Critiques

Bad writing habitsBasics of writingCritiquesNovel writing

Writing advice: Who should you listen to?

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

Read More
Bad writing habitsBasics of writingCritiquesNovel writingStory Details

Overwritten manuscripts: how to fix—PART 3

From Rick: In Part 2, I talked about two ways in which writers may overwrite: —unnecessary use of characters’ names —repeated words and phrases In this last part I’ll finish up this series by talking about three other ways writers

Read More
CritiquesGeneral

Good books, bad books, and personal taste

From Rick: Way back in the Stone Age (pre-Internet), book reviews were done mostly by literary professionals, or by those supposedly in a position to give educated opinions. Individual readers had very limited public voice in such things. These were

Read More
CritiquesGuest postsNovel writing

Caveat critiquor, or how to stand your ground against criticisms

guest post by Lance Taubold (reposted with permission from 13Thirty Books and with minor edits) Writers, like most artists, are by nature, insecure. We want everyone to like what we’ve written. Let me correct that. We want everyone to love

Read More
Basics of writingCritiquesEditingNovel writing

Critique groups, beta readers, or editors–Which is best?

From Rick: Someone in a large online group that I belong to recently asked, “How many beta readers should one use?” The answers varied: 2-3, 5-7, a dozen or more, but the consensus was that too few may not give

Read More
CritiquesOpenings

Secrets and revelations in stories

From Rick: One problem writers often struggle with is how much information to divulge to the reader at various places in a story. I’m not referring only to descriptions, but also to story information. You don’t want to overload–or bore–the

Read More