What impression do you want your photo to make?
I cringed at the “portrait photo” a colleague posted on Facebook. The selfie combined some of the least flattering aspects of this kind of photo. Taken from the person’s desk and looking up at the writer’s face, the image showed my friend with:
Don’t detour readers from your story.
The manuscript’s first sentence told me the novelist was in trouble. The rest of the paragraph confirmed that. The second paragraph was no better.
Fortunately, the author had sent me the genre novel for a critique. So I was able to show her where she had missed the opportunity of a story’s most important words. If potential readers aren’t attracted … Continue reading
What will your characters do?
From across the country for the past few weeks, we’ve been seeing how people react to needing to give up normal activities.
If you’re writing a novel, that information might prove useful. While I doubt your story involves a global pandemic, you can still apply these insights into human behavior.
If your novel has characters, it’s likely … Continue reading