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5 Great Science Fiction Novum Writing Prompts
Science fiction stories typically arise from a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or faster-than-light spacecraft; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens to determine the meaning of…
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Avoid Rear-view Mirror Descriptions in Stories
When writing action scenes, avoiding rear-view mirror descriptions typically is a good idea. In such a description, an object is described only after it’s been part of the action. For example, He slid into the cave hole that his foot had just felt. This type of writing allows the reader to see the setting only after the character…
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Should You Use a Pen Name for Your Book?
Your name will appear all over your book – the cover, the title pages, the preface, the author’s bio, probably on a at least half of the book’s main text. So before you actually start putting the book together, you might want consider taking up a pen name. There are several advantages and disadvantages of having…
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Should I Copyright My Manuscript?
You’ve just put the finishing touches on your book and are about to send it off to an editor, a literary agent, or maybe even a publishing house. Seemingly countless hours of thought and sweat went into your novel or nonfiction book, and it’s pretty good stuff, if you do say so yourself. But then…
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No Closed Doors: Accessible vs. Assessable
If you want to get your foot into the publishing world’s door, you’ll want to know the difference between accessible and assessable. These two words often are confused because of their similar pronunciations and spellings. Accessible means easily entered, approached or obtained. For example: Our building is accessible by wheelchair. By the way, you don’t…
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Five Great Quotations about Fiction
“Why shouldn’t truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.” – Mark Twain “The good ended happily, the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means.” – Oscar Wilde “Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson “Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” – Stephen King “Fiction is not a dream. Nor is it…
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Writing Problem SOLVED: People Keep Interrupting Me while I’m Trying to Write
Every time you sit down to write, inevitably you end up saying, “If only no one were around!” Distractions from emails to “Can I have a cookie?” and from phone calls to “Honey, could you help me with this?” always seems to keep you from spending your writing time actually writing. Well, no more. If you…
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Promote Your Book at Writing Conferences
Another way to promote your book is through a public appearance at a writing conference. Writing organizations, colleges and other groups offer a wide variety of such programs. Typically, they help writers develop their skills, learn the industry, and make connections. There are number of ways you could make a public appearance at a writing conference:• Workshop…
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Many Famous Books First were Self-Published
All too often self-publishing gets a bad rap as a last resort of authors whose writing wasn’t good enough to be accepted by one of the Big Five publishers. Never mind the long explanation of how big corporate publishing actually is something new, a product of the past century that worked then because the economics of…
