Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 155
February 2, 2014
10 Tips Plus One More About Beautiful Words
If I could only recommend two books about words to writers, it would be:
The Lexicon by William F. Buckley Jr.
The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Difficult Words
Both are for those atavistic autodidactic souls who love Beautiful Words. Not ordinary words, or syntax, or grammar and spelling, nor the ebb and flow of a well-written sentence (as charming as is such a creature). You will discovered that the U-shape created by a cord hanging from two fixed points is a ‘catenary’ and a ‘deipnosophist’ is someone you’d gladly invite to dinner (for their robust conversation). These two books are for bibliophiles, focusing on words that make you want to find a spot in daily conversation where they fit. Because they are filled with meaning, emotion, texture, sizzle. If I say, “The susurrus sound of shushing winds…”, do you even care what ‘susurrous’ means? No–be honest. All you care is that it’s a d*** beautiful sounding word.
That’s what’s in these two books. Here are ten tips on how to get the most out of them after they’ve assumed pride of place on your writer’s bookshelf:
Take time every day to crack one or the other open, read a few words, let them rattle around in your brain like caged birds, and then delve into your subconscious. You’ll find yourself relaxing, smiling, understanding that life most assuredly can get better than sitting at a desk working for the Man.
Become familiar with words appropriate to your life, interests, hobbies. Know the right way to say ‘snow’ if you’re in Alaska or the one word that characterizes a child who tends to cause trouble (fractious). There is nothing that says ‘philomath’ like knowing exactly the right word for a situation.
Writers are renowned for knowing the exact word that fits a situation. Readers don’t like trolling through three words when it can be said in one. In fact, they won’t. Develop the habit–the love–for words. It might seem difficult at first, but soon, it’s a joy.
Understand roots and affixes so when you read a word, your brain decodes it before you even find it necessary to pull out the Oxford Essential Dictionary of Difficult Words. Unlike words, there are a limited number of prefixes and suffixes, applied in an infinite variety of ways. You’ll feel like Sherlock Holmes as you unravel the meaning. Break ‘polyglot’ into pieces–I bet you can figure out what it means.
Read this book and you can honestly call yourself a ‘bibliophile’. How cool is that.
Read this book and be amazed by how many of Buckley’s favorite, most erudite words you understand. You will gain renewed respect for your cerebral powers. Decoding words will become abecederian (think ‘abc’).
As a writer, we all must read the manuscripts of our most famous representatives. William F. Buckley is one of those people-a wordsmith without equal. Truthfully, even if you aren’t enthralled with words as I am, anyone who calls themselves ‘writer’ should read this.
If you loved Bryson’s list of favorite words in his Dictionary for Writers and Editors, read this.
It’s small enough to fit into a purse, the pocket of a briefcase, in an iPad bag. Bring it everywhere; pull it out when you have a free five minutes, waiting on… something… anything…
As Bryan Kerr mentioned in an Amazon review, ‘buckley’ has become a verb. ‘To Buckley’ meaning ‘to use the exact perfect word for an occasion, and likely one most people don’t understand’.
This for my teacher readers: Common Core requires renewed interest in blending vocabulary into every part of education. What better way to do that than a deep, abiding love of words.
There you have it–ten spot-on ideas from a dictionary. So much more than definitions.
More on words:
103 Most Beautiful Words? You Decide
Writer’s Tip #46: Beware of Word Selection
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: authors, book reviews, reading, words, writing Tagged: beautiful words, lexicon, William F. Buckley, word lover
January 30, 2014
Book Review: Dictionary for Writers and Editors
Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors
by Bill Bryson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Theodore Bernstein (author of seven books on grammar and usage) may be the acknowledged expert on English grammar, but Bill Bryson share’s his knowledge with a pinch of humility and humor.
I met Bryson reading his Short History of Nearly Everything. Therein lay the seeds of my initial distrust. How could an author who wrote such an enthralling historic book like Short History switch genres and write a successful dictionary? Shouldn’t that be the job of a bibliophile or Mr. Webster’s great grandson? Despite my misgivings, I decided to give it a try. Anyone who could distill history into 480 pages must have the see-the-forest-for-the-trees ability to decide on the need-to-know grammar required for a budding author. After all, I needed to spend the minutes stolen from my day job on what would quickly kick-start my authorial expertise. I’d get to ‘everything’ later.
So, despite misgivings and with a nod for the appeal of humor in the dry world of word study, I bought Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors (Broadway Books, 1994). It didn’t disappoint. As Bill Bryson notes, it will provide you with “the answers to all those points of written usage that you kind of know or ought to know but can’t quite remember.” It not only includes dictionary-appropriate word meanings, but factual details that writers might get wrong. On the one hand, he discusses the difference in meaning between ‘a’ and ‘an’, and then later, he shares the meaning of Au secours! (a cry for help). He seems to include 1) whatever struck him as interesting or relevant based on his own personal writing experiences, and 2) what he considers critical to be a successful writer–well-beyond plot, characters and story arc. Many entries have his notes/definitions/explanations, but some include just the word, there for a writers’ ruminations. To that end, the book is a fascinating stroll through Bryson’s writing mind.
Here are some of the gems I found:
the difference between ‘autarchy’ and ‘autarky’
the difference between ‘avenge’ and ‘revenge’
difference between ‘before’ and ‘prior to’
what BMW stands for
what is carpaccio
how to translate Chinese names to English
difference between ‘compare to’ and ‘compare with’
difference between ‘compel’ and ‘impel’
what does ‘Dum spiro, spero‘ mean (‘While I breathe, there is hope.’)
difference between ‘fewer’ and ‘less’ (the former covers singular nouns; the latter, plural)
the difference between ‘gibe’ and ‘jibe’
what’s a ‘haggis’ (Scottish dish)
‘Lacy’ has no e
‘Laddie’ isn’t spelled ‘laddy’
what’s a ‘macaronic verse’ (a type of poetry in which two or more languages are mingled)
what’s ‘ochlocracy’? (government by mob)
difference between ‘regretfully’ and ‘regrettably’
I’ve been known to read a dictionary when I have a few spare minutes. It’s a logical choice: I can complete a section in whatever amount of time I have. It takes little time to read a word and it’s definition. Bryson’s is now in that quick-read pile.
More book reviews on writing tasks:
Book Review: Elements of Style
Book Review: The Way We Never Were
Book Review: Born on a Blue Day–Insight into Learning
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: book reviews, writers resources Tagged: book review, Dictionary, research
January 28, 2014
Tech Tip for Writers #62: Emailing from Word
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: How do I email a document (like my WIP or edits) directly to someone rather than opening the email program and attaching it?
A: I was helping a friend. She couldn’t print a document (server problems) so I suggested she email it to herself at home and print it there. She started going online to her Yahoo account and I stopped her.
Click the email tool on the Word toolbar.
She was excited–an epiphany! What fun to share that with her. 
A note: There is a limit to file size, so if you’re emailing a long Word document–like a book–it may bounce because it’s too large. Most email servers limit size to about 10 MB. As a point of reference, most of my books are bigger than that. But, Gmail allows up to 20 MB. Even better, if both parties have Gmail, simply share from the Drive.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I’ll answer.
More Tech Tips for Writers:
Tech Tip for Writers #60: How to Add Shortcuts to the Desktop
Tech Tips for Writers #53: How to Pin Any Program to the Start Menu
Tech Tips for Writers #104: Need a File on Your iPad? Here’s an Easy Way
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: problem-solving, tech tips for writers Tagged: email, tech tips, word doc, writers tips
January 26, 2014
13 Tips from Evan Marshall
As writers, we believe the books we write come from the soul, not a rubric. It’s true. No one reads past the first few pages of a story lacking passion, emotion, rigor, tension, drama, and surprise. Including those characteristics is more easily accomplished when the story follows accepted structural norms.
When I started writing, the process completely bamboozled me. I thought having a good vocabulary and understanding subject-verb were the biggest hurdles in penning a novel. Not even close! There’s plot, pacing, weaving multiple storylines together, dialogue, emotion–I could go on. Slamming into these requirements, often like a truck hitting a brick wall, are what destroy the dreams of so many future-great authors. How do you track all that, get it done in about 400 pages, and make it look easy?
I confess, I had no idea, but Even Marshall did. His book, The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing:A 16-Step Program Guaranteed to Take You from Idea to Completed Manuscript, provided me a step-by-step outline of what to do, how, and when. If you’re a pantser, I’ll stipulate right here you probably won’t like this book. But, if you’ve tried to pants it and it hasn’t worked, this book gives you the literary skeleton, to which you add skin, muscle, accoutrements. It’s a sixteen-step organized approach to detailing what must be included in a blockbuster novel. For years, I used it as a check list at the completion of a novel.
Here are the top thirteen tips I got as I read and used the book:
write what you love to read. If you aren’t sure what genre you read and why you like it so much, check my series on the differences between genres. When you find yourself nodding along as I list characteristics, you’ve found your home.
stick with your target genre. Get good at it. Understand why you like it and how to adapt your writing to those characteristics. For example, heroes are vastly differently between thrillers and literary fiction. Understand those differences and make sure your characters fit the parameters.
we all love bad news. Make that part of your plot–often.
determine what the goal of your story is. Yes–you must have one. Why are readers traveling this long road with you if not to learn/achieve/experience/feel?
characters must face tremendous odds in accomplishing this goal. What those odds are will depend upon the genre. Thrillers will be physical, save-the-world sort. Romances will be getting the guy/gal.
know your characters–whatever makes that possible for you, do it. Marshall includes a Fact List of critical details. I’ve expanded that for my own purposes. You need to know the character like a best friend so s/he acts accordingly. A note: Non-POV characters can be flat–that’s OK. But, any character that shares a POV must be as well understood as your family. Readers will notice if something they do doesn’t fit.
consider having a ‘confidant’. This is a character that your leads can talk to, bounce ideas off of. It’s like Angela Montenegro in Bones or Watson in Elementary. It’s that person in your life you just have to talk to when life goes sideways because retelling makes it all clearer. In fiction, it allows you as author to share insider information, emotions, thoughts with the reader in a realistic manner.
know the ideal length of your novel and make sure each character has enough time in the story to accomplish their goals. Marshall lays this out in stunning detail–story length by genre, how many scenes different types of characters should participate in. He then provides an organization sheet for each scene to be sure you as author accomplish everything necessary in that time. This includes tracking character goals through prior scenes, where and when the scene occurs, nature of the conflict, and more.
vary the nature of sections between ‘action’ and ‘reaction’. Marshall says ‘The more devastating or momentous the failure in the action section, the likelier it is you’ll need a reaction section.’ You decide. How often has your reader critique group said, ‘Why didn’t s/he react to that event?’ Those times are when you need a section devoted to the emotional response.
characters must fail to achieve their goals over and over, and that failure cannot involve coincidence. Each section must end with a failure.
include subplots. This makes the story more realistic. Few people pursue only one goal at a time in their lives. Plus, subplots gives readers more to worry about, deeper reasons to keep turning the pages.
surprise the reader. This often is what they read for–to avoid the mundane existence that is their life. Keep them guessing. Surprises must relate to the story goal and raise the stakes for the main characters. Most stories have at least three, spaced judiciously throughout the novel (which Marshall spells out for readers).
as the story progresses, narrow the hero’s options, worsen his/her failures, and make it impossible to succeed. Have your reader asking, “How will s/he get out of this?”
Marshall goes into exquisite detail on all of these, something I absorbed, modeled and owned when I started. True confession: I no longer use his outline. The logic of what he recommends has become part of my writing process. Now, I just do it and it feels right.
More articles on writing:
113 Ways to Characterize Your Protagonist
Writers Tip #60: It’s Fiction. Make Stuff Up.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: book reviews, writers resources Tagged: evan marshall, marshall plan for novel writing, novel writing, writers resources, writers toolkit
January 23, 2014
Book Review: Elements of Style
The Elements of Style
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
View all my book reviews
This book was originally published in the 1930′s and after 49 editions, is still one of the best selling books about writing. It covers all the basics in 95 concise pages, in a book small enough to fit in a pocket. Reviews say things like, “No book in shorter space, with fewer words, will help any writer more than this persistent little volume.” “…should be the daily companion of anyone who writes for a living and, for that matter, anyone who writes at all.”
It has competitors. Consider:
Garner’s Modern American Usage
Bernstein’s The Careful Writer
Jack Hart’s A Writers Coach
…but still, Strunk and White is the most famous, most oft-quoted, most recommended of any. Amazon ranks it #1 in writing skills, #1 in grammar and #9 in reference. It’s the 555th most popular book on the entire site.
Why is that?
Look at the Table of Contents:
Elementary Rules of Usage, which lists eleven rules–the eleven most relevant to writers
Elementary Principles of Composition–This includes eleven also, with items like use the active voice, put statements in positive form, omit needless words. Great suggestions. Often, these are the mistakes writers make
A Few Matters of Form, which includes colloquialisms, headings, hyphens, numbers
Words and Expressions Commonly Misused--twenty-seven pages of words like aggravate/irritate, among/between, farther/further
An Approach to Style With a List of Reminders–hints like Do not overwrite, avoid fancy words, don not affect a breezy manner, do not over-explain
Did you notice? Although these were considered important rules in the 1930′s and are the same issues faced by writers today. Maybe that’s why it’s still one of the best-selling, most popular books ever.
More writing tips:
Writers Tip #65: Thing? Really?
Writer’s Tip #45: Finish Sentences
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment and I’ll answer.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: book reviews, grammar and spelling, writers resources, writing Tagged: book review, elements of style, strunk
January 21, 2014
Tech Tips for Writers: 13 Tips To Speed Up Your Computer
One more tip to start your writing year right–
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
That’s right. It’s a new year, which means Pre-Spring Cleaning. Set aside the brushes and mops. Grab a comfortable chair. Don your problem-solving hat, and get started. The goal: To make your computer faster, more efficient, and more reliable for all the novels you’ll be writing.
Here’s what you need to do:
Make sure your firewall is working. Windows comes with a built-in one. Maybe Mac does too. Leave it active. It’s under Control Panel>Administrative Tools. Sometimes, they seem to turn off by themselves (I have no idea why). Check to be sure it is active.
Defrag your computer. To quote Windows, Fragmentation makes your hard disk do extra work that can slow down your computer. Removable storage devices such as USBs can also become fragmented. Disk Defragmenter rearranges fragmented data so your disks and drives can work more efficiently. Never mind all that geek speak. Here’s what you need to know: Run Disc Defrag by going to Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Advanced Tools.
Run Spybot or a similar spyware programs. Spybot is free, which is why I like it, and I’ve had good luck with it. Download.com says this about Spybot: The program checks your system against a comprehensive database of adware and other system invaders. The Immunize feature blocks a plethora of uninvited Web-borne flotsam before it reaches your computer.
Run Ad-aware once a week to keep malware off your computer. It has a stellar reputation and is also free (although there’s an upgrade that you can pay for).
Keep your antivirus software active. If you’re paranoid like me, run an antivirus scan weekly to be sure nothing is missed.
Sort through My Documents and get rid of files you don’t need anymore. It’s intimidating, like a file cabinet that hasn’t been opened in months–or years–and is covered with spider webs. If you don’t do it, every time you search, the computer must finger through all those files. It doesn’t understand the difference between ‘unused’ and ‘important’.
Back up your files to an external drive or cloud storage. If you have an automated system, skip this. If you don’t, consider getting Carbonite or similar. If you use Windows, try their backup program. It’s easy to find: Click the Start Button and search ‘backup’.
Empty the trash. Don’t even look in it. If you haven’t missed a file by now, it won’t matter if you throw it out.
Learn to use that program you’ve been promising you would. Evernote is a great example. Use it (you won’t be sorry) or delete the email from your best friend exhorting you to and move on.
Go through your programs and delete those you no longer use. Here’s what you do:
go to Control Panel>Programs and Features
peruse the list and pick the programs you downloaded by mistake, meant to use, or used to use and no longer do
uninstall
don’t look back
Update software that needs it. I don’t mean BUY a newer version. I mean click the free update that’s been nagging at you (Adobe Reader and Windows, for example)
Clean the junk off your desktop. Put it in folders or create a ‘Working on ‘ folder . Don’t know how to create a desktop folder? Here’s what you do:
Right click on the desktop and select ‘New>folder’
Clean up your Start Button. Remove shortkeys you no longer use (right click>delete). Add those that have become daily go-to sites
That’s enough. I’ll have more for you during Fall Cleaning. Now take a break.
More tech tips for writers:
Once a Year Blog Maintenance–Are You Up to Date?
Tech Tip for Writers #60: How to Add Shortcuts to the Desktop
Tech Tips for Writers #53: How to Pin Any Program to the Start Menu
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, a freelance journalist on tech ed topics, and a monthly contributor to Today’s Author. In her free time, she is editor of a K-8 technology curriculum and technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers Tagged: writing tips
January 19, 2014
Writers Tips #102: 10 Tips from the Careful Writer
When you read your story, does it sound off, maybe you can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know you’ve done something wrong? Sometimes–maybe even lots of times–there are simple fixes. These writer’s tips will come at you once a week, giving you plenty of time to go through your story and make the adjustments.
Theodore Bernstein’s fifty-year-old, 512-page The Careful Writer: A Modern Guide to English Usage (the Free Press, 1963) and its more than 2000 problem-solving entries has some of the best tips you’ll need if you’re serious about becoming a writer. Bernstein, former consulting editor of the New York Times, wrote/co-wrote seven books on writing, but this one–in my estimation–is his best. The font styles are old; the archaic structure of its syntax at times made me chuckle; and the topic is as appealing as banana juice (though I understand our Army boys in Kuwait love banana juicer–they can’t keep it stocked), but it has stood the test of time and writers should consider it a must-have for their reference library. Where else will you go with a question like, Is ‘none’ singular or plural? It doesn’t hurt that Bernstein schools readers with a dry sense of humor, making the medicine more palatable.
A little about Theodore Bernstein (November 17, 1904 – June 1979). He was an assistant managing editor of The New York Times and from 1925 to 1950 a professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism. When he died, Time Magazine wrote an obit bio on him that read:
Theodore M. Bernstein, 74…served as the paper‘s prose polisher and syntax surgeon for almost five decades, authoring seven popular texts on English usage and journalism…In a witty Times house organ called ‘Winners and Sinners’, the shirtsleeves vigilante caught solecists in the act.
Bernstein would have objected to their neologistic use of ‘author’ as a verb. Today, no one would even notice.
Besides covering basic good grammar, Bernstein addresses the idiomatic words that are more difficult to classify and covers them with the same rigor as he does the traditional words. Here are some of his best tips:
accident vs. mishap: accident is an undesigned occurrence. Mishap is an unfortunate happening.
amid vs. amidst–Americans prefer amid; Brits prefer amidst
can vs. may: use can for ability or power to do something, may for permission to do it
elder vs. older: older compares old things whereas elder compares people
he has lots of slang-type of phrases--guild the lilly, likes of, pinch hitter (which he terms a ‘weary cliche’), some of which have since 1963 become mainstream. American English is nothing if not adaptive.
hanker takes the preposition after or for
hara-kiri–the correct word for the more popular term, ‘hari-kari’ and not a correct substitute for the Japanese ritual suicide, seppuku
how come: out of place in good writing and not legitimized because Shakespeare used the term ‘how chance’
incidental: takes preposition to or upon
libel vs. slander: slander is oral defamation while libel is defamation by any other means
like vs. as: Bernstein takes three pages–filled with humorous examples–to explain the use of these two words
madam vs. madame: one is a married woman; the other the keeper of a bawdy house
may vs. might: may is present tense; might is past tense–who knew that?
mixaphor–when a writer mixes his metaphors. I love this.
pupil vs. student: those who attend elementary schools are pupils; those who attend higher institutions of learning are students (again, who knew? In this case, probably more of a history lesson than followed)
sensual vs. sensuous: sensual applies to gratification of the animal sense with overtones of lewdness; sensuous applies to enjoyment produced by appeal to the senses.
though vs. although: mean the same with two exceptions: 1) only though can be used in idioms like ‘as though’, and 2) only though can be used adverbially in a final position
If you are in a position where you must–really must–be accurate in your grammatical decisions, there is no more authoritative voice than Bernstein. Others may have an educated opinion, but Bernstein is the trump card.
More writing tips:
Writer’s Tip #29: No Exclamation Points! Please!
Writer’s Tip #25: It Depends On the Definition of the Word ‘It’
Do You Make These Writing Blunders?
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment and I’ll answer.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: book reviews, writers tips Tagged: book review, grammar, writers tips
January 16, 2014
Book Review: Self-editing for Fiction Writers
Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print
by Renni Browne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I am big on self-editing. I don’t want a professional or even my writer’s group to see my mss before it’s as good as I can get it. I’m like that in all parts of my life. I clean the house before my house cleaner shows up so she never knows how messy I am. I review emails–twice–before sending them out. I have a mirror by the front door to be sure I didn’t leave toothpaste on my face.
I have a long list of self-edits I go through (checking for passive, the use of all forms of ‘to be’, repeated words, etc.), but I found a book I like called Self Editing for Fiction Writers, by Renni Browne and Dave King. It covers everything one should look at in their mss in three different ways:
Each chapter covers a multi-page summary on how to do it
Each chapter includes a checklist at the end to apply to your own writing
Each chapter includes exercises to allow you to practice the skill if it’s one that is difficult for you
When I first bought Browne and King’s book, I read the entire thing. Not much new in it from what I already knew about writing (I have nine published books I’ve been involved with), but it did include everything I considered important to a well-developed story. Here’s a partial list of the skills:
Show and tell
Characterization and exposition
Point of View
Dialogue mechanics
Interior monologue
Voice
Now that I knew I can trust it, I went directly to the checklists, to make sure I was doing each part correctly. For example, here’s the Show and Tell Checklist:
How often do you use narrative summary
If there’s too much narrative, convert some of it to scenes (that works well to speed up a plot and turn dull into dynamic. I love this one)
Make sure there’s enough narrative so you don’t bounce from scene to scene
Does narrative describe feelings? No good.
Overall, for the meticulous writer, this is a good book. My creative friends who want to write off the top of their heads and refuse to be constrained by protocols and rules–I’d skip this one.
More articles on editing
How to Edit Your Novel (according to Yuvi)
Click to have Writer’s Tips delivered to your email box
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment and I’ll answer it within the next thirty days.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: book reviews, editing, writers resources, writers tips, writing Tagged: editing, self-edit, self-editing, writers, writers resources
January 14, 2014
2014, I Resolve…
New Years–a time for rest, rejuvenation and repair. A time to assess life. Do we settle into our routine, enjoy where it’s headed, or is it time to grab our purse, our iPhone, our car keys, and get out of there?
Here are my resolutions this year. Lots of them! But that change I suspected last year arrived. All’s good. I’ve got this one:
Fiction
Rewrite and self-pub the prequel to Twenty-Four Days , To Hunt a Sub. This is a series of the thriller genre that uses science to drive the plot. I call it ‘scientific fiction’. The science is current, not futuristic, with extrapolations on what can be accomplished with it. The characters are damaged, flawed, and heroic. The plot is fast-paced, non-stop (which I have to work on). At one point several years ago, I called this book completed. Now, I better check before publishing.
Rewrite and self-pub the sequel to To Hunt a Sub–Twenty-Four Days. This is the second in the series. This, too, I called completed at one point. Then I edited and called it completed. Then my agent offered advice, I made changes and called it completed. Yikes! I’m getting sick of it! This time, I’ll go through it, fix problems, and self-pub! I need to move on.
I have a historic fiction novel call Lucy, Daughter of Man . It’s Part I of a series that deals with man’s ability to solve problems. The setting is paleo times, the birth of human critical thinking skills. It’s a niche market so not surprisingly, no one has expressed any interest, thus I’m thinking of jumping into the ebook market. I want to rewrite it in first person, so readers connect more closely with their prehistoric roots, when surviving was a gut-wrenching challenge. This will be after the rewrite of the first two. I may have time this year–it depends upon how much work those two require.
Non-fiction
Publish the last two books in my Common Core series–on Writing and Speaking and Listening . Writing is in draft form and I have it mentally mapped out. Speaking and Listening –far from finished.
Continue to create one ebook mini each month to share as a Subscriber Special on my blog. These are all timely bundles that address topics of particular interest to tech teachers.
Work on themed bundles that address specific topics, like Valentine Day, Veteran’s Day–those types of topics. Also, topics like Programming, STEM. I thought I could throw these together (I plan to use existing lesson plans) over a weekend, but it’s proven much more complicated. Now, I’m thinking a month–or more–for each.
Blogs
Continue publishing 3-4 articles a week on my core blogs Ask a Tech Teacher and WordDreams (this blog).
Expand the reach of my blogs. I’ve read most of the articles that start “How to Write Blogs That Everyone Reads…” and they don’t work the way the author promises. Time to get creative. I’m at about 400 readers a day on WordDreams and 2-3,000 a day on Ask a Tech Teacher.
Find guest bloggers for my blogs. I’ve reached out a bit, but not enough. My readers would benefit from other opinions.
Put Sizzle in Science on hiatus. I just don’t have time to put into it. I wish I did…
Clean up my blogs. Fix those little problems like broken links that I keep putting off. Maybe Spring Cleaning will hit the blogosphere. I started it over the holiday, but fell far short of finishing.
Business
get headers and banners designed for FB, G , Twitter, for all books so I look more professional.
straighten out trademarks and copyrights for my writing, my business name, and my blog name. I recently learned that–yes–your writing is copyrighted as your creative work the moment you write it, but that benign level offers no legal recourse. Sure, I can tell someone to stop using my stuff, but I can’t sue them. I’ve decided I need more weight behind me than a slap on the hand
straighten out trademarks so no one can use the ‘name’ (i.e., Ask a Tech Teacher) that I’ve worked hard to develop as a reliable tech ed source.
redo old covers that look pretty darn awful and create professional-looking covers for new material. I’ve found a great cover designer I hope will be part of my ‘team’. Plus, I can create my own covers in a pinch. Since I’ve already published 12 new books this year (and it’s still January), this has become a big area. Overall, I have several hundred books, ebooks, booklets, pamphlets, etc.
become more active in tech ed and writer communities. I learn so much chatting with colleagues. I need to make this a bigger part of my weekly activities.
again–as every year–figure out how to sell books on Google ebooks. It should be a vast market, but my sales are abysmal–5% of overall sales. I’ll research how other authors are making that venue work.
What are your resolutions? What are you doing I should be? I want to learn from you.
More articles on the writing business:
38 Tips from Digital Publishing Conference
Writers Tip #48: Have a Web Presence
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: blogs, business, writers, writing Tagged: 2013, 2014, E-book, newyear resolutions
January 13, 2014
Tech Tips for Writers #92: Rollback Windows Updates
One more tip you need to know to start your writing year right
Tech Tips for Writers is an (almost) weekly post on overcoming Tech Dread. I’ll cover issues that friends, both real-time and virtual, have shared. Feel free to post a comment about a question you have. I’ll cover it in a future Tip.
Q: Windows installed automatic updates and now my Outlook keeps freezing. What do I do?
A: I used to turn off the automatic updates, but then I missed some critical ones. Now, if I have a problem (like the above, which I did), I go into the updates list and uninstall the ones that have to do with whatever I’m having problems with.
Here’s how you do it:
Go to start button, all program, Windows Update
Select ‘view updates’
The next screen prompts you–at the top of the page: To remove an update, see installed updates (which is a link–click this link)
Select the updates that have to do with your problem. In this case, it would be any that updated Outlook
Select them one at a time and select ‘uninstall‘ (this choice doesn’t appear next to ‘organize‘ until you select an update to uninstall)
That’s it. Now cross your fingers and hope everything goes back to working. If not, you’ll have to restore your computer to an earlier date that worked.
More Tech Tips for writers:
End-of-year tech tips: Back up Your Computer
Tech Tip for Writers #59: Shortkey for the Copyright Symbol
Tech Tips for Writers #53: How to Pin Any Program to the Start Menu
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular Building a Midshipman , the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com and TeachHUB, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, monthly contributor to Today’s Author and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics. In her free time, she is editor of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. Currently, she’s editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.
Filed under: problem-solving, tech tips for writers, writers tips, writing Tagged: tech tips for writers, writers tips
