Wishing a fond happy birthday to Harry Potter and his brilliant creator, J. K. Rowling
(images are from my Pinterest)
Monthly Archives: July 2022
How to Use Prologues, Part 5, Backstory Delivery
Image courtesy of Tumisu via Pixabay Hi SErs! It’s a day of Harmony here at Story Empire 🙂 Today, I’d like to talk about Backstory Delivery in a prologue. Here’s a link to the previous post on Does Your Story Need a Prologue? So far in this post series we’ve looked at what a prologue […]
How to Use Prologues, Part 5, Backstory Delivery
When Good Advice Goes Bad #amwriting
The craft of writing involves learning the rules of grammar, developing a broader vocabulary, learning how to develop characters, build worlds etc., etc. Most of us don’t have the money to embark on an MFA program in writing. Instead, we educate ourselves as well as we can.
Even if you have an MFA degree, you could spend a lifetime learning the craft and never learn all there is to know about the subject. We join writing groups, buy books, and most importantly, read. We analyze what we have read and figure out what we liked or disliked about it. Then, we try to apply what we learned to our work.
Most writing advice is good because it reinforces what we need to know about the craft, and simple sayings are easy to remember. They encourage us to write lean, descriptive prose and craft engaging conversations.
The same advice can…
View original post 892 more words
Things in Books that Annoy Readers
Photo by 傅甬 华 on Unsplash Hello SEers, It’s John again. Happy Hump Day. Today I want to talk about things that annoy readers. In doing so, maybe we can all avoid putting things in our books that trouble those who choose to read them. I’m sure you all are readers in addition to […]
Things in Books that Annoy Readers
Funny Book Titles: 4 Ways to Make It Work [Examples Included] – by Gloria Russell…
on The Write Life:
The title of your book is maybe one of the most important things about it, aside from the cover.
It’s got a lot of work to do: the title needs to be memorable, it needs to fit in with other books like yours, it needs to catch your reader’s eye, and it needs to represent the book as a whole. It seems unfair that one single title should represent tens of thousands of words, but such is the job of an author.
Writers use tons of different gimmicks to make their titles catchy or trendy. You may already know about the “blank of blank and blank” trend in fantasy, especially YA fantasy, which some readers criticize because it makes the titles all sound the same. This is one example of writers using a specific trend to slot their book in with their contemporaries, focusing on…
View original post 67 more words
Expansion Pack: Canon
Hi Gang. Craig with you again today, and I have an idea for three different, but related topics. These are extras to the writing game, so I’m bringing them to you as part of my Expansion Pack posts. We’ll have a post on Canon, One Upmanship, and Prequels. Let’s spin the dial and we land […]
Expansion Pack: Canon
Author-Agent “Handshake” Agreements: Be Wary – Written By Victoria Strauss
This is an updated version of a post I put online several years ago, in response to complaints about “handshake” offers from a particular agent at a large agency. That agent is no longer making those offers (as far as I know). And handshake agreements are rare these days. But I’ve recently heard from several […]
Author-Agent “Handshake” Agreements: Be Wary – Written By Victoria Strauss
Creating Magic Systems
all images from Pixabay Greetings Storytellers. Diana here today to talk a little about magic as part of the craft of writing. And I’m not just talking about fantasy. Writers of speculative fiction—whether fantasy, paranormal, horror, superhero, science fiction, or religious fiction—are dealing with supernatural or hyper-scientific systems that stretch our reality and knowledge of […]
Creating Magic Systems
Your life is like a book – meme…
Story Length
Hey, SE Readers. Joan with you today. Previously, I talked about the advantages of writing short stories and participating in anthologies. Today, I’ll cover story length and the various definitions used in fiction. Later, I’ll pose a question. Image courtesy of Pixabay There are several terms to define works of fiction based upon the length […]
Story Length
Jeanne Owens, author 