Inventing Reality Editing Service

Great Writing Quotes by Author Winston S. Churchill

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.

Writing a long and substantial book is like having a friend and companion at your side, to whom you can always turn for comfort and amusement, and whose society becomes more attractive as a new and widening field of interest is lighted in the mind.

Perfecting and selling your writing is a lifelong task. If you are a persistent writer, you can expect your abilities to improve with time. Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.

Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge. Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words when short are best of all.

Men will forgive a man anything except bad prose.

I feel devoutly thankful to have been born fond of writing. History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Understand Story Structure to Develop Your Novel Idea – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 31, 2024

Plot Your Book: Understand Story Structure to Develop Your Novel Idea
When writers come up with a great story idea but don’t know how to develop it, usually the problem is one of plotting. For 2025, each issue of our newsletter will explore how to plot your story. READ MORE

Free Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Promotion Guides
I’m offering free pdfs of each book in my Storytelling 101 Quick Read series in exchange for an honest review. The series consists of brief, easy to understand, and practical guides addressing a number of problems authors face when writing, self-publishing and promoting their books. I’d ask that reviews be posted on Amazon or Goodreads. If interested, choose from this LIST OF BOOKS and then EMAIL ME the title for a free copy.

Writing Tip: Incorporate Imagery Into Your Story
When creating your story’s setting or explaining what your characters are doing, you’ll need to use imagery. This can help move along the plot and to establish tone. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Getting Started with Formatting Your Ebook
If you have a completed manuscript, you actually should to format two ebooks – one for Kindle Direct Publishing and one for Draft2Digital. This actually is less work than it sounds as you can format an ebook that will work for both Kindle and Draft2Digital. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Pit Story’s Hero Against Society to Create Conflict
Rather than take on another individual, the main character could find himself in conflict with an entire society. When the main character or small group of characters take on the greater culture – who usually are represented by a group of authority figures or “upstanding” citizens – the author is using a man vs. society conflict. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: How to Construct Your Website’s Home Page
The first page of your website that most potential readers and the media likely will see is your home page. This page serves as an introduction to your books and to you as an author. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Common Sense Inventing” by Roger Brown
I edit nonfiction as well as fiction manuscripts, and one of the former that I recently handled was Roger Brown’s Common Sense Inventing. Written for inventors, the book delivers a practical, no nonsense approach to getting your product licensed and on the market that works. Roger Brown is a successful national award winning Serial Inventor with numerous products on the market. Most of them he invested less than $100 and in some cases as little as $10. Using only an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) and a sell sheet, he found success in the toy, tool, kitchen, eyewear and nuclear industries. This book is a practical guide that explains how you can do the same without going into debt. CHECK IT OUT

$25 Off Your Next Edit!
For being a newsletter subscriber, please take $25 off your next edit with Inventing Reality Editing Service. When scheduling your edit, be sure to mention you’re a subscriber and give the email where you received this newsletter. Minimum order of $200. Offer expires Jan. 7, 2025. SCHEDULE EDIT

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of both aspiring and published writers and offers a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of a novel, the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, four children’s books, more than 25 bestselling hiking guidebooks, and even a book of poetry. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Great Writing Quotes by Author Rebecca Solnit

A book is a heart that only beats in the chest of another.

The object we call a book is not the real book, but its potential, like a musical score or seed. It exists fully only in the act of being read; and its real home is inside the head of the reader, where the symphony resounds, the seed germinates.&#;

Writing is saying to no one and to everyone the things it is not possible to say to someone.

What’s your story? It’s all in the telling.

Stories are compasses and architecture; we navigate by them, and to be without a story is to be lost in the vastness of world that spreads in all directions like arctic tundra or sea ice.

The rhythm of walking generates a kind of rhythm of thinking, and the passage through a landscape echoes or stimulates the passage through a series of thoughts. The creates an odd consonance between internal and external passage, one that suggests that the mind is also a landscape of sorts and that walking is one way to traverse it. A new thought often seems like a feature of the landscape that was there all along, as though thinking were traveling rather than making.

I still think the revolution is to make the world safe for poetry, meandering, for the frail and vulnerable, the rare and obscure, the impractical and local and small.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

To Write is to Realize My Destiny – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 24, 2024

Writing Motivation: To Write is to Realize My Destiny
Writing is your destiny. It’s more than just a pattern in your life. It is reaching for your full potential; it is those moments you feel most self-empowered. READ MORE

The Best Guide to Promoting Your Book!
My book 7 Minutes a Day to Promoting Your Book is a practical, how-to guide that takes you step-by-step through implementing a simple but effective marketing plan for your book – with just 7 minutes of work required a day. You’ll complete short, skillful exercises that allow you to publicize and sell your novel or nonfiction title as you read the book, all while receiving the encouragement and motivation needed to keep you going. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: How to “Get in the Zone“ When Writing
The time you’ve set aside time for writing has arrived at last. You’ve been looking forward to it all day; pen and paper are before you, a cup of tea or coffee is brewed. Nobody is around so you can concentrate. And yet you can’t get a single word on the page. What’s wrong? READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Being an Indie Writer Means You’re a Business
Among the best things about being an indie writer is control. You control when your book comes out, you decide what the cover will look like, you determine if a chapter will be edited out, you select where you’ll go on any promotional tours. In short, you are the publisher. And that makes you a business. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: How Do You Create a Unique Writing ‘Style’?
Every author writes in a certain “style.” Style is the choice of vocabulary and phrasing to create an effect that runs through the entire story. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: How Long and Frequent Should an Author’s Blog Be?
How frequently you’ll blog largely depends on your time constraints and your readers’ thirst for information from and about you. More than once a day is too much, but you probably want to have an entry every 2-3 days and certainly no less than once a week if you’re to maintain readership. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “An Island I Don’t Want to Be On: Surviving the Riptide of Bipolar Disorder” by W Hector Rivera
A client from earlier this year has published the book I edited, An Island I Don’t Want to Be On: Surviving the Riptide of Bipolar Disorder! In this candid and inspiring memoir, W Hector Rivera opens up about his battle with bipolar disorder and anxiety disorder, sharing the raw and personal journey of navigating life’s unpredictable riptides. But he refuses to be defined by these labels. With courage and determination, Rivera shows how he learned to live on his own terms, finding strength in the face of adversity and hope where there seemed to be none. Through honest reflections and hard-earned wisdom, Rivera’s story serves as a powerful reminder that no challenge is too great to overcome. His journey is not just about surviving-it’s about thriving, and about refusing to let mental health struggles dictate your life. This uplifting narrative will inspire readers to find their own path through the storm and remind them that they too can live a life of purpose and fulfillment, no matter the challenges they face. CHECK IT OUT

Great Writing Quotes by Author Lloyd Alexander

Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It’s a way of understanding it.

…Writings can be stolen, or changed, or used for evil purposes. But isn’t the risk worth taking? The more people who share knowledge, the greater safeguard for it. Isn’t there more danger in ignorance than knowledge?

I decided that adventure was the best way to learn about writing.

Books can truly change our lives: the lives of those who read them, the lives of those who write them. Readers and writers alike discover things they never knew about the world and about themselves.

Paradoxically, in fantasy for young people I was able to express my own deepest feelings and attitudes more than I had ever done in writing for adults.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Writing is My Way of Life – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 17, 2024

Writing Motivation: Writing is My Way of Life
Begin each day by reminding yourself who you are: You are a writer, and writing is a way of life for you. Maybe you’ll need to scribble that on a piece of paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror so you read it every morning when you brush your teeth (What? You don’t brush your teeth every morning? For shame!). After all, if you remind yourself daily to do something, you likely will do it, and soon it becomes habit. READ MORE

The Ultimate Guide to Self-Publishing Your Book
You’ve written a book that’s languishing on your computer hard drive. You don’t have time to pitch it to a literary agent or a major publisher … work or school is hectic, the house needs to be cleaned, the kids demand your attention … But we bet you can find just seven minutes a day to achieve your dream of getting it published. If you can, my book 7 Minutes a Day to a Self-Published Book is for you. This practical, how-to guide takes you step-by-step through the self-publishing process – with just seven minutes of work required a day. You’ll complete short, skillful exercises that allow you to self-publish your novel or nonfiction title as you read the book, all the while getting the encouragement and motivation needed to keep you going. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Ways to Show a Character’s Personality
All too often, novice writers make the mistake of telling us a character’s personality. Rather than tell her personality, the writer can more successfully raise reader interest by showing it – that is, inferring the character’s personality through concrete details. Authors generally tell a character’s personality in one of four ways – motivations, emotions, thoughts, and age. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Try “Taster Book” if New to Self-Publishing
If new to self-publishing, consider doing a “taster book” first. A taster book has a low word count (and subsequently few pages) that you can use to learn the self-publishing process. If a fiction writer, it might be a collection of two or three short stories; if a nonfiction writer, it might be a three or four brief articles. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Use Bait-and-Switch Device Carefully in Stories
One common and time-honored way to make your plot more interesting is to employ a bait-and-switch device. This occurs when the author guides and encourages readers to invest their attention in some suspenseful situation but then is substitute for a payoff that has little to do with what occurred before. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Tips to Ensure a Successful Book Reading/Signing
The day has finally arrived: Your first book reading and signing! No doubt your stomach is aflutter, not just with excitement but with a little apprehension. What if you mess up in the reading? What if you can’t think of what to say when someone answers a question? What if the crowd finds you boring and starts to leave? Don’t worry. None of that is likely to happen at all. And with a little preparation, you can take the edge off these fears while decreasing the chances of something going wrong. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “The Adventures of Bob the Beagle: Discovering the True Meaning of Christmas” by Sarah Lambert Barham
Looking for a good Christmas children’s book? Sarah Lambert Barham, an editing client from earlier this year has released his first kids picture book, The Adventures of Bob the Beagle: Discovering the True Meaning of Christmas. Through yet another amazing adventure, Bob and his adopted human family discovers the true meaning of Christmas as this adventure teaches him God’s love once again through discovery that Jesus was born in a manger on Christmas day. As Bob curls up under the Christmas tree with the beauty of the lights, he is reminded about the real meaning of Christmas. CHECK IT OUT

Great Writing Quotes by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White

It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.

…when a sentence is made stronger, it usually becomes shorter. Thus, brevity is a by-product of vigor.

Rich, ornate prose is hard to digest, generally unwholesome, and sometimes nauseating.

The adjective hasn’t been built that can pull a weak or inaccurate noun out of a tight place.

Rather, very, little, pretty – these are the leeches that infest the pond of prose, sucking the blood of words. The constant use of the adjective little (except to indicate size) is particularly debilitating; we should all try to do a little better, we should all be very watchful of this rule, for it is a rather important one, and we are pretty sure to violate it now and then.

If you use a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, simply use it; do not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks. To do so is to put on airs, as though you were inviting the reader to join you in a select society of those who know better.

A dash is a mark of separation stronger than a comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

My Words can Light the Way for Someone Else on a Dark Path – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 10, 2024

Writing Motivation: My Words can Light the Way for Someone Else on a Dark Path
Even if your book never changes the world – let alone influences other authors in its genre – your writing still can make a difference just by affecting the lives of a few or even of a lone reader. READ MORE

How to Overcome Writer’s Block
There are many reasons people get writer’s block – their mind is preoccupied, the environment they’re writing in isn’t conducive to creating, the idea they’ve come up with isn’t particularly good, a lack of imagination or skill to develop the story, coming to the laptop with no idea to write about, and many more. My new book, Overcoming Writer’s Block, helps you understand the cause of your writer’s block then goes into detail on strategies for overcoming each one. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Your Story Isn’t Its Plot or Structure
When discussing fiction, sometimes the terms “story” and “structure” are used interchangeably with “plot.” But a story is not a plot or the story’s structure. While this misuse of terminology may seem trifling, it unfortunately mangles many beginning writers’ conception of what plot is, ultimately harming their manuscripts. READ MORE

Writing Course: Overcoming Writer’s Block
Writer’s block is quite real. There are many reasons people get writer’s block. This course helps you understand the cause of your writer’s block then goes into detail on strategies for overcoming each one. Length of course: 12 lesson readings and quizzes; 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tip: Should You Format Your Book While Writing It?
Formatting when writing to a small degree makes some sense. Many authors want to get a feel for what their book will look like in print. Or perhaps to get a “head start” while waiting for a proofreading to be completed, they start formatting. Almost invariably, though, this actually creates more work. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: How to Write Your Story’s Penultimate Scene
In every story, there comes a turning point or an ultimate moment in which the situation has become so intolerable that the main character must take a decisive step and emerge victorious. This scene is known as the climax. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Try BlueSky for a Saner Social Media Experience
Don’t feel like you’re reaching many people on Xitter (X/Twitter) anymore? Tired of your Xitter feed being filled with mean-spirited political propaganda? Then come over to BlueSky for an invigorating, friendlier experience with fellow writers. The new social media platform works like Xitter used to function before the Russian bots took over and you know who bought it. So far, we’re at 214 million plus users and growing. Yeah, that’s still small compared to Xitter, but with every person who joins BlueSky after leaving Xitter, the larger we grow and the smaller they get (See how that works?). GO TO BLUESKY

Client Spotlight: “I’m Not The Man I Was: But Time Will Tell” by Phillip N. Hancock
A recent editing client of mine, Philip N. Hancock, has published his first novel, I’m Not The Man I Was: But Time Will Tell. Aaron Conroy discovers that he has a slightly altered dream state and an unrealized ability that he will ultimately use to his benefit – he can time travel in his dreams and uses this ability to tweak some problem areas in his past. CHECK IT OUT

Great Writing Quotes by Author Joan Didion

The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself. I suppose that it begins or does not begin in the cradle.

As it happens, I am still committed to the idea that the ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language.

What’s so hard about that first sentence is that you’re stuck with it. Everything else is going to flow out of that sentence. And by the time you’ve laid down the first two sentences, your options are all gone.

…the last sentence in a piece is another adventure. It should open the piece up. It should make you go back and start reading from page one.

I think of writing anything at all as a kind of high-wire act. The minute you start putting words on paper you’re eliminating possibilities. Unless you’re Henry James.

Read, learn, work it up, go to the literature. Information is control.

Let me tell you one thing about why writers write: had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel.

Grammar is a piano I play by ear. All I know about grammar is its power.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Never Be Afraid to Write What You Believe – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 3, 2024

Writing Motivation: Never Be Afraid to Write What You Believe
When you’re afraid how others will react to your writing, you’ve allowed them to define you. Should you write only what others find acceptable, you’ve allowed them to control you. You’ve given their values a higher priority than your own tastes and standards. As an authentic writer, you cannot care what others will think of you or your writing. READ MORE

Marketing Tip: How to Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads
Most indie authors are nervous about buying ads for their books and for good reason. They wonder if the ads really will work or if it’s just dumping money into a bottomless hole. They even have been told not to buy them. I used to think that way too. Then I began to hear from a small number of authors that they actually were having good luck with Amazon ads. A lot of tweaking was necessary, but eventually they figured out a formula that worked. So I gave it a try. Within weeks, I was earning twice as much as I spent on ads, and my sales tripled. My new book Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads is all about how the ad system works, how to build an ad, how to read Amazon’s ad reports, how to optimize your ad, and more. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Show Don’t Tell Characters’ Emotional States
One area of exposition that novice writers often overlook is emotional states during character descriptions. READ MORE

Writing Course: Write Engaging, Natural Dialogue
This inexpensive, online course helps beginning writers better understand how to pen conversations between characters. If you’ve already written a story and know the dialogue is weak, the lessons in this course can help you diagnose and fix the problem. Length of course: 12 lesson readings and quizzes; 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tip: Create a Document for Your Book Formatting
When formatting your paperback to self-publish on Kindle Direct Publishing, you’ll first need to create a document on which you will format your manuscript. How do you do that? (Note: This article assumes you’re using Microsoft Word for your formatting.) READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Don’t be Guilty of Polysyllabism (Huh?)
Ever read a sentence in a story and wonder why the author couldn’t just use plain English rather than a lot of big words? Well, whoever wrote that sentence is guilty of polysyllabism. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Promote Your Book with Radio Interviews
As writers, we often limit our thinking of press coverage to what we read – newspapers, magazines, online reviews. But broadcast mediums such as radio interviews also are an excellent way to promote your book. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Plunge Into The Deep” by Drew Davis
A longtime editing client of mine, Drew Davis, has published his latest thriller in the Tom Hill novel series. Fresh off his disastrous trip to the coast in Murder On The Bayou, Crime Boss Tom Hill goes all in on rebuilding his severely diminished cash stash, under pressure to return $250,000 to elite Los Angeles crime boss, Frank Cirelli. Gambling on highly risky illegal schemes to recoup lost wealth pits him against familiar enemies – the cops, snitches and treacherous rival crime bosses. Hill and his crew employ their familiar methods of violence, payoffs, threats, intimidation and even murder. Add in an obsession with a mysterious beauty who casts a sensual spell over Hill, and you have a fast-paced crime adventure where danger rules, the suspense boils red hot, and the bodies pile up. CHECK IT OUT

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of both aspiring and published writers and offers a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 350 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of a novel, the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, four children’s books, more than 25 bestselling hiking guidebooks, and even a book of poetry. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.