Rob Bignell's Blog, page 297

Give your characters room to breathe

Just as well-intentioned but misguided parents can stymie their children���s shift to independence and self-reliance, so well-intentioned but misguided writers can stifle their stories��� growth and evolution. The latter usually occurs because the author forces the characters to conform to his or her personal beliefs rather than be internally consistent based on the characters��� needs and motivations. Review one of your stories that you feel doesn���t ring true. Is that what occurred in your piece?

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 Oklahoma City, or a small town like Peculiar, Missouri, I can provide that second eye.

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Editing client publishes first near future novel

A recent editing client of mine has published his first novel, the near future tale ���c-Real: The Perception Engineering Era Begins.��� Michael J. Ladd���s story tells how engineer Malachi Jacks and his team develop a new technology in which anyone literally can see the world the way they want to���and the incredible ramifications of it upon society���s sudden ���new��� sense of reality. The book is available online.

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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Writing Prompt: Gift a missing part

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: One way to come up with a gift idea is to observe what the recipient is missing in his home. What are you missing in your writing? Does your book need a description of a character���s physical appearance? An apt simile? An exciting exchange of dialogue? Spend your writing session giving yourself a gift by penning the missing part of your book.

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 New Orleans, or a small town like Searchlight, Nevada, I can provide that second eye.

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Avoid introducing wrong styles into your text

Among the most common yet avoidable errors when formatting a book to be self-published is inserting the wrong font, font size and or other style into the manuscript. For example, if you want your text to be in Times Roman, 12 point, and single spaced, you might find when editing it that a few paragraphs are in Helvetica, 11 point and have 1.15 points of space between lines.

Not fixing the problem results in an unprofessional-looking paperback and can get your ebook rejected from print of demand houses, especially at Smashwords.

This error typically is introduced into the text when cutting and pasting. The text in the other document ��� whether it be another Word document, a website, or an email ��� probably contains different instructions about how the text should appear. Simply cutting and pasting them carries those instructions to your manuscript.

While restyling the text so that it fits how you want your manuscript to look can be done, the wrong styles still have been introduced into your master copy. When revising the manuscript, should you need to deal with the paragraphs you restyled, the old style you changed can suddenly reappear.

The simple solution is to strip and copied text of its styles before pasting it into your manuscript. This can be done by pasting the copied text first into a .txt document and then copying the stripped text from the .txt document into your manuscript. Almost every computer these days comes with a .txt document that you can use (In Windows, it���s Notepad), so there���s no added expense.

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 Des Moines, Iowa, or a small town like Whynot, Mississippi, I can provide that second eye.

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Five Great Quotations about Books

Five Great Quotations for Aspiring Writers

���Take heart from the knowledge that an author with a strong voice will often have trouble at the start of his or her career because strong, distinctive voices sometimes make editors nervous. But in theend, only the strong survive.��� - Jayne Ann Krentz

���Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.��� - Kurt Vonnegut

���Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.��� - Henry Miller

���The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.��� - Ernest Hemingway

���Keep writing, keep faith in the idea that you have unique stories to tell, and tell them. I meet far too many people who are going to be writers ���someday.������ - Robin Hobb

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 Louisville, Kentucky, or a small town like Lodge Pole, Montana, I can provide that second eye.

 

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Writing Inspiration: Finding Time to Write, Part III

Do you dream of becoming a writer but don���t find yourself making progress toward a finished book? You night need to start setting short-term writing goals. Begin by charting how many words you write per day. After a week, review it. Does this amount of writing set you on the path of completing your book within a year? If not, increase the length of your writing session to achieve your goal.

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 Oklahoma City, or a small town like Peculiar, Missouri, I can provide that second eye.

 

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Co-authors can form ���general partnership���

If you���re among those who���ve just co-authored a self-published book, you���re probably wondering exactly how to handle this as a business. The good news is that you can treat your joint venture with much the same ease as you could if an author who���s a self-proprietor.

Anytime you write a book with one or more people ��� other than a spouse ��� you can create what is known as a general partnership (In fact, you do so as soon as you publish a book with both of your names on it.). As with a self-proprietorship, no governmental filing is required.

There���s no need for incorporation (such as becoming a ���limited liability corporation��� or LLC) simply because you collaborated on a book. Incorporation provides little benefit to most self-publishing authors. The main reason that a business incorporates is to protect the owner���s personal assets (such as his home, car, investments) in case the company should be sued. When authors land in court for their work, it typically is for defamation, infringement or invasion of privacy ��� claims that are based on your individual conduct. Hence, being a corporation provides no shield for you.

In addition, many authors find the cost of incorporation generally is far greater than revenues from a self-published book���s sales. You will need to earn several hundred dollars annually from sales or you���ll actually be spending more money on government licenses and fees than you earn from the business. There���s little economic sense in incorporating when you can run a business without doing so.

One thing you will want to do when forming a general partnership is to have your agreement in writing. Legally, it need not be in writing, but a signed document on paper can help everyone avoid problems later.

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 Memphis, Tennessee, or a small town like Eastabutchie, Mississippi, I can provide that second eye.

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Reverse engineer story to understand craft

Reverse engineer a story by creating an outline of it. How detailed was your outline? How much text did the writer include that wasn���t part of your outline? Do you have a better understanding of how stories are constructed by deconstructing one?

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 Jacksonville, Florida, or a small town like Dinkytown, Minnesota, I can provide that second eye.

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Editor kicks off summer book tour

I���ll be signing my latest book, Headin��� to the Cabin: Day Hiking Trails of Northeast Minnesota, at Valley Bookseller in Stillwater, Minn., on Saturday, May 16.

The indispensable guide to anyone who owns or rents a cabin on the North Shore, in the Arrowhead, and along the St. Croix River, Day Hiking Trails of Northeast Minnesota describes more than 200 trails in Chisago, Pine, Carlton, St. Louis, Lake, and Cook counties. Within a week of being released, it hit No. 1 on Amazon.com���s bestseller list for Travel>Midwest ebooks and No. 4 on Amazon.com���s Travel>Midwest bestseller list for paperbacks. Amazon.com also named it a No. 1 Hot New Release in Midwest>U.S. Travel Guides.

The Valley Bookseller stop marks the first stop in my summer promotion tour for Day Hiking Trails of Northeast Minnesota. I���ll be there from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Copies of the book can be purchased in advance of or during the event.

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 New York, New York, or a small town like Bantam, Connecticut, I can provide that second eye.

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Writing Prompt: Let it go

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: Many writers use journaling to deal with trauma and emotional upheaval. One way to do that is to write about what you need to let go of: bad relationships; habits and behaviors that no longer serve you; grudges and hurts that you obsess about. Just listing any of the above and describing why you feel that you need to let go of them can be enlightening and empowering.

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 Providence, Rhode Island, or a small town like Gay Head, Massachusetts, I can provide that second eye.

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