Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 110

Different Tastes: Writers and Readers

This past weekend was the SCBWI 50th Anniversary Conference. Before the sessions started on Saturday, those of us from the Kansas-Missiouri Region got together. Our regional advisor knew that many of us woudn’t know each other so she had us introduce ourselves and then she asked a collection of fairly random questions that she credited … Continue reading Different Tastes: Writers and Readers →

3 Tips for Creating Distinct Character Voices

As I work on Airstream, my middle grade science fiction novel, I’m working to create distinct character voices. This is especially important because, as is so often the case with speculative fiction, I have a larger cast of characters than I normally work with. It is also tricky because you meet one group of siblings … Continue reading 3 Tips for Creating Distinct Character Voices →

The Classes I Teach

I often write about the classes and webinars that I take. I don’t write nearly as often about the three classes I teach through WOW! Women on Writing. Read on to find out more. Pitching, Querying and Submitting Your Work Whether you write essays, short stories or novels, sending your work to an agent, editor … Continue reading The Classes I Teach →

When Do You Revise?

Not everyone writes the same way. My friend Pat likes to work in the library. I prefer writing in my home office. But another way we all differ is when we revise. As You Write Some of us revise our work as we write. When I use this technique, I sometimes go over what I … Continue reading When Do You Revise? →

Scene vs Chapter

I’ve been working on Air Stream lately, writing from my Save the Cat scene outline. I’ve noticed that what I have listed as a scene in my outline only rarely corresponds to a chapter in my draft. Because of this, I’ve been reading up on what a scene is vs what a chapter is. Here … Continue reading Scene vs Chapter →

5 Questions to Help Determine Your Writing Path

If you are a writer who reads blogs and articles and WRITES, my guess is that you want to achieve something. But, and this is super important, what looks like success to you may not look like succees to me. This reality came home to me when I went to my first big, multi-day writers … Continue reading 5 Questions to Help Determine Your Writing Path →

5 Ways to Get Words on the Page

It doesn’t matter whether you write essays, novels, or short stories, often the hardest part is getting yourself to sit down and put words down. My critique group discussed this on Wednesday and it was also a discussion in my novel writing group. What I quickly realized is that different things work for different writers. … Continue reading 5 Ways to Get Words on the Page →

Story Pacing: Getting It Right in Your Early Reader

I’ve been looking at some of my older manuscripts including several early readers. Soemthing felt off in the pacing which isn’t surprising. Like picture books, early readers don’t have a lot of text but they still have complete stories with a beginning, middle and ending. To figure out how to correctly pace a story, I … Continue reading Story Pacing: Getting It Right in Your Early Reader →

How to Start Your Biography

Yesterday I blogged about how to start your nonfiction manuscript. Sharon asked how to start a biography, specifically a biography of a noted children’s author. I knew I had to look into it before I could answer her and my answer turned into this post. First things first, lets look at the openings of several … Continue reading How to Start Your Biography →

3 Tips on How to Start Your Nonfiction Manuscript

I love writing nonfiction. I’ve written about archaeology (The Ancient Maya), American history (Hidden Computers and The Assassination of John F. Kennedy), science (Evolution of Reptiles and Evolution of Mammals), and even current events (The Dakota Access Pipeline and The Impeachment of Donald Trump). No matter what type of nonfiction book I am given to … Continue reading 3 Tips on How to Start Your Nonfiction Manuscript →