Laurel Garver's Blog, page 27

Tips for handling numbers in fiction

We all know where to turn for help with writing words correctly in our stories--a dictionary. But how about numbers?

How you should write time? 5 o'clock or 5:00 pm? And do you have to write out amounts in fiction, as in five thousand, or can you go with 5,000? What about ages? Dates?

Photo credit: dancerinthedark from morguefile.comUnfortunately, there isn't one hard and fast rule for this. These sorts of decisions are what industry pros call "style." Every publisher has its own...

What's next

Curious about what I've been up to in my creative life? Today I talk about my current project, what sets this story apart, why certain themes emerge in my work, and how I write.

This is part of a Kidlit Blog Tour, for which I've been tagged by the lovely Melissa Sarno and Faith Elizabeth Hough. Thanks, friends!

What are you working on right now?

The Louvre (photo by priyanphoenix from morguefile.com)I'm about 2/3 through a sequel to Never Gone, working title Almost There. The...

Social media for the pre-published

Last week I gave an informal presentation on using Goodreads and Twitter to a handful of my critique group members--all Gen X and Baby Boomers. Most of them tend to think of book marketing in purely brick and mortar paradigms, so book signings and school visits are where they believe all the action is.

Convincing them that social media is anything more than a time-suck hasn't been the easiest. Especially since making the most of some channels requires laying groundwork long before you have a b...

An essential question to keep asking your character

A phrase popularly associated with psychotherapy might be one of the best tools to developing a character your readers will consistently engage with. Keep it at the ready, especially when the plot thickens and action scenes become more frequent. Because those are the places where you'll be most tempted to leave your character's emotions behind. Places where your character is actually likely to have his or her most interesting interior world changes.

Call it your emotional pulse-check tool. Rep...

It's here!

Never Gone has a new cover!
Additionally, the paperback interior has been redesigned and includes an interior illustration (which I hope will be viewable on Amazon soon.)




Dani’s dad can’t play peacemaker when he’s dead. Can he?

After her supportive father dies tragically, Dani has no clue how to cope alone with her perfectionist mother. 

Then she sees him: in her room, roaming the halls at church, wandering his own wake. Is it a miracle? Or is she losing her mind? 

Sunday school never pr...

Body Image: Transforming Your Reflection

By Tessa Emily Hallauthor of Purple Moon
Like many teenage girls today, my protagonist, Selena, doesn’t have a very high self-esteem. She’s never been called beautiful, and often skips meals in order to be more pleased with her appearance. The thing is—if someone has a low self-esteem, they’re never going to come to a point when they’re pleased with their appearance. Why? Because they’ll always find something wrong with themselves. 
The pressure that society puts on us woman today is ridic...

Refreshing

photo by jdurham, morguefile.comMy long-time readers might be a little disoriented, since the scenery has changed quite a bit around here. Laurel's Leaves now has a different color scheme, simplified post layout with click-through, and of course a cool slideshow. There are new tabs up top, separating my books from shorter magazine pieces, and offering other goodies like samples for blog readers. I expect to be adding other tabs in the next few months. The followers widget and search tools by...

Warning...

This site is under construction
Beware of falling debris(and dead links)

A beautifully refurbished blog coming soon! image: North Safety Products (www.northsafety.com)

When a deep bond is broken

Bonding with an animal is a very special kind of relationship, one that seems to find its way into my work regularly. How someone treats other living creatures communicates volumes about what he or she values.  If you want to know who will grow up to be a villain, look no further than the kid down the block who delights in maiming insects and tormenting stray cats. Similarly, someone who can connect only to a totem creature that's a narcissistic extension of himself (think Voldemort and...

Three tricks to sharpen your proofreading eye

photo by Alvimann, morguefile.comI edit for a living, and yet when it comes to cleaning up my own work, I often blithely pass over simple errors.  Why is that?

Brain science says our minds are sense-making machines. Our minds will interpret what's in front of us as what we expect to see, mentally filling in omitted words, for example, or seeing expected end punctuation that isn't actually there.

So how does one trick the mind to stop making sense (and assumptions)? Here are a few tricks I...