Tag Archives: #writetip

March 23, 2026 · 6:00 am

Worldbuilding – Calendars and Maps #writing

I discovered early on that creating a calendar and a map for each novel gives me a realistic view of my plot arc. A mushy timeline stands out. I don’t want my readers wondering how my characters managed to cram a week’s worth of running around into only two days.

Think about it. Errands take time. Shopping for groceries takes time. If I go to a friend’s house, chat for an hour, and drive back home, I have spent at least two hours, possibly more.

The weather and time of year affect how long errands take. Walking in rain and wind vs. a mild sunny day will take longer and feel worse.

No matter the genre of your novel, it helps to know which season your events take place in. Foliage changes with the seasons, and weather is a part of worldbuilding.

And there are other reasons for making a calendar of events for your novel, whether you are writing romance, sci-fi, fantasy, military thrillers, etc. Time should not be fluid UNLESS a core plot point of your novel is the ability to alter the flow of time, such as Harry Potter’s Time Turner device.

The calendar is a visual reference that helps with pacing and consistency. In conjunction with a map, a calendar keeps the events moving along the story arc. It ensures you allow enough time to reasonably accomplish large tasks, enabling a reader to suspend their disbelief.

They ensure you don’t inadvertently jump from season to season when describing the scenery surrounding the characters.

So, why worry about calendars in your fantasy worldbuilding? It’s just fantasy so anything goes, right?

No.

Fantasy must look and feel like reality, and fantastic elements must be organic and natural to that world. Inconsistency and mushy elements discourage readers. Springtime, summertime, winter, or fall, each season (or lack thereof) has to be consistent within itself, even if the plants and scenery are otherworldly.

As you are writing a story, you might need to know what day of the week it is. Some things do take time, such as walking from one town to another. If you aren’t on top of things, you could have people breaking the sound barrier in their mad dash to the village forty miles away.

The distance a person can walk in a day varies depending on their health, terrain, and weather. A healthy person could travel from two to thirty miles. I would say that, on average, in varied terrain, a walk of forty miles might take a healthy person two days.

They should be prepared to spend one night camping alongside the road or hope to fine a roadside inn.

Much of my output is fantasy, and one might think a fantasy calendar with fantasy names for everything would lend a foreign atmosphere to the worldbuilding.

Not necessarily so.

When it comes to calendars, I suggest you stick with what is familiar, and here is why.

While creating my first world in 2008, a special calendar seemed like a good thing. The storyline and world of Mountains of the Moon were originally conceived for an anime-style RPG that was never built. When the project was scrapped, I still had the rights to my storyline, maps, and calendars.

My calendar for that world was (and unfortunately must remain) a hot mess.

In the game as we envisioned it, the calendar wouldn’t have been a problem, as the days of the week were only mentioned in terms of when a shop was open. In stories set in the world of Neveyah … it’s a problem for me as a writer.

In Neveyah, a year has thirteen months, each with twenty-eight days. That’s doable, no problem. Thirteen months are easy to work with because they are on paper. The extra month at the end of the year is called Holy Month.

Yes, a 365-day year and standard twelve months would be less confusing. Please have pity. A newbie author invented this, unaware that one little story would evolve into a series. It seemed so “fantasy” at the time.

Unfortunately, the months are named after astrological signs. Capricas, Aquis, Piscus, etc. This is a problem because few people know which time of year Taurus or Capricorn is, unless they occasionally read their horoscopes or know their own sun sign.

I added one extra day at the end of the year, which ends on the Winter solstice. (Sure, whatever. No problem.)

The winter solstice is called Holy Day, belongs to no month, and marks the beginning of the new year. Every four years, they have a two-day holiday and a big party. (Sounds fun, so no problem.)

The names I assigned to the dates and months were exceedingly uncreative and awkward: Lunaday, Tyrsday, Odensday, Torsday, Frosday, Sunnaday, and Restday. (Oh, you noticed it too! Sunnaday is the sixth day of the week, which lends itself to serious confusion.) Restday is fairly explanatory, but why OH why didn’t I give the other names a bit more thought?

Every story I write set in that universe has its own calendar of events, and each is labeled with the year number that the story is set in. They feature different characters and skip around in the timeline. I update that calendar as I write to make sure no one is walking at the speed of light.

I create the calendar in Excel, but you can use anything to make your calendar. There are plenty of blank templates for creating 365-day calendars out there, and they cost nothing. I just like fiddling with mine when I’m stuck, as it usually helps me figure out how to move things along.

In 2008, I had no idea just how awful the Neveyah calendar would turn out to be. And now, eighteen years later, I’m stuck with it. Please, take my advice and keep it simple.

Just sayin’. This is why ALL my other books are plotted using the modern Gregorian calendar.

But what’s this about maps? Next week, we will explore maps and why they are important during the writing stage.

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March 16, 2026 · 6:00 am

Planning a series #writing

I’m a fan of book series. I’m like every other avid reader in that I hate to see the story end. Also, if it’s a really compelling series, I will wonder how it all started.

Most authors don’t plan for their novel-in-progress to become a series, but by the time they reach the conclusion of the story, they discover that it isn’t really the end, that the characters have so much more to say. Most cozy mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi series begin this way.

Sometimes, a first novel finds its niche. Readers love the engaging characters, and the plot moves along to a satisfying conclusion. Readers say they want more, and so the series begins.

However, there are times when an author knows at the outset that the story is too big for one book. They know it will take two or more novels to tell that story.

Regardless of whether or not you plan for your novel to become a series, the novel that opens the series must have a complete story arc, a finite, satisfying ending, and be able to stand alone.

I say this because writing a novel takes time. Readers nowadays are impatient and vocal about it on social media, often heaping criticism on the offending author.

Yet they don’t want AI slop. They just want YOU to spew it forth in as little time as possible.

Very few of us are able to write two to four novels a year, as Stephen King does.

First, you must remember that a projected series is a universe unto itself, even if it is set in the real world. It is the story of that universe, explored across several books.

Speaking as a reader, if you are writing a series, you should think about the overall structure well in advance. Every book in the series needs its own plot and must end in a way that doesn’t leave the reader wondering what the hell just happened. They like a satisfying ending and HATE cliff-hangers.

There are two kinds of series, episodic and continuing, or as I like to think of them, finite and infinite.

The episodic series is like a television series. Each novel features an established set of characters, and each episode is a new adventure. There may be a lingering mystery in the background that unites them and is resolved in a later book, but each episode must resolve the problem at hand.

In some ways, an episodic series is the easiest to write because each book features established characters in an established world and society. (Sorry about the repetition there.) Many cozy mysteries and fantasy series are episodic. They feature standalone stories that bring us closer to the protagonist, and I love them all.

In another type of series, the installments might jump around between characters or to widely different eras in that universe’s historical timeline. Think Terry Pratchett’s Discworld or L.E. Modesitt Jr.’s Saga of Recluce series.

Some installments in an episodic series may introduce a new protagonist, or even explore the other side of the story from a less antagonistic point of view. It may show that the opposition is not intrinsically evil, that both sides are striving for the same thing but with radically differing methods.

The continuing series requires some advance planning. It is a finite multi-volume series of books covering one group’s efforts to achieve a single epic goal. While each book may be set in an established world, it might feature an entirely different set of characters and their storyline.

The story usually has a strong theme that unites the series. It might be the hero’s journey or coming-of-age. Or it might follow the life of one main character and their sidekicks as they struggle to complete an arduous quest. Robert Jordan’s (and Brandon Sanderson’s) The Wheel of Time series is a prime example of the continuing series.

An episodic series is easier to plan, as each quest is resolved in a single novel. The worldbuilding was accomplished in the first novel, so all one has to do is build on it in the later novels. Each installment should leave no loose ends. If the author stops writing in that series, nothing is left hanging.

A continuing series must have a complete plot arc for each book. PLUS, it must add to the series’ overarching plot arc. Each novel is only a section or chapter of the larger story, all with the goal of meeting at the end for the final battle. Speaking as a reader, please keep track of the subplots via an outline. I say this so you don’t leave loose ends, but also to ensure the subplots come together at the final battle.

Sequels happen when an author is in love with their characters, and those characters and their stories resonate with readers. Sequels are how trilogies become series.
Companion novels occur simultaneously alongside the main story but feature side characters doing their own thing.
Prequels are one of my favorite kinds of novels. I am always curious as to how the whole thing started.
Spin-offs might feature side characters or the protagonist’s descendants.

How does an author manage the character arc for one group over the course of a series? I suggest storyboarding. I do my storyboards in Excel, but you can make them any way that works for you. A notebook, sticky notes, Scrivener, it’s all good. Feel free to find your own happy place.

Then,

Write a synopsis of what you think the Big Picture is, the entire story.
Write it out, even if that synopsis goes for 5,000 to 10,000 words.

Sample Storyboard.

If that storyboard alerts you to the fact that the story is too large for one book, separate the sections into however many novels of reasonable length it will take, and plan how to end each installment in a way that won’t make readers quit the series.

Outlines help me decide on the structure of the larger story. By making one, I have a better idea of how each plot will unfold.

Once you have figured out the entire arc of the series, make an outline of book one. This allows your creative mind to insert foreshadowing. This will happen through clues and literary Easter eggs that surface as the series progresses.

What if you are writing your first novel, but you suddenly realize the characters still have adventures waiting for them, I suggest waiting to outline the next book until after book one is finished and ready for the final edit. Plots constantly evolve as we write. Book one is the foundation novel of the series, so it must be completed before you begin building the rest of the story.

Maps and calendars are essential tools for the author, no matter what genre you are writing in. Regardless of how you create your stylesheet/storyboard, I suggest you include these elements:

A GLOSSARY is especially important. I suggest you keep a list of names and invented words as they arise, all spelled the way you want them.
MAPS are good, but don’t have to be fancy. All you need is something rudimentary to show you the world’s layout.
A CALENDAR of events is especially important.

Outlining the next novel should be simpler if you keep a record of all the changes that evolve when writing the first novel.

A stylesheet/storyboard is a good tool for fantasy authors because we invent entire worlds, religions, and magic systems.
We often invent names and don’t want to contradict ourselves or have our characters’ names change halfway through the book.

Next week, we will look at creating a calendar for stories set in a speculative fiction world. We will look at some of my failures and see why simpler is usually better.

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March 9, 2026 · 6:00 am

Successful revisions #writing

I always think that in some ways, books are like machines. They’re comprised of many essential components, and if one element fails, the book won’t work the way the author envisions it.

So, what are these parts?

Prose, plot, transitions, pacing, theme, characterization, dialogue, and mechanics (grammar/punctuation).

As an editor, I’ve seen every kind of mistake you can imagine, and I have written some travesties myself. I need my writing group, people with a critical eye who see my work first and give me good advice when I’ve gone astray.

I don’t want to waste my editor’s time, so once I have completed the revisions suggested by my beta readers, I begin a self-edit.

I use Microsoft Word, but most word processing programs have a read-aloud function. I place the cursor where I want to begin and open the Review Tab. Then, I click on Read Aloud and begin reading along with the mechanical voice. Yes, the AI voice can be annoying and doesn’t always pronounce things right, but this first tool shows me a wide variety of places that need rewriting.

I habitually type ‘though’ when I mean ‘through,’ and ‘lighting’ when I mean ‘lightning.’ These are two widely different words but are only one letter apart. Most misspelled words will leap out when you hear them read aloud.

Run-on sentences stand out.
Inadvertent repetitions also stand out.
Hokey phrasing doesn’t sound as good as you thought it was.
You notice where words like “the” or “a” before a noun were skipped.

This process involves a lot of stopping and starting, taking me a week to get through the entire 90,000-word manuscript. At the end, I will have trimmed about 3,000 words.

The next phase of this process is where I find and correct punctuation and find more places that need improvement. Sometimes I trim away entire sections, riffs on ideas that have already been presented. Often, they are outright repetitions that don’t leap out on the computer screen. (Those are often cut-and-paste errors.)

Open your manuscript. Break it into separate chapters, and make sure each is clearly and consistently labeled. Make certain the chapter numbers are in the proper sequence and that they don’t skip a number. For a work in progress, Baron’s Hollow, I would title the chapter files this way:

BH_ch_1
BH_ch_2
and so on until the end.

Print out the first chapter. Everything looks different printed out, and you will see many things you don’t notice on the computer screen or hear when the AI voice reads it aloud.

Turn to the last page. Cover the page with another sheet of paper, leaving only the last paragraph visible.
Starting with the last paragraph on the last page, begin reading, working your way forward.
Use a yellow highlighter to mark each place that needs correction.
Put the corrected chapter on a recipe stand next to your computer. Open your document and begin making revisions as noted on your hard copy.

Repeat this process with each chapter.

This is the phase where I look for what I think of as code words. I look at words like “went.” In my personal writing habits, “went” is a code word that tells me when a scene ends and transitions to another stage. The characters or their circumstances are undergoing a change. One scene is ending, and another is beginning.

Clunky phrasing and info dumps are signals that tell me what I intend the scene to be. In the rewrite, I must expand on those ideas and ensure the prose is active. I must cut some of the info and allow the reader to use their imagination.

Let’s look at the word “went.” When I see it, I immediately know someone is going somewhere.

But in many contexts, “went” is a telling word and can lead to passive phrasing.

Passive phrasing does the job with little effort on the author’s part, which is why the first drafts of my work are littered with it. Active phrasing takes more effort because it involves visualizing a scene and showing it to the reader.

I ask myself, “How do they go?” Went can always be shown as a brief, one-sentence scene. James opened the door and strode out.

Confusing passages stand out when you see them printed. Maybe it’s the opposite of an info dump. Maybe the lead-up to the scene wasn’t shown well enough and leaves the reader wondering how such a thing happened.

The most confusing places are often sections where I cut a sentence or paragraph and moved it to a different place. These really stand out if they create a garbled scene.

HINT: If your eye wants to skip over a section of the printout, STOP. Read that section aloud and discover why your mind wants to skip it. Was it too wordy? Was it muddled? Something made your eye want to skip it and you need to discover why.

By the end of phase two, I will have trimmed about 3,000 more words from my manuscript.

At this point, the manuscript might look finished, but it has only just begun the journey. Now it is as ready as I can make it, and it goes to my editor, Irene, who gives it the final polish.

Context is everything. I am wary of relying on Grammarly or ProWriting Aid for anything other than alerting you to possible comma and spelling malfunctions.

If you don’t know anything about punctuation, don’t feel alone. Most of us don’t when we’re first starting out, but we learn by looking things up and practicing.

If you are looking for a simple guide to commas that will cost you nothing, check out my post, Fundamentals of Grammar: 7 basic rules of punctuation, published here July 7, 2021.

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January 12, 2026 · 6:00 am

Plot Armor, Objective, and Risk #writing

My weekend got derailed due to life cluttering it up with huge chunks of reality. I hate it when reality ruins my carefully plotted existence. So, instead of a new post, I am revisiting a post from 2023, a short story about a writer wrestling with her characters, objectives, and inventing risks with a dash of plot armor thrown in. I hope you enjoy it!

Sometimes I lose the plot. I know that character plus objective plus risk equals a story, but sometimes I can’t figure out the risk part.

Or the objective.

Characters can be tricky too. I have the plot armor part down well, but that’s just for the protagonist. Everyone else’s safety is fair game.

StoryMemeLIRF10052021 Sometimes I can’t find the plot even when I have an outline. I get to a place where I don’t know what to write, and the characters stand around doing nothing. I repeat the same old crisis with slight variations, which is tedious.

I thought I was writing a medieval fantasy, but according to a reddit thread I saw last week, dragons are overdone. Apparently, every fantasy features dragons.

Version 1.0.0

So now what? Griffons and manticores are prominent in medieval heraldry. There must be a reason for that. Mecedes Lackey did griffons, and I don’t want to copy her, so what is left? Unicorns?

My imagination is stuck on manticores, but even in fantasy they’re a rare beast. My hero just killed the last one so I’m unsure what to do now. Readers don’t like it when you milk a plot twist over and over, no matter how you change the scenery around it.

Sometimes I hate this job.

So, let’s look at the plot outline again. I’m all about giving my characters agency, but they have to work with me, give me a bit of help. Sometimes it takes divine intervention to get the plot moving again.

Today I have barely gotten started when I feel someone staring at me. Of course, it’s Sir Percival, looking over my shoulder. “Ahem.” He glares at me.

My characters no longer surprise me when they intrude, but being polite when I am disturbed is impossible. “What do you want? I’m a little busy.”

Bodleian_Library-MS_Bodl_764-fol_025r-manticore Sir Percival the Pointless says, “I rescued Lady Adeline, and the manticore is dead. Did you notice?”

“Yes. I wrote that scene, and if I do say so myself, you were magnificent.” One problem with heroes is their desire for obscene amounts of praise.

“Thank you,” he replies, attempting to appear modest and failing. “Well, the thing is, Lady Adeline has thrown herself into wedding preparations.”

“I know.” I force myself to reply politely. “I’m designing the dress.”

“Well, you’ve been doing that for the last twenty pages, but who’s counting. Anyway, I’ve been booted outside because no one needs the groom until the big day. I need something to do.”

I never noticed it before, but Percy isn’t handsome when he scowls. Is there some way I can make him look like an adult? I don’t like beards, but he needs something to disguise his serious lack of a chin.

Percy the Pointless presses his attack. “You know, you’re really good at telling folks how to plot a book, but you suck at it yourself. We’re 25,000 words into your novel, and you’ve already wasted the big scene.”

What? He’s cruisin’ fer a bruisin’, as they say in my part of the world. “Watch it buddy. I wrote you, and I can easily delete you.” See? I can give a dirty look too.

He just shrugs. “I doubt you’re going to do that. You’ve spent two months on this epic. However, if you intend this to be a novel, you have at least 50,000 or so more words to write. I have nothing to do.”

I just realized that he has a slightly nasal whine. Oh, lord. I’ve written a whiney hero. However, the idiot has a point. I mistimed the big finale, so now I need a new objective for him, something entailing risk.

This could take a while. I gaze at Sir Percival the Prim, wondering what I was thinking when I made an idiot nobleman like him the star of this charade. “I can’t work with you staring over my shoulder. Look, why don’t you watch TV for a while?” I park him in front of the TV and give him the clicker.

He looks first at me and then at the clicker. “What is this?”

Sighing, I show him how to turn the TV on and help him find something he’ll enjoy.

That takes an hour. Nine hundred channels and nothing interests him. Eventually we settle on old Star Trek reruns.

Finally, I am back at the keyboard and scraping the bottom of the barrel for a few more terrifying plot twists, hoping to keep this bad boy busy. All I can think of is manticores, but he’s already killed the only one that was left in the world.

Readers hate it when authors milk the same old plot twists.

“Ahem.”

I look up, only to see Duchess Letitia, Percy’s future stepmother-in-law standing at my elbow. “Yes?”

Book- onstruction-sign copy “I’m sorry to bother you, but we desperately need a certain magical ingredient for my special anti-aging cream.” She looks at me expectantly. “My stepdaughter’s wedding is a big deal. But the outline says Percival and Adeline will assume the throne upon their marriage. It’s canon now, so I’m done, kicked to the curb in the prime of my life.” She dabs the corner of her squinty eyes with a silken handkerchief. “You set this story in an era where women have few career options. I simply must have my beauty cream, or I won’t be able to snare a new hubby.”

She has a point. “And that ingredient is…?” I hope it’s not a complicated thing because now I have two bored characters nagging the hell out of me.

A sharklike smile crosses her features. “Manticore’s milk.”

How odd. I never realized until this moment is how evil Adeline’s stepmother looks when she smiles like that. I love this woman.

She says, “I’m sure Sir Percival can get some since he’s just sitting around watching a magic box filled with other people having adventures.”

Duchess Letitia’s malicious smirk offers me no end of possibilities. I consider this for a moment. I could rewrite the original battle scene and subtract the dead manticore part.

He could get killed milking the manticore.

Or perhaps only maimed. After all, he does wear highly polished (but heavy-duty) plot armor.

Lady Adeline would have to rescue herself and then him. But what the hell?

He’s a hero, right? Bad days at the office come with the territory. A few dents in his plot armor should deflate his ego a bit.

I hoist myself out of my chair and walk to the living room.

There he is, sitting with his dirty boots propped on my coffee table.

Oh, yes. there will be mutilation in his future. I am going to stretch his plot armor to the limit. Rather than deleting his character from the story and starting anew, this jackass will live.

Percy the Prim and Proper will beg me to kill him off.

I can still change things up. The manticore that the idiot fought in chapter ten was only feigning death. Yes …. the nice, persecuted manticore lives, and now manticores are an endangered species.

Lady Adeline won’t approve of Percy attempting to murder the last one so there will be trouble in paradise. The noble idiot will have misadventure after misadventure until my new coffee table is paid for.

I feel invigorated. My plot is back on track, and I am inspired to write like the wind! “Percy, I have a task for you. Take this bucket and get some manticore’s milk. It’s a matter of life and death.”

He looks up. “I will in a minute, but I must see how this story ends. Captain Kirk might die if Spock can’t get the medicine!”

That’s another good plot twist. Note to self: have Duchess Letitia supervise stocking the medical supplies in Percy’s kit.

You know, now that I think about it, the duchess was wrong about one crucial thing. Nothing is canon until the book is published. I think the duchess deserves a much larger role in this story.

Excalibur London Film Museum via Wikipedia

So does my new protagonist, Lady Adeline.

A lady hero who needs armor and a sword.

And a horse.

A horse that’s a unicorn.

I love this job.

And the reddit trolls are wrong. Dragons are NOT overdone. In fact, I need a big, angry one now.

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June 2, 2025 · 6:00 am

Self-editing – a 3-step process #writing

Many people in my online community have asked for tips on self-editing. I don’t recommend it, as most people don’t have the tenacity to do a proper job of it. However, it can be done, so we’re revisiting a post from April of 2024 on effective self-editing. I hope this answers some questions!

As an editor, I saw every kind of mistake you can imagine, and before that, as a writer, I made them all. This is why I rely on an editor for my work. Irene sees the flaws that my eye skips over.

WritingCraft_self-editing When prepping a novel to send to Irene, I use a three-part method. This requires specific tools that come with Microsoft Word, my word-processing program. I believe these tools are available for Google Docs and every other word-processing program. Unfortunately, I am only familiar with Microsoft’s products as they are what the companies that I worked for used.

What follows are three steps that should eliminate most problems in a manuscript.

Part one: Beta Reading is the first look at a manuscript by someone other than the author. I suggest you don’t omit this step unless you can find no one who understands what you need. A good beta reader is a person who reads for pleasure and can gently express what they think about a story or novel. Also, look for a person who enjoys the genre of that particular story. Your beta reader should ask several questions of this first draft (feel free to give them the following list).

Part two: Once I have ironed out the rough spots noticed by my beta readers, this second stage is put into action. Yes, on the surface the manuscript looks finished, but it has only just begun the journey.

In Microsoft Word, on the Review Tab, I access the Read Aloud function and begin reading along with the mechanical voice. Yes, the narrator app is annoying and mispronounces words like “read,” which sound different and have different meanings depending on the context. However, this first tool alerts me to areas that were overlooked in the first stage of revisions.

ReviewTabLIRF07032021 The most frustrating part is the continual stopping, making corrections, and starting.

I use this function rather than reading it aloud from the monitor, as the computer screen tricks the eye. I tend to see and read aloud what I think should be there rather than what is.

I habitually key the word though when I mean through or lighting when I mean lightning. Each is a different word but is only one letter apart. Most (but not all) miss keyed words will leap out when you hear them read aloud.
Most (but not all) run-on sentences stand out when you hear them read aloud.
Most (but not all) inadvertent repetitions also stand out.
Most of the time, hokey phrasing doesn’t sound as good as you thought it was.
Most of the time, you hear where you have dropped words because you were keying so fast you skipped over including an article, like “the” or “a” before a noun.

This is a long process that involves a lot of stopping and starting. It takes me well over a week to get through an entire 90,000-word manuscript. I will have trimmed about 3,000 words by the end of this phase. I will have caught many typos and miss keyed words and rewritten many clumsy passages.

But I am not done.

Part three: the manual edit. This is where I make a physical copy and do the work the old-fashioned way.

Everything looks different when printed out, and you will see many things you don’t notice on the computer screen or hear when it is read aloud by the narrator app.

Illustration by Hugh Thomson representing Mr. Collins protesting that he never reads novels.

Open your manuscript. Make sure the pages are numbered in the upper right-hand corner.
Print out the first chapter and either staple it together or use a binder clip. If you drop it, the pages will all be together in the proper order.
Turn to the last page. Cover the page with another sheet of paper, leaving only the final paragraph visible.
Starting with the final paragraph on the last page, begin reading, working your way forward.
With a yellow highlighter, mark each place that needs revising.
With a red pen/pencil, make notes in the margins to guide the revisions. (Red is highly visible, so you won’t miss it when you are putting your corrections into the digital manuscript.
Put the corrected chapter on a recipe stand next to your computer. Open your manuscript and save it as a new file. (ManuscriptTitle_final_Apr2024.docx.) Begin making the revisions as noted on your hard copy.
Do the same for each chapter until you have finished revising the entire manuscript.

I look for info dumps, passive phrasing, and timid words. They are signs that a section needs rewriting to make it visual rather than telling. Clunky phrasing and info dumps are signals telling me what I intend that scene to be but haven’t shown. Showing takes fewer words. Many times, I must cut some of the info and allow the reader to use their imagination.

I will have trimmed another 3,000 to 4,000 more words from my manuscript by the end of this process.

By the time we begin writing, most of us have forgotten whatever grammar we once knew. Editing software is a good tool for this. But editing software operates on algorithms and doesn’t understand context.

to err is human to edit divine I am wary of relying on Grammarly or ProWriting Aid for anything other than alerting you to possible problems. Look at each thing they point out and decide whether to accept their recommendation or not.

You’ll get into trouble if you assume the AI editing programs are always correct. As I said above, they don’t understand context. Good writing involves technical knowledge of grammar, but voice isn’t about algorithms.

Novels are comprised of many essential components. If one element fails, the story won’t work the way I envision it. I always remember that it’s been months since a beta reader saw the mess I am working on and much has changed. I take a hard look at these aspects:

Characterization – are the characters individuals?
Dialogue – do people sound natural? Do they sound alike, or are they each unique?
Mechanics (grammar/punctuation flaws will be more noticeable when printed out)
Pacing—how does it transition from action scene to action scene?
Plot – does the story revolve around a genuine problem?
Prose – how do my sentences flow? Do they say what I mean?
Themes – What underlying thread ties the whole story together? Have I used the theme to its best potential?

Being a linear thinker, this process of making revisions works for me. It can take more than a month, but when I’ve finished, I’ll have a manuscript that won’t be full of avoidable distractions. It will be something I can send to my editor. And because I have done my best work, Irene will be able to focus on finding as much of what I have missed as is humanly possible.

Editors_bookself_25May2018 If you read as much as I do (and this includes books published by large Traditional publishers), you know that a few mistakes and typos can and will get through despite their careful editing. So, don’t agonize over what you might have missed. If you’re an indie, you can upload a corrected file.

We are all only human, after all.

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December 30, 2024 · 6:00 am

The business side of the business: a secondlook at budgeting for in-person sales events #writing

January is approaching, and this is a good time to consider the business side of writing. Looking forward in the year ahead, some things must be budgeted and planned ahead for. This post, which first appeared here in June, covers some but not all of them. If you are doing in-person sales events, it’s a good idea to go to your city and state licensing agencies to be sure you are operating within the law.

If you have already seen this post, feel free to move on, and I sincerely thank you for stopping by! Otherwise, without further ado, here is the Business Side of the Business.

Regardless of your publishing path, indie or traditional, you must budget for certain things. You can’t expect your royalties to pay for them early in your career. And just so you know, many award-winning authors must still work their day jobs to pay their bills long after becoming bestsellers.

Its a Business Nowadays, I am rarely able to do in-person events due to family constraints, but I used to do four events a year. However, I have some tips to help ease the path for you.

At first, getting your books in front of readers is a challenge. The in-person sales event is one way to get eyes on your books. This could be at a venue as small as a local bookstore allowing you to set up a table on their premises.

Or it could be as large as a table at a regional conference or convention. Regardless, if you are traditionally published, your publisher won’t provide you with free copies of your book to sell at the signing event. You will pay for them at a reduced cost. If not up front, then you will pay out of any future royalties. You will also have to be your own publicist and getting the word out about your event will be your responsibility. On the good side, you will keep the monies earned by your in-person sales.

Signings at writers’ conferences are usually a bit pricy for the number of books you might sell, but they are great ways to network.

What are the minimum costs for working a table at a signing event? The bare minimum expenses are as follows:

You must have a stock of books on hand. You can’t sell books that you haven’t ordered. I order well in advance, as it can take three weeks for an order to arrive via the least expensive shipping method. Paying for overnight shipping of fifteen to twenty books is well out of my price range.
We must consider the table fee. A bookstore might not charge you anything for the table, but they may take a small cut if they run your sales through their cash registers.

However, large conferences and conventions will charge table fees ranging from $70.00 to as high as $300.00 or more. This varies with the size and type of conference, the venue where the convention is being held, and the vendors you will be competing with.

Sci-fi and Fantasy fan conventions can be quite pricy. You will be in an immense, crowded room, competing with big-name RPG game franchises and movie franchises, plus all the vendors of memorabilia and collectibles that are available in the vendors’ alley.

If you are able to get a table at a major fan convention, you must pay for transportation, food, and lodging. These costs could be gas, parking, airfare, hotel, etc., if you don’t have friends or family in that area. If you are planning to stay in a hotel, take simple foods that can be prepared without a stove. Being vegan, I tend to be an accomplished hotel-room chef, as most coffee bars don’t offer many plant-based options. While that bias is changing, I still go prepared.
Bring at least one pen for signing your books. I bring four or five because sometimes the pens don’t work as advertised.
The final thing you will need is a way of accepting money. I have a metal cash box, but you only need something to hold cash and some bills to make change with. A way to accept credit cards, something like Square, is a good option. You will find a lot of vendors use Square, but there are other options out there.

These things are the bare minimum you will need to provide. At many shows, you’ll be given a table with skirting and a sign attached to the front with your name in block letters. You can get by with this if you’re on a tight budget. New vendors manage with this minimal setup all the time. This option lets you squeak by on little more than the cost of your books. Your setup and teardown time will be short, and you’ll have little to transport—always a positive, in my opinion.

My good friend, Lee French, is a best-selling YA author and a pro at successfully working conventions. She co-wrote the book Working the Table: An Indie Author’s Guide to Conventions with the late Jeffrey Cook. She tells us that to really succeed, you’ll need to invest a bit more.

It helps to have some kind of promotional handout. I find bookmarks and business cards are the most affordable option. I know a few authors who order all sorts of little buttons and promotional trinkets advertising their books. They give them out to everyone who passes their table, buyers or not.

Trinkets are nice, but if you are cash-strapped, business cards and bookmarks offer the best return on your cost outlay for promotional material. They are less expensive when purchased in bulk, so I get as many as my budget allows.

You will need a business license to sell books at most conventions. Each state in the US has different requirements for getting these, so do the research and get whatever business license your local government requires. This allows you to get a reseller’s permit, enabling you to buy copies of your own books without paying sales tax. If your state doesn’t assess sales tax, you don’t need this, but you’ll still need the business license.

If you live in a state like Washington State, be smart and set aside the money collected as sales tax. It is not yours and shouldn’t be considered part of your income.

the _book_signing_event Investing in some large promotional graphics, such as a retractable banner, is a good idea. A large banner is a great visual to put behind your chair. A second banner for the front of the table looks professional but requires some fiddling with pins.

Lee French suggests getting a custom-printed tablecloth that drops over the front of the table, acting as a banner. It looks more professional, and the books will hold it down, so you don’t have to mess with pins. You can find a wide variety of sizes and shapes of banners and graphic promotional props on the internet.

I have an inexpensive black tablecloth for under my books, but you can get one in the color of your choice. Venues will often provide a white tablecloth, so buying one isn’t necessary, but it makes your display look more professional. Many shows offer a 6’x3′ table, but, as with the tablecloth, check first to be sure you don’t need to bring your own.

I suggest buying book stands of some sort. Recipe stands work, and so do plate and picture stands. Whether they’re fancy or cheap, be sure you know how to set them up so they don’t fall over when someone bumps the table. I use folding plate stands as they store well in the rolling suitcase I use for my supplies.

This brings us to storage and shifting goods. We must move our gear between the table and our vehicle, and sometimes, we’re forced to park in inconvenient places. Many people use wheeled bins or fold-up handcarts. Folding luggage carts are a great, lightweight option when you only have a few bins and boxes. I use a large, wheeled suitcase for my books, as I travel pretty light.

I also use a plastic container with a good lid for storing pens, bookmarks/cards, book stands, and other whatnot.

HTB Bookmark side A copy Make your display attractive, but I suggest you keep it simple. People will be able to see what you are selling, and the more fiddly things you add to your display, the longer setup and teardown will take. The shows and conferences I have attended offered plenty of time for this, but I’ve heard that some of the big-name conventions require you to be in or out in two hours or less.

Aside from the table fee and transportation, Lee French says it will cost about $400 for your initial stock of books, banners, bookmarks, and odds & ends. The way inflation is going, it may take more than that, but you can make it less painful by purchasing one thing at a time in advance as your budget allows.

Shop the internet for sales on banners and similar items. You will need to replace bookmarks, business cards, and book stock after each event, but most larger promotional items won’t need to be repurchased or updated for a year or two.

If you plan to get a table at a large conference this year, I highly recommend Working the Table: An Indie Author’s Guide to Conventions. This book has all the information you will need to successfully navigate the wild seas of selling your books at conventions.

And if you choose to embark on the in-person event circuit, I wish you good luck and many happy sales.

working_the_table_French_and_Cook

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August 5, 2024 · 6:00 am

Action and Reaction #writing

Arcs of action drive plots. Every reader knows this, and every writer tries to incorporate that knowledge into their work. Unfortunately, when I’m tired, random, disconnected events that have no value will seem like good ideas. Action inserted for shock value can derail what might have been a good plot.

action_and_reaction My writing projects begin with an idea, a flash of “What if….” Sometimes, that “what if” is inspired by an idea for a character or perhaps a setting. Maybe it was the idea for the plot that had my wheels turning.

Nowadays, I avoid forcing my brain to work when it’s on its last legs. I no longer commit myself to a manuscript rife with random events inserted out of desperation. I brainstorm my ideas in a separate document and choose the ones that work best. So, in that regard, my writing style in the first stages is more like creating an extensive and detailed outline. This method allows me to be as creative as I want while I build an overall logic into the evolving story.

At the story’s outset, we meet our protagonist and see them in their familiar surroundings. The inciting incident occurs once we have met them, whether they are ready for it or not. At that point, we must take them to the next stumbling block. But what is that impediment, and how do we overcome it?

Answering that question isn’t always easy. The place where writing becomes work is a hurdle the majority of people who “always wanted to be an author” can’t leap. Their talents lie elsewhere.

IBM_Selectric (1) I’m writing a fantasy, and I know what must happen next in the novel because the core of this particular story is romance with a side order of mystery. I see how this tale ends, so I am brainstorming the characters’ motivations that lead to the desired ending.

Sometimes, it helps to write the last chapter first – in other words, start with the ending. That is how my first NaNoWriMo novel in 2010 began. I was able to pound out 68,000 words in 30 days because I had great characters, and I was desperate to uncover how they got to that place in their lives.

So, where are we in the story arc when the first lull in creativity occurs? Many times, it is in the first ten pages.

An imbalance of power drives plots. The dark corners of the story are illuminated by the characters who have critical knowledge. This is called asymmetric information, and the enemy should have more of that commodity than our protagonist.

The enemy puts their plan in motion, and we have action. The protagonists are moved to react. The characters must work with a limited understanding of the situation because asymmetric information creates tension. A lack of knowledge creates a crisis.

plottingLIRF07122020 Plots are comprised of action and reaction. I must place events in their path so the plot keeps moving forward. These events will be turning points, places where the characters must re-examine their motives and goals.

At several points in this process, I will stop and think about the characters. What do they want? How motivated are they to get it? If they aren’t motivated, why are they there?

Answering a few questions about your characters can kick the plot back into motion. Start with the antagonist because his actions force our characters to react:

Why does the enemy have the upper hand?
- How does the protagonist react to pressure from the antagonist?
- How does the struggle affect the relationships between the protagonist and their cohorts/romantic interests?
- What complications arise from a lack of information?
- How will the characters acquire that necessary information?

e.m. forster plot meme Our characters are unreliable witnesses. The way they tell us the story will gloss over their failings. The story happens when they are forced to rise above their weaknesses and face what they fear.

I lay down the skeleton of the tale, fleshing out what I can as I go. However, there are significant gaps in this early draft of the narrative.

So, once the first draft is finished, I flesh out the story with visuals and action. Those are things I can’t focus on in the first draft, but I do insert notes to myself, such as:

Fend off the attack here.
Shouldn’t they plan some sort of assault here? Or are they just going to defend forever? Make them do something!
Contrast tranquil scenery with turbulent emotions here.

My first drafts are always rough, more like a series of events and conversations than a novel. I will stitch it all together in the second draft and fill in the plot holes.

At least, that is my intention, but it usually takes five or six drafts to make a coherent story with a complete plot arc and interesting characters with logical actions and reactions.

Margaret Atwood on writing LIRF07252022

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July 29, 2024 · 6:00 am

The business side of the business: budgeting for in-person sales events #writing

Its a Business Nowadays, I am rarely able to do in-person events due to family constraints, but I used to do four events a year. However, I have some tips to help ease the path for you.

Signings at writers’ conferences are usually a bit pricy for the number of books you might sell, but they are great ways to network.

What are the minimum costs for working a table at a signing event? The bare minimum expenses are as follows:

You must have a stock of books on hand. You can’t sell books that you haven’t ordered. I order well in advance, as it can take three weeks for an order to arrive via the least expensive shipping method. Paying for overnight shipping of fifteen to twenty books is well out of my price range.
We must consider the table fee. A bookstore might not charge you anything for the table, but they may take a small cut if they run your sales through their cash registers.

If you are able to get a table at a major fan convention, you must pay for transportation, food, and lodging. These costs could be gas, parking, airfare, hotel, etc., if you don’t have friends or family in that area. If you are planning to stay in a hotel, take simple foods that can be prepared without a stove. Being vegan, I tend to be an accomplished hotel-room chef, as most coffee bars don’t offer many plant-based options. While that bias is changing, I still go prepared.
Bring at least one pen for signing your books. I bring four or five because sometimes the pens don’t work as advertised.
The final thing you will need is a way of accepting money. I have a metal cash box, but you only need something to hold cash and some bills to make change with. A way to accept credit cards, something like Square, is a good option. You will find a lot of vendors use Square, but there are other options out there.

My good friend, Lee French, is a best-selling YA author and a pro at successfully working conventions. She co-wrote the book, Working the Table: An Indie Author’s Guide to Conventions with the late Jeffrey Cook. She tells us that to really succeed, you’ll need to invest a bit more.

If you live in a state like Washington State, be smart and set aside the money collected as sales tax. It is not yours and shouldn’t be considered part of your income.

This brings us to storage and shifting goods. We must move our gear between the table and our vehicle, and sometimes we’re forced to park in inconvenient places. Many people use wheeled bins or fold-up handcarts. Folding luggage carts are a great, lightweight option when you only have a few bins and boxes. I use a large, wheeled suitcase for my books, as I travel pretty light.

I also use a plastic container with a good lid for storing pens, bookmarks/cards, book stands, and other whatnot.

And if you choose to embark on the in-person event circuit, I wish you good luck and many happy sales.

working_the_table_French_and_Cook

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April 29, 2024 · 6:00 am

Modifiers, descriptors, and crutch words #writing

Note to self: write dynamic prose and avoid crutch words.

MyWritingLife2021B One thing I notice when listening to an audiobook is crutch words. One of my favorite authors uses the descriptor “wry” in all its forms, just a shade too frequently. As a result, I have scrubbed it from my own manuscript, except for one instance.

Wry is a modifier. It means using or expressing dry, especially mocking, humor: “a wry smile.”

“Sardonic,” a word he also uses a bit too frequently, is a relative of the word “wry” and means grimly mocking or cynical.

Both are good words, but they are easily overused when we are trying to show a character’s mood in a bleak situation.

Grin and smile are also first draft crutch words we use to show a mood. I do a global search and then tear my hair out trying to show my protagonist’s mood without getting hokey.

The way we use modifiers and descriptors (and their frequency) plays a significant role in how our work is received by a reader.

Use Active Prose The words authors choose add depth and shape their prose in a recognizable way—their voice. They “paint” a scene showing what the point-of-view character sees or experiences.

And yes, in order to do that, they must use modifiers and descriptors, also known as adjectives and adverbs.

Modifiers are like any other medicine: a small dose can cure illnesses. A large dose will kill the patient. The best use of them is to find words that convey the most information with the most force.

What do we mean when we refer to modifiers?

A modifier is any word that modifies (alters, changes, transforms) the meaning and intent of another word. These words change, clarify, qualify, or limit a particular word in a sentence to add emphasis, explanation, or detail.

Some of these words are useful as conjunctions, words to connect thoughts: “otherwise,” “then,” and “besides.”

What are descriptors? Adverbs and adjectives, known as descriptors, are helper nouns or verbs—words that help describe other words.

What is a quantifier? They are nouns (or noun phrases) meant to convey a vague number or an abstract impression, such as very, a great deal of, a good deal of, a lot, many, much. The important word there is abstract. It is a thought or idea describing something without physical or concrete existence.

Modifiers, descriptors, and quantifiers are easily overused, so these words are often reviled by authors armed with a little dangerous knowledge.

One of the cautions those of us new to the craft frequently hear are criticisms about the number of “ly” words we habitually use. The forms we use can weaken our narrative.

First, examine the context. Have you used the word “actually” in a conversation? You may want to keep it, as dialogue must sound natural, and many people use that word when speaking.

490px-2014-10-30_11_09_40_Red_Maple_during_autumn_on_Lower_Ferry_Road_in_Ewing,_New_Jersey However, if you have used “actually” to describe an object, take a second look to see if it is necessary.

The tree was actually covered in red leaves.

Would the sentence be stronger without it?

Red leaves covered the tree.

Some descriptors are easy to spot, especially those ending in “ly.” When I begin revising a first draft, I do a global search for the letters “ly.” A list will pop up in my lefthand margin. My manuscript will become a mass of yellow highlighted words.

This is where I look at each instance because “ly” words are code words the subconscious mind uses in the first draft. They are a kind of mental shorthand that tells us what we need to expand on to fully explore the scene we envisioned.

Or they tell me something needs to be cut.

Context is everything. Please take the time to look at each example of the offending words and change them individually. I’ve said this many times, but I like to nag: You have already spent months writing that novel. Why not take a few days to do the job well?

Sentence structure matters. The placement of an adjective in relation to the noun it describes affects a reader’s perception. Modifiers often work best when showing us what the point-of-view characters see, hear, smell, touch, and taste.

Sunlight glared over the ice, a cold fire that cast no warmth but burned the eyes.

In the above sentence, the essential parts are structured this way: noun – verb (sunlight glared), adjective – noun (cold fire), verb – adjective – noun (cast no warmth), and finally, verb – article – noun (burned the eyes).

So, we try to lead with the action or noun, followed by a strong modifier (one without the “ly” ending). The sentence conveys what is intended. It has modifiers but isn’t weakened by them.

ok to write garbage quote c j cherryh The scene I detailed above could be shown in many ways. I took a paragraph’s worth of world-building and pared it down to 19 words, three of which are action words.

So, now you know what occupies most of my attention during revisions.

As writers, we all want to be accepted and have others like our work, which means we must meet our reader’s expectations.

Writers must write from the heart, or there is no joy in writing.

That means using modifiers, descriptors, or quantifiers when they are needed. It’s a balancing act. We must be mindful of the form and the context of how a modifier fits into our phrasing.

Below are two images. They are lists of code words I seek out and re-examine when I begin revising a first draft. Some words are quantifiers. They are adverbs of degree, words that describe how much of something, such as “I’m dreadfully unhappy.” Quantifiers (also known as adverbs of degree) have their place but can weaken a sentence. So, they are code words for you to look closely at when you get to the revision stage.

Adverbs_of_degree

“Adverbs of manner” are qualifiers, words that “qualify the manner of what we are talking about.” They can intensify or decrease the degree of something, such as “I rarely go out.”

Adverbs_of_Manner

It seems like an overwhelming task, but it isn’t. I look at each instance of a modifier and see how it fits into that context. If a word or phrase weakens the narrative, I rewrite the sentence. I either change it to a more straightforward form or remove it. For example, bare is an adjective, as is barely. Both can be used to form a strong image, depending on the words we surround them with.

I have found that participating in a critique group has been crucial to my growth as an author. Most writing groups are made up of people who love reading and want your work to succeed. They won’t micromanage your manuscript because they are aware that too much input can remove the author’s unique voice from a piece.

Credits and Attributions:

IIMAGE: Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:2014-10-30 11 09 40 Red Maple during autumn on Lower Ferry Road in Ewing, New Jersey.JPG,” Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:2014-10-30_11_09_40_Red_Maple_during_autumn_on_Lower_Ferry_Road_in_Ewing,_New_Jersey.JPG&oldid=751843290 (accessed April 28, 2024).

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April 22, 2024 · 6:00 am

Self-editing – a 3-step process #writing

As an editor, I saw every kind of mistake you can imagine, and before that, as a writer, I made them all. This is why I rely on an editor for my work. Irene sees the flaws that my eye skips over.

What follows are three steps that should eliminate most problems in a manuscript.

ReviewTabLIRF07032021 The most frustrating part is the continual stopping, making corrections, and starting.

I use this function rather than reading it aloud from the monitor, as the computer screen tricks the eye. I tend to see and read aloud what I think should be there rather than what is.

I habitually key the word though when I mean through or lighting when I mean lightning. Each is a different word but is only one letter apart. Most (but not all} miss keyed words will leap out when you hear them read aloud.
Most but not all run-on sentences stand out when you hear them read aloud.
Most but not all inadvertent repetitions also stand out.
Most of the time, hokey phrasing doesn’t sound as good as you thought it was.
Most of the time, you hear where you have dropped words because you were keying so fast you skipped over including an article, like “the” or “a” before a noun.

But I am not done.

Part three: the manual edit. This is where I make a physical copy and do the work the old-fashioned way.

Everything looks different when printed out, and you will see many things you don’t notice on the computer screen or hear when it is read aloud by the narrator app.

Illustration by Hugh Thomson representing Mr. Collins protesting that he never reads novels.

Open your manuscript. Make sure the pages are numbered in the upper right-hand corner.
Print out the first chapter and either staple it together or use a binder clip. If I drop it, the pages will all be together in the proper order.
Turn to the last page. Cover the page with another sheet of paper, leaving only the final paragraph visible.
Starting with the final paragraph on the last page, begin reading, working your way forward.
With a yellow highlighter, mark each place that needs revising.
With a red pen/pencil, make notes in the margins to guide the revisions. (Red is highly visible, so you won’t miss it when you are putting your corrections into the digital manuscript.
Put the corrected chapter on a recipe stand next to your computer. Open your manuscript and save it as a new file. (ManuscriptTitle_final_Apr2024.docx.) Begin making the revisions as noted on your hard copy.
Do the same for each chapter until you have finished revising the entire manuscript.

I look for info dumps, passive phrasing, and timid words. They are signs that a section needs rewriting to make it visual rather than telling. Clunky phrasing and info dumps are signals telling me what I intend that scene to be. Many times, I must cut some of the info and allow the reader to use their imagination.

I will have trimmed another 3 to 4,000 more words from my manuscript by the end of this process.

By the time we begin writing, most of us have forgotten whatever grammar we once knew. But editing software operates on algorithms and doesn’t understand context.

to err is human to edit divine I am wary of relying on Grammarly or ProWriting Aid for anything other than alerting you to possible problems. Look at each thing they point out and decide whether to accept their recommendation or not. They are AI programs and have no real-life experience to draw on.

You’ll get into trouble if you assume the AI editing programs are always correct. Remember, they don’t understand context. Good writing involves technical knowledge of grammar, but voice isn’t about algorithms.

Novels are comprised of many essential components. If one element fails, the story won’t work the way I envision it. It’s been months since a beta reader saw this mess and much has changed. I take a hard look at these aspects:

Characterization – are the characters individuals?
Dialogue – do people sound natural? Do they sound alike, or are they each unique?
Mechanics (grammar/punctuation flaws will be more noticeable when printed out)
Pacing—how does it transition from action scene to action scene?
Plot – does the story revolve around a genuine problem?
Prose – how do my sentences flow? Do they say what I mean?
Themes – What underlying thread ties the whole story together? Have I used the theme to its best potential?

We are all only human, after all.

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Tag Archives: #writetip

Worldbuilding – Calendars and Maps #writing

Planning a series #writing

Successful revisions #writing

Plot Armor, Objective, and Risk #writing

Self-editing – a 3-step process #writing

Everything looks different when printed out, and you will see many things you don’t notice on the computer screen or hear when it is read aloud by the narrator app.

The business side of the business: a secondlook at budgeting for in-person sales events #writing

Action and Reaction #writing

The business side of the business: budgeting for in-person sales events #writing

Modifiers, descriptors, and crutch words #writing

Modifiers, descriptors, and quantifiers are easily overused, so these words are often reviled by authors armed with a little dangerous knowledge.

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Self-editing – a 3-step process #writing

Everything looks different when printed out, and you will see many things you don’t notice on the computer screen or hear when it is read aloud by the narrator app.

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Modifiers, descriptors, and quantifiers are easily overused, so these words are often reviled by authors armed with a little dangerous knowledge.

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Everything looks different when printed out, and you will see many things you don’t notice on the computer screen or hear when it is read aloud by the narrator app.

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