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Don’t let these two commonly confused words negatively affect your writing. Affect is a verb meaning to “to influence” “to impact”: The layoffs affect about a third of the company’s employees. Effect is a noun meaning “the consequences of”: The effect of the layoffs was lower company morale. Hopefully the effect of this little tip will be correct…

Verbs give sentences and books vibrancy. When too many of them in a story are passive or weak, the writing sounds drab. For example, consider this paragraph: I dreamed that my children would all get superb grades (because I did), be good little athletes (because my husband was), sing in choir, love going to church, graduate…

• Constructing your story’s main character • How to create a character’s background • Build character by looking at his values • Show rather than tell a character’s personality • Ways to show a character’s personality  • Use catch-phrase when creating a character When writing your story, you’ll want each of the major characters to be distinct. One way of achieving that, especially…

• How long is needed to write a professional book? • Short stories vs. novellas vs. novels • Mistakes to avoid in a novel series • Maintain ‘fictional dream’ when penning novel  ______________________ 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…

• How to choose a setting for your story As a plot develops, you’ll often need to change locations and times in a story. Your characters may be on a journey to some destination or they may need to investigate a matter. You might shift between the characters so that a scene involves the villain who is at…

• How to form your story’s basic structureIn every story, something happens. These events form the structure of your tale. Plot, then, is the drama and action through which characters come to life. • Conflict: The heart of every storyA good plot is about at least one character under adversity. Conflict typically arises from the characters’ perceptions, needs…

“Imagination is as good as many voyages – and how much cheaper!” – George William Curtis “Imagination is what you do with your inspiration.” – Violet Haberdasher “The imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” – Brenda Ueland “The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.” – Richard Wright…

Once you’ve decided to use your home for your business, setting up an office space comes next. That shouldn’t be too difficult for most authors, as they already work from home. If you write at your kitchen table or just head to the coffeeshop to pen your novel, though, you’ll have to make some adjustments. First,…