Rob Bignell's Blog, page 293

Writing Prompt: Take your story forward

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: Stories consist of many different bits: dialogue, the main character doing something, that character���s thought, another character doing something to the main character, a description of the setting, just to name only a few. Take a story you are stuck on and write a potential next line using each of these five approaches. Does one of them give you a good idea about how to take the story forward?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Scranton, Pennsylvania, or a small town like Funk, Ohio, I can provide that second eye.

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Three ebook formatting tips, part V

Ebooks follow different formatting rules than books printed on paper. That���s because a book made of ink on paper is a different platform for presenting information than a book made of digital bits on an electronic screen. Even though the same content (your book) is being presented, the platforms will need to be handled differently, just as certainly different production methods are used for a play presented on stage and on a television screen.

Because of that, there are a number of things you might do when formatting a paperback but never would do when constructing an ebook. Following are three tips about what to differently.

Headings
Most ereaders will allow you to vary the text���s font size (aka point size) but within strict limits. The paperback might be able to handle a font size of 48 points, but the ereader won���t because ereaders and tablets have a limited screen size, so going too large means all of the letters of a word won���t fit on a single line. If varying the font size, do so only with the headers and limit yourself to just a couple of changes. Typically, 18 points is the largest (and accepted) size that looks good in an ebook. So the title of the book might be 18 points boldface. After that, the most important heading ��� say for a chapter ��� would be 15 points boldface. The next heading ��� say for a section of a chapter ��� would be 12 points boldface with the text 11 or 12 points regular font. Subsections of a chapter section might be the same size as the text but in italics.

Line spacing
Line spacing is the amount of space between lines and paragraphs. Fortunately, adjusting the spacing between lines is easy enough in a word processing program; simply go to the line and paragraph spacing menu and adjust. Usually 1 or 1.15 is good enough; any more, and the paragraphs will be difficult to read.

Long dash
Avoid using long dashes, which occurs when two short dashes are typed and after the space bar or enter key is hit magically converts into a single long dash (and typically is used with no spaces between the dash and the word before or the word after it). Long dashes typically make ebook text less readable. That���s before the ereader views the long dash and word before and the word after it as a single word. The result is odd spacing as most ereaders automatically distribute your text evenly between the margins. The solution is to use a single dash that expands in length when the enter key is hit and to leave a space between this dash and the word before and the word after it.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, or a small town like Slap-Out, Alabama, I can provide that second eye.

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Five Great Quotations about Pleasure of Writing

���There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.��� - Edward Gibbon

���Next to doing things that deserve to be written, nothing gets a man more credit, or gives him more pleasure than to write things that deserve to be read.��� - Lord Chesterfield

���Writing is the hardest work in the world. I have been a bricklayer and a truck driver, and I tell you - as if you haven't been told a million times already - that writing is harder. Lonelier. And nobler and more enriching.��� - Harlan Ellison

���You dream of writing the Great American Novel, but not because of the status or money it will bring.��� - Martha Alderson

���Writing is the geometry of the soul.��� - Plato

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Allentown, Pennsylvania, or a small town like Chugwater, Wyoming, I can provide that second eye.

 

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Writing Inspiration: Go off the grid

Among the biggest distractions are social media and the Internet. When unable to come up with the next line, the urge is strong to answer the latest email or to troll through our friends��� posts. During the time you���ve set aside to write, turn off your cell phone and close all browser windows. By doing so, do you find you���re a more productive writer?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Denver, Colorado, or a small town like Dewey Beach, Delaware, I can provide that second eye.

 

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Use hashtags to sell your book on Facebook

Though most of us think of hashtags as something done on Twitter, they are not unique to that social media platform. Most social media now use hashtags (sometimes simply referred to as tags), and Facebook is among them.

Hashtags can help Facebook users who aren���t your friends or haven���t yet liked your book page to discover you. Whenever a Facebook user types in a hashtag that you���ve used, your post will come up. In addition, each hashtag receives its own unique page at Facebook, so if a user finds one he likes, that page might be bookmarked and returned to. That helps ensure future hashtagged posts you make will be seen.

Unlike Twitter or Google+, however, hashtags aren���t as central to the use of those networks. That���s because Facebook largely remains a social network between acquaintances and relatives, though a number of users do market their books and businesses on it. Indeed, at least one marketing study shows Facebook hashtags have no significant effect on reaching an audience. Don���t let that discourage you, though, as there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to the contrary, especially with promotions.

If you decide to make Facebook a component of your book marketing strategy, you���ll need to determine which hashtags exist that will draw people to your books. Generally, the same hashtags popular on Twitter or Instagram work on Facebook, so this can save you some time if you���re already using them on the former.

Don���t go overboard on hashtags at Facebook! Those with one or two hashtags receive far more interactions than those with three or four, which receive far more interactions than those with five or six.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Houston, Texas, or a small town like Chicken, Alaska, I can provide that second eye.

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Writing Prompt: Change the world

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? What could you write that might help facilitate this change?

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Toledo, Ohio, or a small town like Gnaw Bone, Indiana, I can provide that second eye.

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Editing client���s screenplay named finalist

A screenplay by a recent editing client of mine has been named a finalist in the 2015 Alaska International Film Awards. Jana Meador���s ���Cul-de-Sac��� is a throwback 1980s-style comedy about two idiots ��� with good hearts ��� running a pirate radio station, and equally idiotic bureaucrats trying to shut them down. Only 17 finalists were named out of hundreds of entrants. You can learn more about Jana���s play and her novels
Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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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Writing Inspiration: Help, don���t help

Once you know your dream, to live it you must get your priorities in order. List at least three activities that don���t help you achieve your dream (such as watching movies every night, or posting pictures on Facebook) that you might pull back from. Next, list three activities (specifically ���write, write, write���) that would help you achieve your goals. Cut from your daily life the activities on your first list and replace them with those on your second list.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Lakeland, Florida, or a small town like Hygiene, Colorado, I can provide that second eye.

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Three ebook formatting tips, part IV

Ebooks follow different formatting rules than books printed on paper. That���s because a book made of ink on paper is a different platform for presenting information than a book made of digital bits on an electronic screen. Even though the same content (your book) is being presented, the platforms will need to be handled differently, just as certainly different production methods are used for a play presented on stage and on a television screen.

Because of that, there are a number of things you might do when formatting a paperback but never would do when constructing an ebook. Following are three tips about what to differently.

Headers
Don���t place text ��� such as the book���s title or a page number ��� within the header section of a word processing document. Typically this information won���t show up in an ebook, making your work for naught. Sometimes (and worse) it will show up, placing text where it shouldn���t appear in the ebook. Remember, ebooks don���t use page numbers, and most automatically will place the title of your book at the top of each screen page that the reader of you ebook sees.

Images
Limit the size of photographs appearing in your ebook. Most ebook publishers restrict the size of the manuscript that is uploaded, and large photos will quickly push you over that watermark, leading to rejection. Since photographs need not be larger than most ereader or tablet screens, it never should be more than five inches wide by five inches deep in actual size (and probably can be even smaller, depending on who you are publishing your book with). Make sure the photo���s resolution is in 300 dpi. In addition, the image quality usually can be reduced to a six on a scale of 1-12.

Indentation
Don���t indent the first line of each paragraph by either using the tab key or the space bar. Doing so usually will result in one paragraph beginning so many spaces from the left margin and the next paragraph at another spot. This occurs because most ereaders automatically distribute your text evenly between the margins and ignore the word processing program���s instructions to begin at a specific location relative to the left margin. Instead, use block paragraphs in an ebook, just as you would if designing a web page. This means no indentations but a blank line between paragraphs.

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Ventura, California, or a small town like Big Ugly Creek, West Virginia, I can provide that second eye.

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Five Quotations about Writing as Self-Discovery

���What is needed is, in the end, simply this: solitude, great inner solitude. Going into yourself and meeting no one for hours on end--that is what you must be able to attain.��� - Rainer Maria Rilke

���Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.��� - Leo Rosten

���Reading and weeping opens the door to one's heart, but writing and weeping opens the window to one's soul.��� - M. K. Simmons

���Writing is thinking on paper.��� - William Zinsser

���If a story is in you, it has to come out.��� - William Faulkner

Need an editor? Having your book, business document or academic paper 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 Greenville, South Carolina, or a small town like Cocklebiddy, Washington, I can provide that second eye.

 

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