The rules of good writing from Mark Twain

From Rick: None have said it better than Mark Twain in his famous essay FENIMORE COOPER’S LITERARY OFFENSES . I’ve added my thoughts and comments. “There are nineteen rules governing literary art in domain of romantic fiction—some say twenty-two. In

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Naming strategies—people, places, and things

From Scott: Naming your characters (and the places and things) in your story can be more challenging than it appears at first glance. After all, they’re your characters, so you can name them whatever you want, right? True, but to

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Common writing mistakes—PART 3

From Rick: This past week, I came across an excellent article from Anne Allen (whose blog I have linked to before) that points out ten things that will flag you as a beginner because they represent poor or weak writing

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