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...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | May 29, 2014 | Writing
“Writing a short book blurb is not only fun, but great practice for writing promotional copy of any kind.” — Marg McAlister I’ve pulled together information on how to write a back cover blurb. Tweetable Here’s what’s recommended for a back cover blurb. click to...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | May 22, 2014 | Writing
“The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.” — Tom Clancy We’ve looked at the importance of the first lines of chapter one, scene one. But how about all the other scenes? Tweetable Your scene openings must not leave your readers feeling...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Apr 24, 2014 | Writing
“Make every word count.” — Sol Stein. Do you wonder why your sentences seem to lack the power of those of other authors? Here’s three editing fixes that will add power to your paragraphs. Let’s say you wrote: She detested and disliked telephone callers asking...
by Zoe M. McCarthy | Apr 10, 2014 | Writing
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” — Albert Einstein Do many of your sentences and paragraphs end with words, such as “his,” “it,” “with,” or “was”? If yes, you’ve left your reader with a dull word. It gives him...
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