Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 272
June 15, 2015
Mentor texts
In the past when I’ve written about using mentor texts, here and here, I was talking about picture book writing. For those of you who may not remember, a mentor text is a book that you use as a guide or template in your own writing. A recent post by Nancy I. Sanders reminded me […]
June 14, 2015
Body Language
It is amazing how much information people give away by how they behave and they don’t even know that they ‘re doing it. A glance to the side, a shufffle of feet, or a shrug can tell you more about a person or their state of mind than they reveal by what they say. This […]
June 11, 2015
Feedback: Arthur Slade Offers to Critique Your Work
Getting feedback on your writing can be tough. I’m lucky in that I live in a major metropolitan area with a strong writing community. Not only do I know a number of writers who live in my area, I’m connected on line with even more. If this isn’t the case for you, getting feedback can […]
June 10, 2015
Adding Words: What to do When I write too Short
I just turned in Book #5 for Red Line. This one was on WWI Trench Warfare and like most of my other Red Line books needed to be 15,000 words long. The problem was that as I went into draft #5, my manuscript was several 100 words too short. Something like 700 to be honest. […]
June 9, 2015
Science Fiction vs Fantasy
What is the difference between science fiction and fantasy? So many people use the terms interchangeably but they are really two different things. Fantasy stories take place in worlds with magic. The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are […]
June 8, 2015
Killing Characters
When can you effectively kill a character? I read a lot — both published books and manuscripts — and I watch a lot of movies. One of the things that I’ve learned is that if I take the time to off a character, I want it to mean something. What I don’t want to go […]
June 7, 2015
Creating readers: The Great Thing about Being a Writer
My son is on the city swim team and doesn’t drive yet so I spend a lot of time sitting at the pool. Yes, I could go home but I only do that if I have a deadline. Otherwise I sit and watch and chat. I had the coolest experience last week. One of the […]
June 4, 2015
William Zinsser: Writing Nonfiction
Oh, sadness. I just read that William Zinsser died on May 15, 2015. Among other things, he was the author of my favorite nonfiction how-to, On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction. Zinsser begins by emphasizing that nonfiction is a personal transaction. It isn’t removed from the writer; it flows from who the writer […]
June 3, 2015
Bias: Writing about tough topics
Last week I read a post about author Matt de la Pena. Apparently his Tweet, “Something I can’t ignore: Tomorrow’s #teenlitcon in Minn will be 95% white. The juvenile detention centers I just visited were 95% brown” got quite a bit of notice. It was tweeted and retweeted and went wild. As a population, we […]
June 2, 2015
Freelancing: The Pros and Cons
I love being a freelancer but there are definitely both pros and cons to this type of work. Here is an infographic prepared by Graphic Design Degree Hub. I have to say — I agree that the feast/famine cycle is a real drag. So is trying to balance life and work when you can pretty […]
