Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 71

Quickly Catalogue Your Books

Just last week, I was about 30 minutes into an audiobook when I paused it to look the series up on Fantastic Fiction. It just seemed so familiar and for a very good reason. I had read not only the first book but they first several. Then there are those times that I’m standing in … Continue reading Quickly Catalogue Your Books →

Recharge by Doing Something Creative

The St. Louis County Library System has been hosting a March drawing challenge with lessons from Creative Bug. Naturally, with three book deadlines this month, I’ve been taking part. This is something that I do for just a few minutes each day. Some images turn out a whole lot better than others. But the point … Continue reading Recharge by Doing Something Creative →

How to Format Your Manuscript

When I read Kathleen Temean’s post on manuscript format, I knew I wasn’t the only person seeing this problem. No, there is no single way to format your manuscript. Minor variations on a theme are okay as long as everything is clear and easy to read. But as I started trying to write about format, … Continue reading How to Format Your Manuscript →

Breaking the Writing Rules

Yesterday, I found myself nodding as I read this post from author and freelance editor Karin Beery. Personally, I know that there are words I can delete 90% of the time – start, begin and that. They are the written equivalent of “um” and “uh” and very often serve no vital function in my writing. … Continue reading Breaking the Writing Rules →

Prewriting a Historical Mystery

As I’ve reimagined my cozy, I realized that I just wasn’t loving it. I didn’t much care about my POV character. The community was a little too like my own and I was having troubles making it quirky. Nothing seemed genuine. So I decided to shake things up by revisioning it. Now it is both … Continue reading Prewriting a Historical Mystery →

Review of Houdini’s Fabulous Magic

I was surprised to find that there is actually a book that explains how Houdini did many of his most famous tricks. I mean, I still couldn’t pull many of them off but I’m sure some of you could! I knew this book was a reprint. I did some poking around and found a copy … Continue reading Review of Houdini’s Fabulous Magic →

Writing A Fairy Tale

You never know what is going to be placed in front of you when my critique group meets. We have picture book authors, fiction, nonfiction, and periodicals. We also cover a wide range of topics. This time someone brought a modern fairy tale retelling. I vaguely remembered that when you retell a fairy tale you … Continue reading Writing A Fairy Tale →

3 Things About Writing Scenes

Yesterday I was reading Kat Caldwell’s newsletter and I was surprised at what she had to say about scene length. A scene should last no more than 20 minutes in the world of your story. That seemed oddly specific so I Googled how long a scene should be. Talk about something that was monumentally useless. … Continue reading 3 Things About Writing Scenes →

Author’s Bio: Make Sure You Bio Is All about You

For years, I loathed writing the brief bio found in each of my books. At best, I have 50 words. At worst, two or three sentences. But I had a breakthrough the day I got an e-mail from my editor. The publisher needed my bio “right now.” They hadn’t asked for it with the rest … Continue reading Author’s Bio: Make Sure You Bio Is All about You →

Setting vs World Building

I was following a bit of research down the rabbit hole that is the web when I stumbled up on a post by Janice Hardy. “The Difference Between Setting and World Building.” Curious, I started to read but these two paragraphs brought me up short: “Setting is the location in which a scene (or book) takes … Continue reading Setting vs World Building →