First Word

The grande dame of goals to achieve as a writer is the ability to write a page-turner. Now it's a talent more than a skill in my educated estimation. So I'm not entirely sure I could explain how to do it except to discuss "pacing" and how that can draw in readers and hook them to the story so they can't put it down. Now "intrigue" comes into play here, too. Pacing though is easier to explain. Pacing is how you capture the reader's interest and hook them into wanting more. A slow-paced story won't have nearly the effect to grab the reader's interest. So how to you create pacing? Tip: Lose the abundant exposition . Nothing bogs down a story faster than too much exposition in a scene. For example, it's one thing to build a foundation for the setting, but also you can do too much. Give the reader an idea of a place or time without drilling into so much detail the whole scene gets lost in it. You can set up a scene early in the chapter, and ...

I have been blogging and providing tips for writers. Now even the most seasoned writer can make these common mistakes. Since I have been providing the most common mistakes made by new and seasoned writers alike, I will continue that theme. Here are some of the mistakes I see the most often. Non-parallel verb structure : this is hard. The sentence can seem like it reads right, but it's not right. Non-parallel verb structure is when your verb tenses don't match. Here is an example: Wrong : He walked to the store, stopping and picking up a paper, and continued inside. Right : He walked to the store, stopped and picked up a paper, and continued inside. Shifting from present to past tense in storytelling : this one is another common mistake. The rule: pick a tense and stay in it. For example, if you decide to write your story in present tense, you have to stay in the present tense the entire story. You can only shift to past tense when referring to something that did, i...