by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jul 17, 2014 | Writing
“Well, the thing about great fictional characters from literature, and the reason that they’re constantly turned into characters in movies, is that they completely speak to what makes people human.” —Keira Knightley I have a surly character in my inspirational...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jul 10, 2014 | Writing
“It’s no wonder that truth is stranger than fiction. Fiction has to make sense.” —Mark Twain We know exactly what we mean when we write each sentence of our story. We’re surprised when our critique partner or editor doesn’t. Tweetable Does your editor often mark your...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Jul 3, 2014 | Writing
“Paragraphs help readers make sense of the thousands of pieces of information a writer folds into a story.” —Beth Hill Does your editor or critique partner often suggest breaking up your paragraphs? After researching online articles, I found: Tweetable One...
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...
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