by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jun 26, 2014 | Writing
“A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.” —William Strunk, Jr. Show, don’t tell, is pounded into the pores of...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jun 19, 2014 | Writing
“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” —Anton Chekov The most caring thing authors can do for their reader is to give them a great story. This means more than a creative, fresh plot. Authors must do the work to bring...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jun 12, 2014 | Writing
“That’s what agents and acquisition editors are looking for–something they don’t want to put down.” —Ray Rhamey Writers are told to end each chapter with a cliffhanger that keeps the reader from inserting a bookmark and going to sleep. Tweetable Would a chapter...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jun 5, 2014 | Writing
“I am dead to adverbs; they cannot excite me.” — Mark Twain Look at the –ly adverbs in the next paragraph. Which would you axe? Jason planted his hands firmly on top of the gate, swung his legs over gracefully, hit the ground lightly, and took off after Lily. He...
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