Jacqui Murray's Blog, page 195
February 21, 2012
Tech Tip for Writers #41: Repair Your Computer With System Restore
As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I'll share one of those with you. They're always brief and always focused. Enjoy!
Q: I don't know what I did, but my computer doesn't run right anymore. What can I do?
A: With access to the internet, computer malfunctions have become even more prevalent than ever. Sometimes you download a program–or your child mistakenly pushes a button that allows malware on your computer. Suddenly, through no fault of your own, things just aren't working right anymore.
This is so common that Microsoft has a program called System Restore on every computer with Windows operating system. System Restore is a utility that allows users to restore their Windows configurations to a previous state. While System Restore is often associated with providing recovery when driver or software installations go awry, it can really shine when spyware or other malevolent software compromises user machines. In many situations, this handy utility can roll back afflicted machines to a completely uninfected state. Of course, System Restore can work only when it is turned on and cataloging system states, so make sure it's enabled on all user machines.
Here's what you do:
Type 'system restore' into the search bar at the bottom of the start menu
Select 'system restore' from the list
Follow the directions
That's it. It's painless. It doesn't affect any data files created at any time, just system files that may have been corrupted or affected unintentionally by malware, spyware or their ilk.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I'll answer it within the next thirty days.
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Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers Tagged: system restore, tech tips, writers tips
February 20, 2012
Writers Tips #89: Henry Miller's Ten Commandments of Writing
Great tips for soon-to-be great writers
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.
Before fame claimed him as a writer, five-times married (and divorced) Henry Miller's work experience included a bellboy, garbage collector, cement mixer, gravedigger, employment manager at Western Union, employee at Park Department in Queens, manager of New York City speakeasy, and proofreader on the Paris edition of The Chicago Tribune. After a full and long eighty years of life, he summed up his goals in this way:
"(My) ideal is to be free of ideals, free of principles, free of isms and ideologies. I want to take to the ocean of life like a fish takes to the sea."
Today, he is best known as the controversial American author of numerous books, including the sexually-explicit Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, shared what he considered to be the Ten Commandments of writing (originally published in Henry Miller on Writing). See if you agree:
1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to "Black Spring."
3. Don't be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
4. Work according to the program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
5. When you can't create you can work.
6. Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
7. Keep human! See people; go places, drink if you feel like it.
8. Don't be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
9. Discard the Program when you feel like it–but go back to it the next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.
10. Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.
11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers tips Tagged: henry miller, writers tips
February 17, 2012
Book Review: We All Fall Down
We All Fall Down
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Michael Harvey's debut novel (Chicago Way) turned into a fast-moving sometimes dark TV series (now cancelled) introducing outspoken Chicago PI-and-ex-cop, Michael Kelly. We All Fall Down (Knopf 2011) is Kelly's first novel I have read and I am enthusiastically placing the other three on the top of my book pile.
The plot revolves around bioterrorism, pathogens are released in the Chicago Subway via exploding light bulbs. The effects are dramatic and deadly and we learn of new strains of terror referred to as "black biology". The Government is forced to quarantine large parts of the city as hospitals turn into morgues. Michael, with clever, aggressive and highly perceptive insights into this threat, begins to hunt the perpetrators while protecting the scientists desperately seeking the vaccine.
Michael Harvey is a brilliant writer (no wonder his first book became a TV series) the pacing races from page to page yet allows the plot and the characters to fully develop. The story lines blend perfectly and are all to real as civilization struggles with WMD terrorist nightmare. Mr. Harvey has written 4 novels, I hope there are many more to come.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews Tagged: book reviews, chicago way, michael harvey
February 15, 2012
Update on my WIP: Can a Former SEAL, a Brilliant Scientist, a Love-besotted Nerd and a Quirky AI Stop Terrorists in Twenty-four days?
I love thrillers–their fast pace, bigger-than-life heroes whose vulnerabilities are juxtaposed with invincibility, their hard-
Twenty-four Days to stop them.
working, non-stop efforts to prevent dire consequences regardless the personal pain or innate impossibility of the task. It's my life. Never easy, but always worth it.
There are thousands of thrillers. If they were a favorite tshirt, they'd be torn across the sleeve and now used as a dust rag. To set myself apart, I added a twist: intelligence. My POV characters are blindingly smart (which takes a lot of research on my part), problem-solvers, never happier than when their asked to untangle a mobias strip of disconnected clues. I've been accused of being 'too complicated', but not by anyone of consequence. All I care is my agent likes the approach and he's the one who will take it to publishers.
My current series relies on technology (I'm a tech teacher) and science for the wow factor. There are some amazing inventions out there that will shake up our world when extrapolated to their inevitable conclusion. Star Trek used this science to drive their success and much of what they hypothesized twenty years ago is now reality. My science is similar–based on real life, but not quite there yet. Think Jurassic Park.
There in lies my challenge: To explain complicated science in a way people will not only understand, but buy into.
My current WIP has a working title of Twenty-four Days. It is a high concept novel written in the spirit of Jack DuBrul and is peopled with imaginative characters—human and digital–who must beat a ticking clock or face a disaster that will upend their world. As my query letter summarizes:
Navy SEAL-turned-world-renowned paleoanthropologist Zeke Rowe is called back to action when two nuclear submarines are hijacked while testing a secret weapon developed by a British-American coalition. The evidence points to Salah Al-Zahrawi, a dangerous terrorist Rowe himself had killed a year ago. Rowe solicits the aid of his girlfriend, Kali Delamagente, a brilliant researcher who knows Al-Zahrawi better than anyone, and her AI–a quirky mechanical creature who likes to be called Otto and claims to be able to follow a digital trail anywhere there is a computer connection.
In a matter of hours, Otto finds the first sub and it is neutralized, but he can't find the second one before it destroys a cruise liner and attacks two American warships.
Click to be notified when "Twenty-four Days' is available
Piece by piece, Rowe uncovers a bizarre nexus between Al-Zahrawi, a North Korean communications satellite America believes to be a nuclear-tipped weapon, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser tasked with supervising the launch.
And a deadline that expires in twenty-four days.
As the world teeters in the crosshairs of one of the most dangerous platforms of nuclear war in the world, Zeke finally realizes that Al-Zahrawi's goal isn't the destruction of North Korea's neighbors, but much more personal.
Twenty-four Days climaxes with a modern-day Naval battle. Because America hasn't been in a sea battle since WWII, our current weapons technologies have never been battle tested. So I doused it with gasoline and set it on fire. I hope that appeals to military thriller fans.
That's this week. By next week, when my agent's comments arrive, I may have to shake everything up.
BTW, if you'd like to be notified when Twenty-four Days is ready, click here.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and author of two technology training books for middle school. She wrote Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a tech columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for ISTE's Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews, writing Tagged: military thriller, techno thriller, thrillers, twenty four days
February 14, 2012
Tech Tip for Writers #40: Where Did Windows Explorer Go?
As a working technology teacher by day (writer by night), I get hundreds of questions about using technology in writing. Tech Tips for Writers is a weekly post answering those questions. I'll cover issues friends have shared, I've experienced or questions from readers. They're always brief and always focused.
Feel free to post a comment about what you the writer hate about technology.
Q: I have Windows 7 and I can't find Explorer anymore. Where did it go?
A: Right click on the start button and select 'Explore'.
DOS is a lot harder to find. Type 'command prompt' into the search field and it'll pop up.
I still miss DOS…
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I'll answer it within the next thirty days.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, an Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, an IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything.
Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office
or her tech lab,
Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers, writers resources Tagged: tech tips, writers resources
February 13, 2012
Writer's Tip #97: 9 Breakout Tips from Donald Maass
Great tips for soon-to-be great writers
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.
I have a huge bookshelf of self-help books for writing. If I get stuck, I roll my chair around to face my floor-to-ceiling shelves and explore tips from Donald Maass, Bob Mayer, Strunk and White, James Frey on my problem-du-jour. These books are a wealth of information and take a long time to digest. I thought I'd take a few of my favorites and distill their highlights.
Literary agent Donald Maass is also the author of more than 16 novels. I must admit, I've read none of those, but have devoured his thoughts on how to write. I've reviewed both Writing the Breakout Novel (Writers Digest Books 2001) and The Breakout Novelist: Craft and Strategies for the Career Fiction Writer. These next nine tips are from the former. There's just too much in two books to cover in one post:
When novelists whose previous work merely has been admired suddenly have books vault onto the best-seller lists or even achieve a large jump in sales, publishing people say they have 'broken out'.
I first came to my conviction that the techniques of breakout storytelling can be learned around the moment that I first met one of my best clients…
Writing the breakout novel is… the habit of avoiding the obvious or of covering familiar ground, and instead reinforcing the conviction that one's views, experience, observation of character and passion for chosen story premises can be magnified and pushed so one's novels achieve new levels of impact and new degrees of originality
To survive in today's book publishing industry, it is not good enough just to get published (as true today as ten years ago when Maass first wrote those words)
Most authors commit to story premises instinctively. Their gut tells them this is the one. There is nothing wrong with that, except the gut can sometimes be mistaken. It cannot hurt to subject your breakout premise to a little scrutiny.
The key ingredients I look for in a fully formed breakout premise are 1) plausibility, 2) inherent conflict, 3) originality, and 4) gut emotional appeal.
If there is one single principle that is central to making any story more powerful, it is simply this: Raise the stakes
Relegate setting to the backseat or make it the chassis on which everything else rides, but do not ignore it.
…if you do not have a moment of unexpected tragedy or grace in your novel, …consider where you might put it in
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers tips, writing Tagged: breakout novel, maass, writers tips
February 10, 2012
Book Review: Helsinki White
Helsinki White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
American author James Thompson's Helsinki White (G.P. Putnam Sons 2012) is as much about Finnish politics as it is about heroine, crime, and catching the bad guys with unorthodox methods. What caught my attention when I selected the novel was that it's based in Finland, a country that isn't often the setting for detective stories, and it's told from the first person present tense of Inspector Kari Vaara, a Finnish law enforcement officer. I know nothing about what drives Finland's government, economics or culture, so was fascinated by this peek behind the curtains. Since Vaara is married to an American, I got explanations throughout the story of what was Finnish and how it differed from America.
Briefly, Vaara is asked to lead a black ops group tasked with turning the tide of a crime wave sweeping the country. Funding for this endeavor comes from money they steal from the criminals. The only rule: Succeed. There are no limits on how. Vaara's rogue group is so successful and so discreet that the criminals start fighting each other in an effort to stop the crime busters. This escalates and sparks political consequences that were never imagined when the group was formed. As the personal danger increases, Vaara realizes that his only way out is to solve the political roots and hope he survives.
Much of the book deals with a graphic display of the violence and racial hatred that were both cause and result of the group's operations. I was startled by how far Vaara veered from 'legal' to catch his bad guys. I would have found it hard to believe a law enforcement officer could swing that far to the dark side except that Thompson set Vaara up early in the story with a brain injury that erased his emotions, and conceivably his conscience. As a result, the book offers some intriguing insights into the human condition–"Nothing has intrinsic meaning. We give meaning to the things important to us". Plus, the story's supporting characters are fully as warped as Vaara becomes, reveling in the crime and violence they commit without any barometer for how far off center they are. Overall, these characters are not the sort I would hang out with. Vaara seems to figure out that he's gone too far when he says,
"So, between January 26th, the day I asked Kate [his wife] if I could become a more effective cop, a man empowered to truly help people by bending the rules of engagement in the war against crime, and today… I've gone from, if not a paragon of virtue, a cop who mostly observed the rules governing my profession, to a man who has no qualms about breaking any law, committing almost any act, to achieve my own ends."
As the book progresses, it focuses more on the racism that seemed to be drowning Finland. Though Vaara isn't racist, he does an expert job of sharing the vileness of the extreme xenophobic Finnish groups and enveloping you in their evil taste and feel.
Overall, this is a unique approach to the noir crime stoppers genre, made even more so by a strong author with the ability to weave a fast-moving, intricate plot that never lets you go. I recommend it, with the reservation that its themes are in-your-face. If you're weak of stomach, you might want to skip it.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: book reviews Tagged: book review, helsinki, thompson
February 8, 2012
51 Great Similes to Spark Imagination
I love similes. They say more in 5-10 words than a whole paragraph. They are like spice to a stew, or perfume to an evening out. They evoke images far beyond the range of words.
Reading good similes and metaphors is like reading tomorrow's stock report a day early
Simile–the comparison of two unlike things using the word 'like' or 'as'. As bald as a newborn babe. As blind as a bat. As white as snow.
Wait–no self-respecting writer would use those. Similes are as much about displaying the writer's facility with her/his craft as communicating. We are challenged to come up with new comparisons no one has heard before. I've seen contests on writer's blogs for similes and most leave me bored, if not disgusted. It's harder than it looks to create a simile that works. Look at these I found on G :
#1 – Being with him was like sitting through a Twilight Marathon, all sparkles and self-loathing.
#2 – She was as nervous as my guinea pig, Mittens, when we turned him loose in the hog-stall last winter. Soon we found out that he wasn't THAT sort of a pig .
#3 – The snow fell like billions of breadcrumbs, promising a flurry of activity and a huge pile of shit in the aftermath .
#4 – Her eyes were as blue as the ink in my pen, that trickled its life's blood gently down the front of my pocket, as I tried in vain to get her attention..
#5 – His hair soared in the wind like a captive egret, finally released into the wild. Not a minute had passed before a passerby made a joke about "if it was truly yours, it'll come back to you…" He punched that person.
OK, there's one more rule about similes: Make them concise. If you look at the tried-and-true ones above, you'll notice they're pithy and quick:
dead as a doornail
blind as a bat
dry as dust
good as gold
They also seem to benefit from alliteration, though that isn't required.
I've started collecting the ones I read that I like, hoping they'll spark my imagination when the need arises. Enjoy these (and the occasional metaphor thrown in):
Stuck out like a leg in a cast, like a dick on a female statue (or, as I've read: like a blue dick on a pig)
Tangled as Grandma's yarn
Like Vulcan Kal-tow
Sense of menace, like the purr of a puma feasting on an elk
As supportive as a good recliner
Like having someone else's shadow
Hung around his neck like a dead skunk
Memories jumped him like muggers in the darkness
when the click of the front door lock behind her sounds like the trumpet of angels
Like putting toothpaste back in the tube
dug in like a tick
set up like a bowling pin (ala Jerry Garcia)
as flexible as a rubber band
fell on me and like mold, grew over the top
on it like a NASCAR pit crew & it disappeared in minutes
change his views like leaves change colors
they melted away like snow from a fire
computers are like dogs; they smell fear
like exchanging stares with a statue
It's good to get up each morning as though your hair were on fire
Belly preceding him like a cowcatcher on a locomotive
like the difference between being thrown from the 15th and 16th floor–they both kill you
that's a stretch like a fat lady in ski pants
looked like a college football player ten years out of shape
waste you like a popsicle on a warm day
stupider than a ball-peen hammer
limp like an uprooted weed
looked like a sunrise, extravagant and full of promise
like air, you never tire of breathing it
more beautiful than a bird dog on point
our troops are the steel in our ship of state
Is your garage like your garden or like your television set?
Like a violin in a marching band
Like a fireman, summoned only when there was trouble
As limp as a French handshake
Wanted to hear bad news like he wanted to remove a bandage—quickly as possible
Collapsed like the French in Algeria
Not unlike a long walk in tight shoes
It's like tinkering with the Titanic
Vanish like my pay check during tax season?
I felt completed, like a plant that has been watered
She was as stiff and unyielding as a lawn chair
She was like a cable stretched too tight and beginning to fray
As subtle as a gun
As much curiosity as a parsnip
Her voice implied sexual desire the way an alto sax implies jazz
as easy to read as a large print Tom Clancy novel
page looks like somebody put it into a blender and hit the Whip button.
The potential for disaster was enormous, like a family picnicking on the train tracks
Like a rabies shot
Winter morning was as bright as a hookers promise and warmer than her heart
Beaming like a full moon
As welcome as a fart in an elevator
Do you have any to share?
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: communication, descriptors, humor, words, writers resources, writing Tagged: similes, writing alliteration
February 7, 2012
Tech Tip for Writers #39: My Computer Won't Turn Off
As a working technology teacher by day (writer by night), I get hundreds of questions about using technology in writing. Tech Tips for Writers is a weekly post answering those questions. I'll cover issues friends have shared, I've experienced or questions from readers. They're always brief and always focused.
Feel free to post a comment about what you the writer hate about technology.
Q: I'm pushing the power button on my laptop (or desktop, but more commonly this happens with laptops), but it won't turn off. What do I do?
A: Push the power button and hold it in for a count of ten. That'll work. If not (there's always that one that breaks all the rules), hold it for a count of twenty.
Questions you want answered? Leave a comment here and I'll answer it within the next thirty days.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-fifth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, an Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, an IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: tech tips for writers, writers resources Tagged: tech tips, writers resources
February 6, 2012
Writer's Tip #96: 11 Tips from Bob Mayer
Great tips for soon-to-be great writers
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.
I have a huge bookshelf of self-help books for writing. If I get stuck, I roll my chair around to face my floor-to-ceiling shelves and explore tips from Donald Maass, Bob Mayer, Strunk and White, James Frey on whatever my problem-du-jour is (last week, it was opening paragraphs because my agent wanted my mss to start not in the frying pan but the fire.). These books are a wealth of information and take a long time to digest. I thought I'd take a few of my favorites and distill their highlights.
Bob Mayer is the NY Times Best-Selling author of 23 books and an instructor for the Writer's Digest School. If you dabble in the military milieu as I do, it doesn't hurt that Mayer is a West Point Graduate and Green Beret. Here are some of my favorite ideas from his seminal book, Novel Writer's Toolkit: A guide to writing great fiction and getting it published (Writer's Digest Books 2003):
As a writer you will start having dreams about your story and your characters. That is your mind working even when you consciously aren't.
Diagrams, like maps, will help to keep you oriented as you write (Mayer means pictures of your character's house, town, bedroom–wherever he spends time.)
…translate your idea into story via an outline. I estimate I spend 25 percent of the time it takes me to complete a novel before I even write word one. Every day spent outlining and preparing saves me at least five days of actually writing.
I constantly find …[these general] problems in manuscripts… 1) hooking the reader, 2) dialogue tags, 3) repetition, 4) time sense or the 'remote control effect', 5) setting the scene, 6) characters talking to themselves, 7) misuse of pronouns, 8) the difference between a memory and a flashback, and 9) slipping into second-person point of view
The inciting incident constitutes the hook. It's a dynamic event and should be seen as such by the reader.
By the end of your second chapter, you should have 1) introduced the core problem that will be resolved in the climax, and 2) introduced your protagonist
How long should a manuscript be? …as long as the quality of writing can support AND long enough to tell the story well.
…once your characters come alive, they, not you, direct where the story will go through the choices they make.
Motivation is the most important factor to consider when having your character make choices.
Symbolism is one way writers show things to the reader, rather than tell them.
Read… a lot… Read to study style and also for story ideas.
Jacqui Murray is the editor of a technology curriculum for K-sixth grade and creator of two technology training books for middle school. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter's journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman. She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist for Examiner.com, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, IMS tech expert, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything. Currently, she's editing a thriller for her agent that should be be out to publishers this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.
Filed under: writers tips, writing Tagged: bob mayer, writers tips
