January 29, 2020
“I love the voice.” I’ve heard that said about books, and I’ve heard agents and editors say, “I’m looking for a fresh voice” or “It’s the voice that counts.” So what is voice? According to www.literarydevices.com: Voice in literature is the individual style in which a certain author writes his or her works. Voice includes […]
February 6, 2019
When I wrote The Crows, I thought it was a single title mystery. It wasn’t until after the The Crows was released and I was doing book talks that I was asked when the next P.J. Benson Mystery would be out. A second book? Hmm. As I wrote the second P.J. Benson Mystery (As the […]
January 3, 2018
I belong to a fairly large critique group here in Florida, and I’m always amazed by how diverse the comments are about a piece of work. We usually critique two pieces during the meeting. We receive (via email downloads) the work a week before we meet, giving everyone a chance to read the two pieces […]
July 5, 2017
“I’m going to self-publish because don’t want anyone changing what I’ve written!” I cringe when I hear a writer say that. Maybe the published book will be “clean” (no typos, misspellings, or poorly written sentences), but usually it will have sections that are either unclear, repetitious, or totally unnecessary. (I’ve even wished some traditionally published […]
September 11, 2013
Writers need editors, people who read a manuscript looking for errors. For some the editor works for a publishing house, for others it may be someone they hire, or it could be another writer, a critique group/partner, or simply someone strong in spelling and grammar. We writers need these “other eyes” to catch the typos, […]
May 16, 2012
Several years ago another published writer and I presented a debate at a conference we were attending. She took the positive position regarding critique groups, I took the negative. At that time I saw a lot of negatives to critique groups; since then, I’ve changed my mind. Oh, many of the points I made that […]
September 7, 2011
Every so often I’m asked to read and critique someone’s work. What most want to know is: Will this story sell to a publisher? And beyond that question is: Will this book be a best seller? It would be nice if I or anyone could answer those questions. I know I can’t. I can point […]