07/19/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 346 Views 0 Comments fiction writing, indie publishing, Kristine Rusch;fear-based decision making, publishing news, rick taubold, self-publishing, traditional publishing

From Rick: I’ve been incredibly remiss lately in posting to the blog. It’s been five weeks since the last post. I’ve been focusing on what a writer should focus on: his own writing, and I have several projects ongoing. It’s

Creating believable names for fictional substances (like medicines & drugs)

06/14/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 584 Views 0 Comments creating fictional names for drugs, fact checking fiction, fictional drug names, good writing techniques, rick taubold, story details

From Rick: One of the challenges writers face can be making up fictional identifiers. We rarely have problems with inventing character names. For place names, we have to exercise some caution to avoid potentially disparaging references. If a character stops

Bad writing habits Basics of writing Critiques Novel writing

Writing advice: Who should you listen to?

05/24/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 294 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, choosing from writing advice, fiction writing, good and bad writing advice, good writing techniques, rick taubold

From Rick: Here’s the problem: Advice on writing is easy to come by, but who should you listen to for the most reliable advice? What do you do when the advice is contradictory? —Should you listen to the bestselling authors

Editing

Editing your work the right way

05/03/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 308 Views 0 Comments good editing practices, novel writing, rick taubold, self-publishing

From Rick: There is no such thing as the perfect editor or the perfect way to edit your work. I freely admit that I do slip up despite my best efforts and intentions. Even good editors can slip up. This

Basics of writing

Common writing mistakes plus other tips

04/19/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 321 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, common writing mistakes, good writing techniques, rick taubold, writing tips

From Rick: I recently watched a short video from Reedsy.com on common new writer mistakes. It’s a short video (13 minutes) and worth watching. However, I’m going to summarize them below, add a few comments, and add some other tips

Basics of writing Confusing words Grammar

Proper use of “as,” “while,” “when”

04/05/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 293 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, editing tips, good writing techniques, rick taubold

From Rick: I’ve previously talked about the evils of “as” clauses, and I lumped the overuse of present participles (“-ing” words) in with those. In my 3/22/2021 post I briefly touched on present participles as well and some issues with

Bad writing habits Basics of writing Dialogue

You don’t say: More thoughts on dialogue tags

03/29/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 318 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, good writing techniques, rick taubold, Use of "said" in dialogue tags, writing advice

From Rick: In my 3/8/2021 post I talked about overusing “said” in dialogue tags, and in the second sentence of that post I said, “I want to make it clear that I AM NOT ADVOCATING REPLACING “SAID” WITH OTHER WORDS

Basics of writing Grammar

A smattering of tips to sharpen your writing

03/22/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 359 Views 0 Comments -ing words, good writing techniques, importance of parts of speech, rick taubold

From Rick: (1) Consider the following passage, which is an excerpt from a novel I read. I changed the characters’ names and replaced one term with “mutants”: ===== As soon as Tom put away the radio, something immense and heavy

Basics of writing Dialogue

Overusing “said” in dialogue tags

03/08/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 317 Views 0 Comments bad writing habits, editing tips, rick taubold, unnecessary dialogue tags, Use of "said" in dialogue tags

From Rick: Before any of you stomp on me for the title of this post, I want to make it clear that I AM NOT ADVOCATING REPLACING “SAID” WITH OTHER WORDS as a matter of course. The purpose of this

Basics of writing Story Details

Analyzing your story, Part-5: questions and responses

02/22/2021 Write Well, Write To Sell 315 Views 0 Comments answering story questions, character responses, editing tips, good writing techniques, rick taubold, story details

From Rick: This time I’m going to wrap up my advice on analyzing your story. I certainly haven’t covered everything, but I have tried to cover most of the essentials for ensuring your story has the right impact on your

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