Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 6

16 Ways to Add Tension to Your Story

Last week I read Janice Hardy’s post about how to add tension to a scene. That set me on a quest to brainstorm all the ways you can increase the tension. Other Characters Someone is in competition with your character. They both want the same thing such as winning a prize. Someone wants something that … Continue reading 16 Ways to Add Tension to Your Story →

Try, Try, Again: When a Project Doesn’t Come Together

Two weeks ago, I made and posted a video of hand exercises for creatives. You can check out that post here. Sometimes when you try something new, it falls together fairly easily. Yes, it took me more than one try to make the video but I didn’t write a script ahead of time. I didn’t … Continue reading Try, Try, Again: When a Project Doesn’t Come Together →

When Someone Hasn’t Read the Book

I don’t think I’ve ever pretended that I read something. I’m honest about the books that I only made it through with the help of Cliff Notes. Ulysses, I’m looking at you. I read Gulliver’s Travels once with Cliff Notes and once without. I didn’t get any of the underlying political commentary without the Cliff … Continue reading When Someone Hasn’t Read the Book →

Research: The Difference Between Fact and Something Else

I’m currently taking Bob Woodward’s MasterClass on investigative journalism. One of the things that he discusses is when to trust that a source is giving you FACT. Because of the type of journalism he does, not everyone is willing to go on record and attach their name to a specific set of facts. Woodward makes … Continue reading Research: The Difference Between Fact and Something Else →

Meet the Mini-Mammals: The Hook and the Structure

Sometimes the structure of a nonfiction picture book comes from the topic. Biographies and history tend to be chronological. But reverse chronology is another choice. See Before She Was Harriet. Or you could tell parallel stories like Hannah Holt did in The Diamond and the Boy: The Creation of Diamonds & The Life of H. Tracy Hall. … Continue reading Meet the Mini-Mammals: The Hook and the Structure →

Social Media Marketing: Make It Personal

I’m about halfway through the Google social media marketing certificate. Again and again they’ve repeated the fact that social media marketing posts need to be personal. Whether you are an author posting about your book or a teacher posting about your writing class, you need to make the posts about you. One way to do … Continue reading Social Media Marketing: Make It Personal →

Finding Space in the Market

Abraham Lincoln. George Washington. Martin Luther King, Jr. There are people with so much already written about them that you wonder when you see that something new has been released. How do they make the sale? One way to do it is to find a new approach to the topic. My husband and I saw … Continue reading Finding Space in the Market →

Self-Publishing and Fonts

I took a self-publishing class through WOW! Women on Writing. One of Barbara Noe Kennedy’s first recommendation? Check your fonts. They may not all be licensed commercially. I’m not selling my first self-published book, the one on book banning. But I will be selling other books. That may mean that I want the fonts to … Continue reading Self-Publishing and Fonts →

Science Fiction vs Fantasy

These are the kinds of diagrams that get drawn on napkins when my son’s STEM friends try to argue that “science fiction and fantasy are the same thing.” What can I say? Sometimes I picture really does make it easier to explain. The umbrella term for science fiction, fantasy, horror, super hero stories, fairy tales … Continue reading Science Fiction vs Fantasy →

Creating Quirky Contemporary Characters

We’ve all heard the advice. Make your characters interesting by making them quirky. That’s pretty good advice but we also need to remember to make them contemporary. I started thinking about this when my son’s friends came over for the 4th of July. Except for my husband and I, everyone was in their mid twenties. … Continue reading Creating Quirky Contemporary Characters →