Rick Taubold's Blog, page 8

June 18, 2018

Verbs with the same form in present and past tenses and past participle

From Rick: In my editing I sometimes encounter a case where the author gets a verb’s past tense wrong. Here are three errors I’ve encountered a few times. These are incorrect: He broadcasted his location over the radio. The weatherman forecasted that it would rain today. The knight thrusted his sword into the thief. There […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on June 18, 2018 18:15

June 11, 2018

Do you need an agent?

From Rick: This being a short-post week (or an off week), I have some reading material to answer this important question and, more importantly the one of whether you should seek an agent. To my way of thinking, Kris Rusch, in commenting on recent events in the world of agents, answers these questions more than […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on June 11, 2018 18:22

June 4, 2018

Notes on pronoun and possessive use

From Rick: Sometimes pronouns, especially the possessive ones, give us trouble, particularly when we’re dealing with a compound ones. I recently came across two issues in a manuscript I was editing. The first one represents simple pronouns confusion: (1) Children tugged at their parents, desperate to hasten their slow strides with their own enthusiasm for […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on June 04, 2018 17:35

May 28, 2018

Why we won’t—and shouldn’t try-to find a traditional publisher

From Rick: It constantly amazes me how Kris Rusch always puts her finger on the right button every time. I’m sure many of you are tired of hearing me tout her blog, but—seriously—she knows her stuff because she’s been at it for so long and has so much experience. Being a writer, she’s faced the […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on May 28, 2018 11:29

May 21, 2018

Actions Scenes—PART 2: In finer detail

From Scott: Last time, I talked in general terms about some of the perils and pitfalls of writing a good action scene. But I also promised you that I would go into greater detail. How would your character react in a fight? What happens when bullets start flying? What kind of tactics should my military […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on May 21, 2018 16:37

May 14, 2018

Red flags when choosing an editor

From Rick: Next week: Scott does Part 2 of his action scenes series. For this off week, I wanted to give you a couple of articles on a topic near and dear to my heart: Editors. A few years back I did a post on good and bad editors, and last year I did one […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on May 14, 2018 16:49

May 7, 2018

Action scenes: Keeping it real—PART 1

From Scott: Action scenes are very common in novels. Obviously, this can include fight scenes ranging from hand-to-hand fighting to group combat. In books with a contemporary setting, car chases are common. A skillfully written scene where the author has ratcheted up the suspense, forcing the reader to wonder what will happen to the current […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on May 07, 2018 17:40

April 30, 2018

How to choose the best POV

From Rick: I am frequently impressed with the quality of the tutorials and information from my good friends at Reedsy.com. This week they provided me with the perfect blog topic wherein I don’t have to do anything other than introduce the topic. Point of view (POV) is perhaps one of the most misunderstood topics for […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on April 30, 2018 17:51

April 23, 2018

Decisions you face when publishing on Amazon (Kindle and CreateSpace)

From Rick: When you’re ready to publish your book on Amazon, you have several decisions to make, and these decisions are different for the Kindle e-book and the CreateSpace print book. I have published several books myself and have helped several other first-time authors with their books, and the same questions always come up, so […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on April 23, 2018 17:38

April 16, 2018

Book description basics

From Rick: For the next several months at least, I’m going to be busy catching up on various projects, working on some overdue promised blog posts, and updating my website. I’m also looking for a newer theme for this blog since this one (which I still like very much) doesn’t support the latest database and […] ↓ Read the rest of this entry...
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Published on April 16, 2018 17:36