Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 227
March 5, 2017
Emotion: Making the Reader Feel It Too
What is the most vital job that you have as a writer? To hook the reader and keep them reading. To do this you need to make them care about what you are writing. In fiction, this means making the reader care about and relate to the character. One of the best ways to do […]
March 2, 2017
Mysteries: Edgar Nominees Announced
For those of you interested in writing mysteries or at leat books with a strong mystery element, here is a reading list to help you learn how to do it right. Mystery Writers of America have announced the nominees for the 2017 Edgar Awards. You can see the entire list here — the only two […]
March 1, 2017
The Beginning: Set Your Story Up for Maximum Impact
Yesterday, I read Freedom Over Me, Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan. This was one of the books most recently read by the American Library Association. Honestly, I need to send them a thank you note because until I saw this book on the award list, it had escaped my notice. […]
50 Precious Words Writing Challenge
Interested in competing in a brief, and I do mean super short, writing challenge? Tomorrow, March 2, is the 50 Precious Words Writing Challenge. Author Vivian Kirkfield created this challenge in honor of Dr. Seuss whose birthday is March 2. Seuss apparently wrote Green Eggs and Ham when Bennet Cerf, founder of Random House challenged him to […]
February 28, 2017
Picture Book or Magazine-Length Story
One of the most difficult things for new writers, and even experienced writers, to grasp are the differences between different types of writing. How does an early reader manuscript differ from a picture book? How does a magazine story differ from a picture book manuscript? Today, I’m going to talk about how a magazine story […]
February 26, 2017
Research: How much is enough?
Recently someone asked me how much research is enough to write a book. Do I use 20 sources? Thirty? Do my books for teens require more than the third grade books? I wouldn’t say that age level plays as big a part in the amount of research that I need to do as the topic […]
February 23, 2017
Writing Challenges: These are both new to me
As all of you know, I love a good writing challenge. Hint: NaNoWriMo? Not a good challenge. Storystorm? An excellent challenge. What’s the difference between good and bad? Do-able while maintaining my sanity. Here are two challenges that I just discovered. Reading for Research Month (ReFoReMo). This one is all about reading picture books as […]
February 22, 2017
Query Letters: One Phrase to Avoid
Recently I was on Twitter when I saw the following from Sarah LaPolla, agent at the Bradford Literary Agency. “Phrase I see a lot in queries: ‘____ must risk everything.’ Try replacing ‘everything’ w/ the thing that’s specific to your MC.” I can see several problems in using this particular phrase. 1. You aren’t really […]
February 21, 2017
Little Free Library: And the Winners Are…
Recently, Little Free Library and Chronicle Books had a competition for architects to design Little Free Libraries that met the needs of library stewards. I have to admit that I loved the range of needs that various stewards listed. They included: keeping in mind that adult and child users are different heights, the need for […]
February 20, 2017
Character Development: What Can Your Characters Do?
It isn’t surprising that writers frequently draw on themselves and their friends when they create characters. Keeping that in mind, I guess it isn’t surprising than that so many characters, especially secondary characters like parents, are writers. But it does make me wonder when editors are going to start bouncing back writer characters as too […]
