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Establish Tone During Story’s Opening Lines – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for May 6, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Establish Tone During Story’s Opening LinesEach story expresses an emotional climate or tone; creating tone involves a complex array of techniques such as diction, pacing and color. READ MORE Self-Publishing Tips: How to Upload Your EbookFor those new to self-publishing, uploading your ebook often is a complex and frustrating process. Unfamiliar terms…
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Great Writing Quotes by Author Elizabeth Strout
I don’t think there was a particular book that made me want to write. They all did. I always wanted to write. I do write by hand. … it’s a physical thing for me. It’s a bodily thing. It literally has to earn its way through my hand. I love arranging the words and having…
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Hint at Story’s Theme in Opening Lines – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for April 29, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Hint at Story’s Theme in Opening LinesEven the most action-packed, blood-and-gore story has some message or point. A proposition that is argued or an aspect of human experience that is examined in your story is its theme. For example, the theme of the novel Moby Dick is revenge and obsession. Those dual passions…
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Great Writing Quotes by Author Becca Puglisi
The one common thread in all of the books that are falling apart on my shelf? Characters – flawed ones with desires and needs who spend most of the story tripping over their weaknesses in an effort to get what they want. Throughout the ages, story has been used to guide and teach, allowing us…
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Establish Story’s Point of View in Opening Lines – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for April 22, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Establish Story’s Point of View in Opening LinesEvery story has an angle or perspective from which it is told. You establish this perspective, called point of view, in a story’s opening lines. Which point of view you select deeply affects the way the story can be told. READ MORE How to Format Your…
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Great Writing Quotes by Author Voltaire
Writing is the painting of the voice. The secret of being a bore is to tell everything. The adjective is the enemy of the noun. Variant: The adjective is the enemy of the substantive. … I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to…
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Open Story by Hinting at Some Mysterious Element – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for April 15, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Open Story by Hinting at Some Mysterious ElementStraight-up information about a character or a setting rarely marks a great way to start a story. Instead, the opening lines need to hint at some mysterious element. READ MORE The Ultimate Guide to Self-Publishing Your BookYou’ve written a book that’s languishing on your computer hard…
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Great Writing Quotes by Author Grace Paley
Write from what you know into what you don’t know. Write what will stop your breath if you don’t write. … plot, the absolute line between two points which I’ve always despised. Not for literary reasons, but because it takes all hope away. Everyone, real or invented, deserves the open destiny of life. The best…
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Make Story Interesting by Establishing Stakes – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for April 8, 2025
Plotting Your Book: Make Story Interesting by Establishing StakesThe plot of a story is more interesting and exciting if the characters have something to gain or lose. Because of this, the characters in your story should have something at stake, or some personal interest in or motivation for solving the story’s conflict. READ MORE Writing Advice:…
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Great Writing Quotes by Author G.K. Chesterton
A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. Once I planned to write a book of poems entirely about the things in my pocket. But I found it would be too long; and the age of the great epics is past. Literature…
