First Word

When I work with writers I am reminded of things I've learned over the years that help improve my work. We had our monthly Writers Who Mean Business meeting last night, and I thought some great "reminders" came out of it to spark this blog. The Book's Opening Line : did you know some places hold contests asking for the best opening line of a book? In the 3L Publishing catalog Scott D. Roberts' book Vengeance is Now has the best opening line of the catalog: You've never really lived until you seen the life leave another human being .Your opening line should be that alluring, unique, fascinating and intriguing. The idea is that it be provocative enough to get the reader engaged and wanting to find out more. Paring down your writing : too many writers fall in love with their own words. The love affair often results in wordiness and too much exposition. A great exercise is to write 1,000 words and then cut 100 words and then 200 words. See how much easier you...

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...