Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 223
March 24, 2017
Story in Nonfiction
Today I’m going to write about one of the traps that nonfiction writers sometimes fall into. We spend a lot of time and energy doing our research and as we research we uncover so many amazing things. Did you know…? Can you believe…? I had no idea…! And we want to share them all. Because […]
March 22, 2017
Scenes: Creating a Sense of “Being There” in Nonfiction
My most recent batch of students is busy writing away. They are deep enough into their work that they are attempting to create scenes. A nonfiction scene is a lot like a fiction scene in that it is a great way to pull your reader into the story. It uses dialogue and characters, setting and […]
March 21, 2017
Poetry? Nah, I just write rhymes.
Last weekend, I attended Peggy Archer’s poetry workshop. I sat and listened as she discussed rhythm and beats, near rhyme and true rhyme, soft and hard sounds and much, much more. I was out of my element. I’m a prose writer, honey. Imagine my surprise when later that week I got an acceptance letter from […]
March 20, 2017
Middle Grade vs Young Adult
How can you tell if a teen novel is written for middle graders or young adults? For some people, the difference revolves around sex. If the characters are doing it, it must be young adult. But not all young adult novels feature sex. Some people think it has to do with the stakes or just […]
March 19, 2017
One Gay Character, One African American: Are you Just Covering Your Bases?
Recently, I read a post over at the Nelson Agency about the dangers of informing a first-reader at an agency or publisher that your manuscript has LGBTQ+ character or that it is diverse. This particular reader said that when he read things like this in a query letter, he felt like the writer was going […]
March 16, 2017
First Time’s the Charm
Don’t expect your first story to sell. Those are the words of wisdom that we experienced writers pass on to beginners. And I have to admit that my first manuscript is still just mine. And I have no plans to submit it. After all, I was new and it is pretty horrid. But then I […]
March 15, 2017
Expert Sources
Recently I came across an online discussion about reaching out to experts when we authors need to learn more about a topic. I was amazed at how many people assumed that they have to pay someone for information. That has never been my experience. In my research on the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), I came across […]
March 14, 2017
Revision: You Gotta Love It
So many writers I know want to rush through their revisions. If they get feedback from an editor, they are determined to turn the manuscript around in two weeks, three at most. Me? I want to give myself time to internalize the feedback. I also enjoy seeing the manuscript change and grow. Why rush it? […]
March 13, 2017
How Many Manuscripts Do You Work on at Once?
One of my writing nonfiction students has been struggling with which one of two topics to choose for her project. The problem is that she’s waiting to hear back from someone about Topic #1 so she wasn’t sure if she should go ahead and pursue Topic #2. I suggested that she pursue both. While she […]
March 12, 2017
Poetry, Writing in Rhyme and Word Play
Saturday I had the opportunity to attend a top-notch writing workshop put on by KS/MO SCBWI. The subject was poetry and rhyme and the workshop leader was Peggy Archer. Writing in rhyme is not natural for me. Part of it is my subject matter. Black Lives Matter, Race and Racism and the Zika virus are […]
