Story structure models–PART 1
From Rick: As promised last time, I’m going to be discussing story structure, and I will be doing it in two parts. If you didn’t read last week’s post, you probably should do so first. In this part, I’m simply
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Style sheets revisited: how to avoid editing nightmares
From Rick: I apologize for not posting a blog last week (and for being late this week). Things got a little crazy time-wise, and they will continue to be so for the next couple of months at least. I have
Read moreSetting intelligent MS word defaults for writers
From Rick: MS Word comes set with some really stupid defaults, at least for writers. While thy may seem good for the average person and for business, many of these defaults are counterproductive for writers, especially if you’re planning on
Read moreTips for self-editing your book
From Rick: You’ve probably heard it from many sources that writers should not edit their own books. Some of that advice comes from self-interested editors who want you to believe that in order to sell your their services. Some of
Read moreCleaning up your manuscript—Part 3
From Rick: In Part-2 of this series, I promised a Part-3 to deal with how to create a clean source file. As often happens, other projects that were already running behind prevented me from tackling this third part of the
Read moreCleaning up your manuscript—Part 2
From Rick: In MANUSCRIPT CLEANUP-PART 1 I showed you how to clean up the most basic garbage in your manuscript file: extra spaces, errant tabs, and accidental linefeeds instead of paragraph returns. What you might find it interesting how many
Read moreEditing your novel-6: Answers to editing skills test
From Rick: Last time I gave you an editing challenge. This time I’ll prove the answers in two forms. One is the corrected version. The other is a file showing the actual changes to create that correction. Here are the
Read moreEditing your novel-2: Polishing the novel
I’m reading a YA vampire novel (with romance elements) right now that showed good initial promise. I had read a free prequel short story showed good promise for the novel itself. Unfortunately, it has a lot of problems. The story
Read moreEditing your novel: Step one
From Rick: Last time, I talked about how long it takes to write a novel. I’m sure some of you were surprised at how long that time span can be. In fact, most of the novels listed on the right
Read moreHow long does it take to write a novel?
ANNOUNCEMENT: THE MOSAIC by Chris Keaton and Rick Taubold is now available in both print and e-book formats from Amazon. Click the cover link on the right of the blog. You can read the first four chapters in the Kindle
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