finding the grammatical mistakes. On a fiction book, the editor's job is not just making sure all the grammar and usage is correct -- that is only one part of it. A story editor is looking at the entire picture. A good story editor does the following: Character development -- are the characters consistently written. Do their voices stay the same throughout the book. Did the author build real, vivid individuals who can be easily identified in the story? Story development -- does the story make sense. Is it being properly told with a beginning, middle and end? Are all the plots and subplots wrapped up? Does it all make sense? Holes and consistency -- are there any unanswered questions? Are their holes in the story? Are their inconsistencies? Are all of the references the same throughout the book? Are the names correct and in the right place at the r...

We do book coaching here at 3L Publishing . We see manuscripts in the early stages, and we see common mistakes. Here are some of the most common. Exposition and storytelling via dialog . Have you ever heard the phrase show don't tell? New writers often use dialog to tell their stories vs. telling the story. They will give their characters paragraph-long speeches. How often do you talk to someone in paragraphs? I would suggest most conversations go back and forth -- that is a more natural flow. And it's far more compelling and interesting to read the story told via narrative not dialog. Formalism in dialog . These days have you ever heard a generic conversation sound formal? Probably not. Most people use idioms, slang and colloquial expressions. If you are telling a story about certain age groups of people, go out and listen to how those people really talk to each other. Use dialog to develop your characters and show who they are; don't use it as a storytelling device, b...