Ellis Vidler's Blog, page 23
September 20, 2011
Redemption: atonement for guilt, deliverance, salvation
J.R. Turner, author of Redemption, due out this month, and many other novels, is my guest. I'm looking forward to her new release.When I began writing my first urban fantasy novel, the title was a no-brainer. Redemption is such a powerful driving force in the human experience. From the need to prove we have what it takes to ourselves or others, to seeking out a way to atone for a perceived or
September 17, 2011
Taking a Fresh Look at Descriptions
Venus!
Do you ever get stuck on descriptions and feel they're trite and predictable? I certainly do. My first draft always has too many tired adjectives. Here's one idea for finding a fresh way to describe things. Sit down somewhere and pick an object. Look at it and write down the first word or words that come to mind, no matter what they are. It could be a phrase like "Oh My God,"
Venus!
Do you ever get stuck on descriptions and feel they're trite and predictable? I certainly do. My first draft always has too many tired adjectives. Here's one idea for finding a fresh way to describe things. Sit down somewhere and pick an object. Look at it and write down the first word or words that come to mind, no matter what they are. It could be a phrase like "Oh My God,"
September 12, 2011
The Journey of 1000 Miles Begins Here
Jenny Milchman is my guest this week. Her debut novel will be out soon. Very exciting!
Recently I received an offer on my debut novel. It took eleven years.That seems to me a pretty big number (although since receiving the offer, a startling number of other writers have poked their heads up to say, "Took me nine years," and, "Ten for me," or, "Twelve," so perhaps my figure isn't as high as all
Recently I received an offer on my debut novel. It took eleven years.That seems to me a pretty big number (although since receiving the offer, a startling number of other writers have poked their heads up to say, "Took me nine years," and, "Ten for me," or, "Twelve," so perhaps my figure isn't as high as all
September 10, 2011
Attribution in Dialogue
Attribution is the tag that goes with dialogue to show the reader who said it. You know, he said, she whispered, she mumbled, and so on. An attribution must be a word that can convey speech. Laugh and smile are not among them.Some writers go to great lengths to avoid said, a perfectly good, unobtrusive little word; however, some of its synonyms may not only be distracting but also incorrect. If a
September 5, 2011
THE MUSE HELPS THOSE . . .
Today my guest is Barbara Monajem, who writes historical and paranormal romance. Her words flow so easily, you'll be drawn into her stories from the first paragraph. The concept of "God helps those who help themselves" has been around since ancient Greece, and I'm convinced that it applies to that most enigmatic of deities, the Muse.A few weeks ago I was mired halfway through a manuscript,
September 3, 2011
The Word That—When can you leave it out?
Here's something I've been thinking about—overuse of the word that. The American Heritage explanation is a little formal, but you'll get the idea. That is often unnecessary and drags down the sentence. Read the sentence aloud and see if it's needed for clarity. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. If it can be eliminated or the sentence rewritten to be stronger without it, do it. Work through a
August 29, 2011
HUMOR IN MYSTERY
Kaye George, fellow Sister in Crime and Guppy, is today's guest. She's the author of the very funny Choke, a mystery from Mainly Murder Press, and "The Truck Contest," a short story in Fish Tales: The Guppy Anthology.
I love to make people laugh. I always have. When I was young, I didn't always know what to do in a social situation. But I knew one good thing to fall back on—make them laugh.
In
I love to make people laugh. I always have. When I was young, I didn't always know what to do in a social situation. But I knew one good thing to fall back on—make them laugh.
In
August 27, 2011
The Help—thought-provoking or just bad entertainment?
We saw the movie The Help this week. I read the book a year or so ago and loved it. There's such a lot of controversy about it, but to me it's an important book and film. I don't see it as pure entertainment. There may be some exaggeration in a few scenes (I can't say—I wasn't there). A couple of situations seemed a little off, but overall it's outstanding. The main characters, Aibilene (Viola
August 22, 2011
Community- An Aspect of Setting or Character?
My guest this week is Donna White Glaser, psychotherapist/office manager/writer, not always in that order. Wearing her writing hat, she's the author of The Enemy We Know.
My series, The Letty Whittaker 12 Step Mysteries, takes place in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin—a beautiful scenic town that was chosen in 1997 by Time magazine as one of America's top ten small towns. It's a pretty place. There are
My series, The Letty Whittaker 12 Step Mysteries, takes place in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin—a beautiful scenic town that was chosen in 1997 by Time magazine as one of America's top ten small towns. It's a pretty place. There are
August 19, 2011
Punctuation with Quotation Marks
Uh-oh. Nothing ready for this week, but since I'm working on edits for my new novel, and this is today's subject, I thought I might as well post this.
Fire has been on my mind because I just finished listening to Nora Roberts's Chasing Fire, a terrific book. The reader, Rebecca Lowman, was outstanding and added to it. The descriptions of the fire took your breath. I really, really enjoyed it.
So
Fire has been on my mind because I just finished listening to Nora Roberts's Chasing Fire, a terrific book. The reader, Rebecca Lowman, was outstanding and added to it. The descriptions of the fire took your breath. I really, really enjoyed it.
So
