Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 251

Crystal Kite

Are you an SCBWI member?  If so, have you cast your ballot in the first round of the Crystal Kite voting?  The Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award that gives SCBWI members (divided into 15 regions) the opportunity to vote for and recognize amazing books in their regions. The first round of voting is going […]

Writer’s Block, Brain Block and Outlining my book

Recently I wrote a post about knowing when to quit writing and put something aside vs when to soldier on.  Sometimes you really do benefit from a break, but sometimes you have a deadline and a break just isn’t an option. That was the situation I faced last week when I was trying to outline […]

Reading While Wearing Your Editor Hat

Earlier this week, I wrote a blog post about the fact that I give a book 10 pages to catch my fancy.  It it fails this test, I return it to the library.  Then I had the opportunity to talk to Astor+Blue Editions‘ editor Jillian Ports.  Jillian believes in the idea that you can learn just […]

Mystery Writing: Historic Detecting for Today’s Reader

When you write a mystery set in the past, you have to do it knowing what your detective would have known about solving crimes.  It seems obvious but a detective going after Jack the Ripper wouldn’t have known anything about profiling or the psychology of serial killers.  The problem is that you still have to […]

The Key to Successful Characters: A.R.F.

Yesterday, I wrote a post about what a fickle pickle I am when it comes to reading.  I give a book 10 pages.  If it doesn’t pull me in by then, too bad, so sad, into the library bag it goes.  There are a variety of reasons to dump a book and they range from […]

Read or Stop: How long do you give a book before you stop reading?

Recently, a friend asked a group of us how long we will continue to read a book that just hasn’t caught our fancy.  She was half way through a book that has received critical acclaim and it just hadn’t clicked with her.  How much longer should she give it. I have to admit that I […]

Writing a Novel: Can a plotter pants?

You know how it is — when you have a deadline that involves a check, that’s when another MOST EXCELLENT idea reaers its head and you simply have got to start writing it.  The problem is that I need to research my next piece of nonfiction for Red Line.  Chapter 1 and the outline are due […]

People Your Books with Plausible Characters

Nothing pulls me out of a story faster than a character who acts or speaks in a way that isn’t believable.  The absolute worst are male characters who do something or say something that just doesn’t ring true.  And, when this happens, the author is always female.  Always. Most recently, I was listening to an […]

New Editorial Director at Sky Pony Press

Bethany Buck, who  has worked at both Scholastic and Simon and Schuster, joins Sky Pony Press as their new Editorial Directory. Sky Pony, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, produces children’s books including picture books to middle grade and young adult.  One area of success has been their books for Minecraft lovers.  They currently have a backlist […]

Censorship: What It Is and What It Ain’t

Recently, I read an interesting post on YA Interrobang, a site that helps connect YA readers with the latest and greatest YA books.  It seems that they have decided not to cover a particular book.  Why?  It is book #2 in a series.  Book #1 was about a date rape with the rapist as the […]