Debra L. Butterfield's Blog, page 6
March 10, 2020
What’s the Difference Between Passive Voice and Passive Writing?
In the world of writing blogs, I see passive writing and passive voice discussed as synonymous. They aren’t! While passive writing is to be avoided as much as possible, there are times when passive voice is the only tool available. Passive Voice Take a moment and access your memory banks for elementary school grammar lessons. Basic […]
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March 2, 2020
How to Start a Book Series
Today’s guest post is from Alexis D. Johnson, a fantasy author and freelance editor specializing in speculative fiction for clients in the U.S. and U.K. She is currently working on her book The Seventh Year Trials. It is an underdog fantasy woven with charm, treachery, and a touch of steampunk, where dragons and riders contend […]
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February 17, 2020
5 Secrets of Story Structure – Book Review
I’m currently in the revision stages of my first novel. To help with the process, I’m using K.M. Weiland’s book 5 Secrets of Story Structure. Maybe you’ve never read anything about structure. Lots on plot, but little, if anything about structure. Structure is essential. So is plot. And they are different things! Definitions of Structure […]
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February 3, 2020
Mine Your Library’s Amazing Resources
I visit my library every Wednesday to upload videos my church sends to India. A video that takes hours to upload from my home computer takes only 1-2 minutes to upload from the library’s system. That’s just one of the amazing resources of my local library. I live in a town of around 76,000 people. […]
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January 20, 2020
Discover and Learn, Rinse and Repeat, Grow Profitability and Productivity
I made a discovery this weekend. Those kind you’d call “light bulb” or “aha” moments. I noticed I was experiencing that old “my life is nothing but work” attitude. I asked my why and discovered it was because I had allowed other commitments keep me from working on my own story. So on Saturday, I […]
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January 14, 2020
Character Development, Draft and Revisions
Late last year I completed the draft of a novel—the first novel I’ve managed to finish! Fiction is my passion, but it seems at this point in my writing career I write mostly nonfiction. Not sure why that is. I’ve started as many novels as I have published nonfiction books. Those novels sit partially written, […]
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November 18, 2019
Evaluating your yearly goals ahead of setting new ones
The holidays are upon us. Before we know it, 2020 will make its entrance. Every time I say 2020, it makes me think of the song “In the year 2525.” Yeah, I know, you’re probably clueless. Those older than 50 might remember it. It was a #1 hit in 1969. I was the ripe old age […]
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November 4, 2019
Formatting an eBook
Formatting an eBook isn’t hard. What you have to remember is the conversion process involved. An eBook is read on a device such as a Kindle Fire, a Nook, an iPad, and more. Many of the devices have proprietary coding—Kindle is one, and it comes with a .mobi extension to the file. Here is an […]
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October 19, 2019
How to Format a Book – Part 2
Last week in part 1 of “How to Format a Book” I covered trim size, margins, and fonts and their sizes. This week, we’ll look at page headings, chapter beginning elements, and page count. Whether you’re doing the layout or you’ve hired a designer, the elements discussed last week are essentials you must determine before […]
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October 15, 2019
How to Format a Book – Part 1
How to format a book seems to give indie writers more difficulty than writing the book itself. In my world as an editor and book designer, the word format means several things. When a writer contacts me asking for book formatting, I always have to clarify exactly what they want. I covered formatting the text […]
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