Rick Taubold's Blog
April 6, 2020
More confusing one-word, two-word uses: “in to/into” and “on to/onto”
From Rick: Before I get into this week’s post, I want to note that I updated last week’s post regarding the uses of “anytime/any time” to expand on the one-word and two-word forms. If you already read that post, you
March 31, 2020
Confusing words containing “any, every, some”
From Rick: For the next three or four posts, I’m going to dive into some interesting aspects of word usage confusion (with a little grammar thrown in). Writers need to put their best foot forward in terms of understanding and
March 23, 2020
Overwritten manuscripts: how to fix—PART 3
From Rick: In Part 2, I talked about two ways in which writers may overwrite: —unnecessary use of characters’ names —repeated words and phrases In this last part I’ll finish up this series by talking about three other ways writers
March 10, 2020
Overwritten manuscripts: how to fix—PART 2
From Rick: Last time, I pointed out several ways in which writers overwrite their stories and novels: —unnecessary dialogue tags —wordiness in general —unnecessary repetition of information To that list I want to add: —unnecessary use of characters’ names —repeated
March 3, 2020
Overwritten: a surfeit of words—PART 1
From Rick: Mark Twain’s essay “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses” is famous both for its typical Twain humor and for Twain’s rules for good writing. I’ve mentioned this essay before. You can do a Google search for it, or you can
February 18, 2020
How to come up with great lines
From Rick: This week I promised no rants. So, no rants. No promises about next week though. We’ve all heard a line on TV or in a movie, or we’ve read one in a book that makes us think “That’s
February 11, 2020
More thoughts on good storytelling
From Rick: I’m sure our blog readers will at once notice that the blog looks a lot different. I had to do an update to the software on the site and the old template I had used for many years
February 4, 2020
The key elements of good storytelling
From Rick: This week’s post is going to be relatively short because it’s designed to make you think about your story, ask questions about it, and to help you analyze it for effectiveness. Keep in mind that because each story is different, not all of these elements carry equal weight in every story, but they […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
January 28, 2020
Indie publishing: Are you doing it wrong?—Part Two
From Rick: In Part One (link below for your convenience), I talked about some of the wrong thinking indie authors made in the beginning of the new wave of self-publishing that some have called the “self-publishing revolution.” INDIE PUBLISHING: ARE YOU DOING IT WRONG?—PART TWO In a very real sense this was a revolution because […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
January 20, 2020
Interview with Michael Greco
From Rick: One of the joys of being an editor is that I often get to read some great books and stories sometimes before anyone else has seen them. It’s even more exciting when I get to read work from unpublished writers trying to make their way into the writing world. I might be editing […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
