Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 104

3 Skills to Master to Write a Mystery

The book club that I belong to met earlier this week. Our book? The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. This book clearly demonstrated 3 things that you have to conquer if you are going to write mysteries. A Cast of Characters First things first, you are going to have to master a vast cast … Continue reading 3 Skills to Master to Write a Mystery →

3 Things Authors Need to Know about Goodreads

Many of the authors I know avoid Goodreads. They think it is a land of negative reviews and trolls. Pitfalls lay around every corner. But yesterday morning I attended one of Allesandra Torre’s webinars about Goodreads, 15 Minutes to Unlock 100M Readers. I don’t know how long this link will be active. She did say … Continue reading 3 Things Authors Need to Know about Goodreads →

How to Write a Nonfiction Picture Book: Learning from Walrus Song

A couple of weeks ago, an intern at Candlewick Press contacted me to ask if I would review Walrus Song by Janet Lawler, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering. Since I wrote about books here and on Facebook (my author page), I asked her to send it along and am I glad I did. It isn’t … Continue reading How to Write a Nonfiction Picture Book: Learning from Walrus Song →

How to Invoice a Publisher

While I was taking part in a series of webinars on writing for educational publishers, one of the topics that came up was invoicing. The problem is that you can’t just send the publisher a one line e-mail. “You owe me $500 for activity writing.” “Please pay me $1000 for writing that book.” You need … Continue reading How to Invoice a Publisher →

Cover Reveal: Writing about Cancel Culture

I love it when I find the cover of an upcoming book online. Here is the cover for my ABDO book, Cancel Culture. As is so often the case with one of the “Special Reports,” this was a tricky book to write. First things first, I’m not supposed to take sides. This is supposed to … Continue reading Cover Reveal: Writing about Cancel Culture →

Picture Book Writing, or Why We Dummy Our Work

Earlier this week, I read an awesome blog post by Tara Lazar, Don’t Sweat the Page Breaks…  In her post, she discusses why we dummy our work. In short, a picture book is a very definite thing. You aren’t just writing a cohesive story. You are writing something with just the write number of page turns … Continue reading Picture Book Writing, or Why We Dummy Our Work →

Reading Like a Writer, or the Weekly Library Haul

To the right is a photo of this week’s library haul. In order of appearance they are: The Thursday Murder Club. This one is my book club book for next week. Stealing Home. An interesting looking graphic novel. History Smashers: The Mayflower. History that hopefully challenges the folklore. Muddle School. Humorous graphic novel. Uncommon Grounds. … Continue reading Reading Like a Writer, or the Weekly Library Haul →

3 Tips for Writing a Halloween Story

Yesterday I read Rayne Hall’s Fiction University Post, 13 Tips for Writing a Halloween Story. Not surprisingly, I thought of several additional tips for kid specific slants. Turn Tradition Sideways Halloween makes a great setting for a story largely because once you mention it, people are conjuring up a set of stock images – spooky … Continue reading 3 Tips for Writing a Halloween Story →

Literary Journalism: Yet Another Name for Creative Nonfiction

Yesterday I watched a video by Simon and Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp. In it, he referred to Susan Orlean as the Tom Brady of literary journalism. Here’s the video if you want to watch it. Sigh. Really? Another term? Literary journalism. What is it? If only everyone agreed. According to Karp it is creative nonfiction. …

Use Sensory Perception to Pull the Reader In

Whether I’m writing fiction or nonfiction, I try to remember to bring sensory perception into play. It is one of the best ways that I know to pull my reader in. The hard part is working in a variety of perceptions. The easiest ones are sight and sound. How does the sun look glinting off … Continue reading Use Sensory Perception to Pull the Reader In →