Rob Bignell's Blog, page 277

Score story plot points with head fake

Many readers enjoy books in which they attempt to solve the story���s central problem before the main character does. To add to such readers��� pleasure, authors sometimes will create ���diversions��� when plotting the book.

These diversions are known as head fakes, as they���re plot actions that appear significant but really aren���t. The term is borrowed from sports when an athlete moves his or head one way to signal direction but then actually goes the other way. It was coined by CSFW���s David Smith. Head fakes often are used in mystery stories or whenever the reader is solving the story���s puzzle alongside the main character.

Any head fake in a story ought to fit into the plot, though. Usually it���s an avenue that the main character explores but later realizes or decides is a dead end. At least one clue should be dropped into the plot to suggest that avenue will go nowhere.

Limit the number of head fakes in your story. Using too many of them is like crying wolf. The reader will feel that you don���t really have a plot and frustrate with the story might quit reading it.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Raleigh, North Carolina, or a small town like Strong, Maine, I can provide that second eye.



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Five Great Quotations about Good Writing

���My aim is to put down what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way I can tell it.��� - Ernest Hemingway

���Writing for me is just like building a chair, making an artifact. The idea is that you build, create a story and cobble it together. If it stands up, that's good. If it stands up, it's comfortable, it's a good story, a good chair.��� - Scott Smith

���A great story is life, with the dull parts taken out.��� - Alfred Hitchcock

���Easy reading is damn hard writing.��� - Nathaniel Hawthorne

���Good writing is more about graft and craft than inspiration and aspiration.��� - Johnny Rich

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Nashville, Tennessee, or a small town like Turkey Creek, Louisiana, I can provide that second eye.

 

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Editor���s book focuses on national parks��� top sights

My newest hiking guidebook, Best Sights to See at America���s National Parks, was released Friday. Describing more 200 day hiking trails, the book answers two questions every visitor to a national park asks, ���What should I see, and how do I find those spots?��� With the trails listed in this volume, you���ll never have to worry about missing waterfalls, inspiring mountain views, wildlife, incredible rock formations, or any of the other top sights at our national parks. It is available in paperback and on Kindle ebook.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.



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Steps in organizing a book presentation

When organizing a book signing, reading, or other presentation related to your title, you might want to break down your effort into several smaller steps. Doing so will allow you to better tackle what is a much larger endeavor that most imagine.

Among the steps to consider are:
��� Determine if a book presentation is right for you ��� Any book event you participate in has its own unique set of advantages and disadvantages for your sales. Sometimes a book event isn���t worth the effort���other times, it can yield more than you ever anticipated!
��� Decide the type of book presentation you will deliver ��� The kind of book you���re promoting and your sales goals can help you select the best kind of presentation to give.
��� Choose where to give your presentations ��� For varying reasons, some venues are better than others. And there are more places than bookstores and libraries to promote your book!
��� Arrange the presentation ��� You probably will give a presentation in a public setting; knowing how to set that up with the right person is necessary to ensuring the event is real rather than something being thought about.
��� Promote your presentation ��� People will not just magically show up at your event. You will need to market your marketing effort!
��� Prepare for a presentation ��� Few people can just show up at a presentation and wing it. You should have a plan for what you will do at your event.
��� Deliver the presentation ��� A presentation always consists of three parts: set up at the location before the event begins; delivering the presentation before an audience; and interacting with the audience after the presentation.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. I can provide that second eye.

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Don���t commit these five book design sins

You���ve probably spent years mastering the craft of writing and have authored an excellent book. Hurried, mistake-ridden formatting can nullify all of your good work, though.

Simply put, if your book is difficult to read merely because of its appearance, few will bother to work their way through it. At the very least, an unprofessional appearance gives readers the impression that you���re an unprofessional writer.

As an editor, I often see these five cardinal sins of book design:
��� Bad typography ��� Always stick to a simple, easy-to-read font. Cambria and Garamond tend to work well. Use italics and boldface sparingly in the text and never underline.
��� Off-center headers and titles ��� A page lacks symmetry when some of the text is off-center. This frequently occurs because the chapter title or the header was unintentionally indented.
��� Too much line spacing ��� Years of reading have conditioned buyers of your book to views lines that are grouped together into paragraphs. Double spacing in a paperback or an ebook will confuse readers; a point of empty space between lines (i.e. single-space) usually is sufficient unless writing children���s or large print books.
��� Indenting when using block formatting ��� Block formatting indicates a new paragraph by placing a blank line between the last line of a paragraph and the first line of the next one. Indenting is redundant.
��� Putting page numbers on blank pages ��� A page number suggests there should be text on the page. For decades, book design style has left page numbers and headers off blank pages, which typically is a left-handed page next to the right-handed page on which a new chapter begins.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Las Vegas, Nevada, or a small town like Accident, Maryland, I can provide that second eye.

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Alaskan editing client publishes latest novel

Jana Meador, a long-time editing client of mine has published her latest novel, ���Of Thorns, Roses and a Devil���s Lie.��� When wildlife photographer Margot Smith travels on assignment to remote, oceanside Lingit, Alaska, the lives of four people and a decades-long secret haunting them are set on a collision course. Offering one another compassion and empathy, they seek inner peace. Can a tragic event from the distant past destroy their lives in the present or will the human spirit prevail? The book is available in paperback and ebook.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Omaha, Nebraska, or a small town like Duckville, Tennessee, I can provide that second eye.

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Suffering from writer���s block or need to add some spunk to your writing? The problem may be that you need to change up your routine.

To that end, try this tip: Treat a nursery rhyme such as ���Jack and Jill��� like an outline of a story. Now write a first draft of the story.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Albuquerque, New Mexico, or a small town like Mud Butte, South Dakota, I can provide that second eye.

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You're best to avoid writing gimmick stories

Sometimes what seems at the outset like a great story idea really isn���t. Such is the case with the gimmick story.

This is a story in which character development takes a back seat to a big reveal or a shocking twist at the tale���s end. A good example would be in science fiction, when the evil alien invaders ��� whose frightful appearance and behavior raises tension through the story ��� turns out to be humanity. Or when the main character, usually an inept boy messing up a classroom assignment ��� actually is ���God��� creating our universe.

There are a number of reasons why gimmick plots almost never work. First, stories thrive on conflict that characters must overcome. Even if there is no great moral message (as is the case with a romance or a mystery novel), readers are able to identify with and root for characters who solve problems rather than those who do little of anything. Secondly, a gimmick story usually doesn���t ring true. That���s because to make the great reveal or twist ending work, plot holes often have to be glossed over, and so readers lose their suspension of disbelief. Ultimately, most gimmick stories are simply clich��d premises or plots. Perhaps for some deep Jungian reason, people constantly come up with plots that have already been done, such as the names of the last two survivors on a expedition to another planet turning out to be ���Adam��� and ���Eve.���

Of course, there���s a fine line between a gimmick and a quality story, usually based on the reader���s experience and personal tastes. Just about all readers past their mid-20s will find almost any story using a Twilight Zone- or an O. Henry-styled ending to be a gimmick; a middle school reader, though, who���s encountering such an ending for the first time will find the story delightful and memorable. And, of course, sometimes just for nostalgia or because we agree with the gimmick story���s allegory, the twist ending is darn appealing.

Still, on balance, authors ought to avoid penning gimmick stories, unless it���s a really clever idea.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Indianapolis, Indiana, or a small town like Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky, I can provide that second eye.

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���If it's fiction, then it better be true.��� - Sherman Alexie

���Good fiction creates its own reality.��� - Nora Roberts

���The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.��� - Tom Clancy

���...required for good fiction: character, conflict, change through time. And if you're really blessed, you get resolution. But life doesn't usually work out that way.��� - Ted Conover

���Fiction is the truth inside the lie.��� - Stephen King

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Columbus, Ohio, or a small town like Ricketts, Iowa, I can provide that second eye.

 

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Failure can be a great a teacher. Look back at other works you���ve written but ���failed��� to complete. What was the obstacle that prevented you from completing it? The writing felt flat? No action occurred? The character wasn���t interesting? Identify the problem, research some tips for overcoming it (for example, use active rather than passive voice to give writing spunk), and then rewrite the piece utilizing the advice you���ve read.

Professional Book Editor: Having your novel, short story or nonfiction manuscript proofread or edited before submitting it can prove invaluable. In an economic climate where you face heavy competition, your writing needs a second eye to give you the edge. Whether you come from a big city like Tulsa, Oklahoma, or a small town like Drain, Oregon, I can provide that second eye.

 

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