Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 210
October 25, 2017
Mind Your Tone: 3 Ways to Teach without Preaching
Last week, I checked Her Right Foot out from the library. I wanted to see how another author handled a patriotic theme that could easily become preachy. Why? Because I’m getting ready to try my hand at a patriotic book. I wanted to see how another author handled a similar topic. Here are three things that […]
October 24, 2017
Danger: Attachments in Yahoo Groups
Are you a member of a Yahoo Group? I belong to . . . six? Eight? In fact, I use one when I teach my class. Sending messages through the group is easier than hoping my students, and I, remember to include everyone on every e-mail. But I won’t be using the group the next […]
October 23, 2017
Interiority: What It Is and Why It Matters to Writers
Monday, I learned a new-to-me term. Interiority. Interiority consists of a character’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It is the stuff that is going on inside her head. Interiority matters because, without it, our character’s actions don’t always make sense. And this is a problem because some of us, myself included, work so hard to show […]
October 22, 2017
Plot: From Simple to Complex
Your character wants something. She tries to attain it and fails. She tries again and fails. Third try for the win! Denouement. That’s plot at its most simple. I’d love to say that mine are far more complicated than that. And sometimes they are. In chapter one. Maybe even all the way through chapter three. But by […]
October 19, 2017
5 Things to Do when You Don’t Have Enough Tension
On Thursday, I spotted a Tweet from Angela Ackerman. It was a graphic about story conflict – Elevate Story Telling Through Added Conflict. I just finished a draft of my early middle grade fantasy. It is a true first draft in that it needs a lot of work. If it was real estate the agent […]
October 18, 2017
Webinars: Writing Events You Can Attend from Home
I love taking MOOC. These online classes offer me the opportunity to learn from university and museum faculty from all over the world. And I can do it from my desk which means that I can sit here and knit while watching lectures. (It drives my husband nuts but I really do focus better if […]
October 17, 2017
Leaving Room to Spook Your Reader
About a month ago, I read a post on Writer unBoxed about keeping your writing, especially your emotional scenes, clean and spare. In “Say a Little Less, Mean a Little More,” Kathryn Craft talked about leaving space for your reader in the scene by not over-writing your “emotional peaks” as she calls them. She put […]
October 16, 2017
5 Senses: Use As Many As Possible When You Write
One of the things that Darcy Pattison has writers do in her Novel Metamorphosis workshop is to catalog sensory perceptions for a particular scene. Don’t be satisfied with 3 or 4 details total. Darcy asks you to come up with 3 details per sense per scene. Why so many? Sensory details make your writing more […]
October 15, 2017
Hidden Human Computers Nominated!
It has been completely sureal. Friday I was working my fanny to a frazel, editing the last two chapters of a new Abdo title because I had a deadline to meet. Then I see a tweet from my publisher: The book I co-authored with Duchess Harris has been nominated to be on the Amelia Bloomer […]
October 12, 2017
How Do You Read?
Paper? Ebook? Audio? While I use ebooks when I do research, I have no interest in using a reader. I know. I might as well be a book-asaurus. But that’s ok. I work on a screen. Unless I’m gaming or watching something, I’m not going to be on a screen during my leisure time. Not […]
