Editing - Story Tips - Publishing

The Three S’s – Scene, Setting, and Senses Stories don’t occur in a bubble. They have to be set in a real and believable place. And what makes a scene or setting, is detail. And what makes the details, is work. Hard work. A lot of time and effort, in other words. Settings aren’t just...

What is an Adverb?  An adverb is a word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Here’s some examples: Adjective Form: happy clear close dear perfect Adverb Form: happily clearly closely dearly perfectly Of course, not all adverbs in in ly as the following list demonstrates: quite very much right too never  soon...

How do I write a synopsis for my book? At its most fundamental level, a synopsis answers the question: What is this book about? A synopsis should cover (in abbreviated form) all the major points of your book in sequential order from beginningto end. In a work of fiction, you’ll want to cover all the...

Why You Should Edit Before You Send to An Editor Whether you’re publishing your book yourself, sending to an agent, or to a publisher follow these important tips. When you’re getting ready to send your manuscript off, always remember you are the writer. Editors do the editing. You wouldn’t send your car to the car...

Engage Your Reader with Active Voice in Your Writing While it has it’s uses – mostly in business writing – passive voice is considered weak and unappealing. Technically speaking, voice is determined by the property of a transitive verb which shows whether the subject of a sentence acts or is acted upon. Lets look at...

What’s the Best Way to Write a Book? There are as many answers to that questions as there are authors. And while no answer is inherently better than another, a few examples should serve to set the aspiring writer on a successful course to completing his or her first book. Obviously the answer also depends...

What Words Serve as Both Adjectives & Adverbs? Yes, some words can serve as both adjectives and adverbs. He swung hard with a right hook. Here, hard serves as an adverb which modifies the verb swung. When he fell, his head hit the hard concrete. Here, hard is an adjective modifying the noun concrete. Occasionally,...

Editing Your Final Draft Whether you’re self-publishing your book, sending to an editor, or to a publishing company — ideally you want to send your ultimate best work — even if you’re having someone else edit it for you prior to publishing. I have done a lot of editing. Editors are people too — just...