Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 234
October 20, 2016
Fiction: The Truth at the Core
I have to admit that I always considered the dichotomy pretty clear-cut. Nonfiction was true. Fiction was made up. Then I saw this quote from Neil Gaiman. The funny thing is that I’ve probably seen this quote before. After all, Neil Gaiman gets quoted fairly often and I like his work so I pay attention […]

Published on October 20, 2016 18:17
October 19, 2016
Author’s Copies! Women in History Have Arrived
About 30 minutes after we had finished dinner my son tossed a comment back over his shoulder as he left the room. “Oh, yeah. They delivered your books.” “What books?” “Your books, Mom.” “Why didn’t you tell me?” “You were on the treadmill.” Granted, I’d been off the treadmill for slightly more than an hour […]

Published on October 19, 2016 18:29
October 18, 2016
Sit and Write as Jane Yolen: How to Approach Your Writing
About two weeks ago, I blogged about taking classes online. The first class I attempted turned into a ball of frustration as I tried to locate, sans links, the course site and readings. Because I take these classes for FUN, I quickly gave up and moved to the next course. Creative Writing: A Master Class […]

Published on October 18, 2016 18:24
October 17, 2016
Characterization: Prewriting to the Extreme
When author K.M. Weiland interviews her characters, she asks them a wide variety of questions including the name of their favorite book. As I started doing this for my main character, Clem, my first thought was that she wouldn’t have a favorite book. She is definitely working class and poor. She doesn’t have much time […]

Published on October 17, 2016 18:18
October 16, 2016
Novel Writing: What to Know Before You Start
When I came across this checklist, it was billed as NaNoWriMo prep. “Do these things and you’ll be ready to rock.” Admittedly, that’s why I’m doing them right now but if they are good prep for NaNoWriMo then they are good prep to write a novel. Period. So what is on this amazing checklist? I’m […]

Published on October 16, 2016 20:26
October 13, 2016
New Publishing Opportunities: St. Martin’s Press Launches a Crossover Imprint
Macmillan’s St Martin’s Press (SMP) is launching a new imprint — Wednesday Books. Publisher Jennifer Enderlin will publish YA and adult titles that focus on coming-of-age themes but are also “dynamic and exciting.” The imprint is looking for both fiction and nonfiction that is described as “bold, diverse, and commercial.” Readers who are attracted to […]

Published on October 13, 2016 18:02
October 12, 2016
Editing Your Manuscript: Reading Level
Remember that optimistic estimate I had that it would take me three hours to finish the manuscript? It was a lot closer to five. The biggest problem that I faced was bringing things to the correct reading level. When I write for Red Line, I use the ATOS grade level calculator. My goal for this book […]

Published on October 12, 2016 17:43
October 11, 2016
Deadlines: How Close Do You Cut It?
I have a book due today. In an ideal world, I’d have spent yesterday working through the last of my hard copy edits. Of course, in an ideal world jr. wouldn’t have come home from school spiking a fever. Granted, he’s a teenager so it isn’t like I need to be at his beck and […]

Published on October 11, 2016 20:18
October 10, 2016
Prepping Your Premise
As I work on my NaNoWriMo prewriting tasks, I find myself doing a bit of this and a bit of that on my book. No, I’m not writing. I’m figuring things out. One of the things that I need to figure out is my premise. Not sure what a premise is? The concept is the […]

Published on October 10, 2016 18:21
October 9, 2016
Characters: Getting to know them inside and out
As part of the pre-writing that I need to get done for NaNoWriMo, I spent some time last week scrapbooking my characters. This is definitely an exercise that I’d recommend if you’ve never done it before. Before I did this exercise, I’d given some thought to my characters. For my main character and three main […]

Published on October 09, 2016 18:51