Kathy McIntosh's Blog, page 8

Don’t Needle Me: Sports and Sewing Metaphors

Whiletravelling not long ago, I saw a woman toting a sewing machine as her carry-on luggage. No one stopped her.

99K Singer Hand Crank Sewing Machine

What is the matter with the Transportation Security Administration? Don’t they realize the dangers inherent in sewing machines? Consider the terminology.

A needle is a small, slender, pointed implement used for sewing or surgical suturing. Have you never punctured yourself while attempting to attach a button or stitch a hem? I inevitably bleed o...

Starting Your Novel, With or Without Zombies

I’m sure there are authors who decide to write a series of novels who know the plot of each book in the series before beginning page one of book one. Anyone who knows me knows I am not among those authors. I simply cannot be that organized. Given the fluid nature of the publishing world, I’m not certain that’s always the best approach. After all, I might need to introduce a zombie in my next book.

Just kidding. I shall stay true to my characters and my genre and write not to the market, but w...

Know Your Audience and Write for Them

What do Janet Evanovich and Dan Kennedy have in common?

They both sell a LOT of books.

I once heard Janet Evanovich speak about writing on a CD from the Mystery Writers of America. She mentioned that the success of her Stephanie Plum humorous mystery series is due in part to the fact that she understands who her readers are, and what they expect.

Dan Kennedy is an incredibly successful direct marketing and sales guru who has helped thousands improve their marketing messages and increase sales...

New Book Shares Writing Tips, Lessons Learned

In nature, we sometimes find an incredible blossom springing from something ungainly and almost ugly. The same can be said for our writing. “Shitty first drafts,” a term made popular by Anne Lamott, can turn into word works of art.

Nature’s gift takes no effort on our part save the breath we gasp out in wonder and perhaps the minimal effort to snap a photograph. The flower in the photo sprang from a cactus I thought dead or at best struggling to survive in our garden.

To transform those firs...

Wordslaying: How to Omit Unnecessary Words

Friends are generally surprised when I tell them I used to be a bird hunter. Using a .410 (small gauge) shotgun, I’d often limit out on doves before grown men using 12 gauge (larger pellets) shotguns.

My parents were avid bird hunters. After they died, I gave up hunting.

Now, especially recently, I’m a word killer rather than a bird killer. I’ve been slaying herds of words in an effort to create a leaner, meaner, funnier, faster-paced novel. Woo hoo! When you’re cutting words, there’s no limit....

Show Don’t Tell Holds for Dialog as Well

Good dialog illuminates character, advances the plot, and holds readers’ interest.

Dialog and narration will accomplish those missions better through telling, not showing. I read a novel recently that reminded me how easy it is to slip into telling instead of showing in dialog. Each time the characters met up, one would chat away for two or three paragraphs about what she’d discovered as an amateur sleuth. Then her boyfriend the cop (a convenient device that works for many experienced writers)...

Context and Perspective Matter

Earlier this week I went to lunch with fifteen other writers, thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of Ethel Lee-Miller. It was great fun. Someone brought up the topic of point of view. One person suggested that point of view can be demonstrated through a character’s actions and movements. So true and so helpful. Characters also see life from different perspectives.

On a research trip to North Idaho some time back, I considered the different ways my characters would see the countryside.One chara...

Lethal, Fatal or Deadly?

As 2014 is preparing to pass from existence, I thought about the various synonyms for deadly and the gradations between them.

Are lethal and fatal the same? What about mortal? Or terminal? Deadly?

Although the words are close in definition, there are distinctions. If a weapon is lethal, it is capable of inflicting death. If it is fatal, it has been successful. The fatal blow is the killer. If the blow is only lethal, the victim might yet survive. Mortal means nearly the same as lethal, destruct...

Cinnamon Pecans Recipe and a Confession from a Real Nut

I’m guest posting today at the blog of the gracious, generous and prolific writer, Conda Douglas. Head on over there for my post on Believable Lies and a recipe for pumpkin granola. Conda writes in several genres. Check her out! Then come back for a nutty recipe here.

I confess: moving to a whole new town, then launching a remodeling project that didn’t seem horrendous before we started, can be classified as nuts! My boxes have been moved around so many times the cardboard’s starting to crumbl...

Have a Problem with That?

People are often confused about the use of which or that. I hope to clear that up in today’s post.

That or Which?

That introduces restrictive or essential clauses. Which generally introduces non-restrictive or non-essential clauses. A restrictive clause is part of the sentence that describes a noun. Without it, the meaning of the sentence would change. “The restaurant that my cousin opened closed yesterday.”

Without the words “that my cousin opened,” the sentence could refer to any restaurant....