Welcome to the Coach's Corner! Recently one of our authors shared the twentieth rendition of a query letter he had prepared to send to an agent. His is an epic novel; a real piece of literature. I was reminded how difficult it is to summarize a story—any story—in just a few lines. The author shared his frustration at the process and how … [Read more...]
A quick re-cap: Larry Brooks' fantastic resource, STORY ENGINEERING, defines 6 Core Competencies for novelists and screenwriters. Those are: Concept Character Theme Structure (Setup) Scene Execution Writing Voice Today, I’m going through two main definitions: PP1 First Pinch Point FOUR-PART STORY STRUCTURE / THREE-ACT … [Read more...]
I just received an email from Ron Pramschufer at www.selfpublishing.com regarding a new player in the Self Publishing business called Kbuuk. Seems that they have developed apps that will enable you to design a cover for your book, upload your file and have it converted to an epub. They also have other tools for marketing but you have to subscribe … [Read more...]
You want to make a difference in people's live, you are researching a topic and becoming an expert. You want to give your audience answers to their questions on your topic. You want to attract new clients, brand yourself or business, or maybe you want to write a novel to educate and entertain. You resist! You have doubts. It takes too long. You … [Read more...]
Recently an author asked me: What should I know when choosing editing for my book manuscript? What a great question! Following are six key factors that affect the quality of a book edit. Identify which style manual should guide the editing and whether the editors have expertise in applying that style. The Chicago Manual of Style is the … [Read more...]
Welcome to the Coach’s Corner! How long will it take you to realize your dream, complete your manuscript, have it professionally edited, designed, printed and published? “As long as it takes.” This is November, “National Novel Writing Month,” when authors and writers sometimes challenge themselves to join the NaNoWriMo bandwagon and … [Read more...]
How do you support your fellow authors? It seems that we don’t have enough time and energy these days to do all that we feel we must, let alone be able to offer anything much to others. I think that busy authors are especially lacking in the support department. Authorship is so all-consuming that we find ourselves overwhelmed by our own … [Read more...]
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