Category Learn the Craft

Writing Humor

April 30, 2013 Learn the Craft  No comments

Writing Humor is difficult.  Besides developing the humor, these stories must have all the other elements of a non-humorous story.  To state it differently, a comedic story must have a protagonist, a plot problem, an antagonist and the humor.

A major part of the problem with writing humor is that humor is very subjective; what one reader sees as hilarious, another will view as stupid.  Thus, no matter how good a humor writer you are, you always have the disadvantage that many readers will think your stuff is dumb.  While this caveat applies to all writing, it is more pronounced with humor and satire.

A mistake I see in many short stories, and one that occasionally I’m prone to make, is a failure to tip off the reader early on that the story is humorous.  The author has to let theRead More

The 10 Most Common Writing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

November 10, 2012 Learn the Craft, Writing Tips  No comments

When you are a writer, you are in control of your own business, your own workload and your own money. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to properly manage all of these aspects. It can be difficult to manage the business side of your career as well as the quality of your actual writing. Mistakes are bound to happen.

Here are some of the most common mistakes writers make, so you can learn from them without having to make them yourself.

1. Procrastination – When you give in to procrastination, you just place more stress on yourself later. You’ll end up writing lower-quality work and missing opportunities. Instead, set up a work schedule you can stick to so you’re not tempted put assignments off.
2. Editing While You Write – As you are writing, you may feel like you needRead More

The Secrets of Highly Successful Bloggers

October 23, 2012 Learn the Craft, Writing Tips  4 comments

The best bloggers aren’t necessarily the best writers. They’re the ones who connect best with their audiences.

All highly successful bloggers have this trait in common. They write posts that inspire impassioned responses, whether the reader loves the ideas being espoused or hates them.

If you want your blog to join this upper echelon of hugely popular blogs, pay close attention to these tips.

Take Chances with Your Topics

There are millions of blogs out there. What makes someone want to read yours? To grab a reader’s attention, you have to have something interesting to say. Don’t repeat the same stuff over and over again; that bores the reader.

Instead, take a few risks with your content. Write about a controversial topic. Write a counterpoint to an opinion you saw on another blog.Read More

How to Get Your Online Writing Career Started and Find Clients

October 17, 2012 Learn the Craft  2 comments

When you decide you want to take up freelance writing online, the first big hurdle is finding clients. With no one to write for, you can’t work, right? Wrong. The first job you need to do as a writer isn’t writing at all. Here are some ways to jumpstart your freelancing career and snag some clients!

Create a Writing Resume

First, you need to create a resume specifically for freelance writing. Your resume should include your educational background, especially information on any English, journalism, speech or creative writing classes you have taken. It’s also important to mention any educational awards you have received. Clients know a good educational foundation is important for writers.

Of course, you’ll also want to include your work history. Any experience you have with writing willRead More

Close Reading Pt.1

July 5, 2012 Goals for Writers, Learn the Craft, Uncategorized, Writing Tips  3 comments

During my recent process of educating myself about writing, I have undertaken a study of the concept of “close reading” or “artful reading” as some refer to it.

In between the hurly burly of work, I.T study, pet ownership, fatherhood and marriage – *gasp for breath* –  I took a few moments to think about what I could do to improve my skills as a writer.  In attempting to work out what I could do to improve my writing I had a think about why I wanted to write and what was the main driving force behind it.

To cut a long story short:

• I like reading because I can escape to a new and different place.
• I like reading because I can learn new information about the world generally and the human condition.
• I like reading because of my love of language.
• Because I love language, reading is theRead More

Getting a book published

December 17, 2011 Learn the Craft, Success Stories, Writing Tips  No comments

I’ve been self publishing and sending out work to traditional publishers and agents for my entire writing career.  And finally, one of my novels has been published by a traditional press – which has benefits and drawbacks.

The best thing that can happen to my book,  In Good Faith, is that it becomes an overnight success, because it took 11 years to write it.

Since I’m a fan of independent publishing, I published In Good Faith two years ago.  Then Write Life Press picked it up.  I did not get an advance, but I did get editing and the cover design and of course, the book.  I wrote two books in the Real Estate Diva Mystery series before In Good Faith and one after it, and it was this, the third one in the series that was finally published up by a traditional press.

In Good Faith beganRead More

~ Common errors ~

December 1, 2011 Emma's Corner, Learn the Craft, Writing Tips  7 comments

I came across the following error in a conversation I was editing this week. The spelling was correct and the sentence still made sense to the reader but because I’d seen this author misspell definite elsewhere in the manuscript, I queried her about which word she intended to use. She was adamant that the character was definitely (not defiantly) evasive.

“““““““““““““““““““

“I asked her yesterday.”

“What did she say?”

“Well, she defiantly avoided answering the question, but I know she wanted to see him.”

 “““““““““““““““““““

This is a simple example of an issue that a spelling and grammar check programme will not pick up, and one that an Autocorrect function can often create, rather than prevent.

Definitely seems to be one of those words that many people have difficultyRead More

Scared to Share?

November 17, 2011 Emma's Corner, Learn the Craft, Writing Tips  2 comments

I took my children to swimming lessons today. My youngest, Peyton, is a water baby. She is only seven months old but seems to love everything about it. She splashes, kicks, giggles, coos—just does her best to look adorable really. Since I’ve been ill lately, it was hubby’s job to swim with her. Wouldn’t you know it, all the other mum’s fawned over him like he was Superdad. He certainly seemed to enjoy the attention too!

I, of course, was sitting responsibly by the other end of the pool where four year old, Lachlan, and two year old, Violet, were swimming in the ‘big kids’ class, without parents. Usually this is an extremely embarrassing experience for me on the side-lines because Violet has the most high-pitched wail you could imagine and in previous classes she didn’t letRead More

Dipping my toes in the blogging waters…

November 1, 2011 Emma's Corner, Learn the Craft  2 comments

After countless promises to “get around to it someday”, I’ve finally begun. No more excuses. No more procrastination. Damien will be pleased.

For years now I’ve been meaning to start blogging. Damien keeps asking the Newbie Writers members for regular bloggers, and if you searched through the mound of paperwork on my desk, you’d find that every last to-do list I’ve ever created shows near the top, “Write first blog post!!!” Woo hoo … I can finally tick that one off my list. (However, “Write follow-up blog post” now sits proudly in its place.)

As I ponder where to start, my eyes drift over to the aforementioned mountain of paperwork (I’m sure it’s multiplied in size since just a few moments ago). Why is it there? Do I even know what treasures lay hidden underneathRead More

Is it in me?

November 1, 2011 Learn the Craft  No comments

So I’m sitting here at a bakery with a cup of tea and the sun shining. It however makes me feel no better now I’m into my second week with a chest infection which in turn threw my back out. I’ve just come back from the chiropractor so some relief there.

It’s one of those things, I’m 28, fit without a scrap of fat on me. Yet, I’m prone to colds and I’ll tell you why. I work as an Audio Visual Technician. I have for ten years. This means most of my days are in roofs, under floors, lugging heavy screens and various a/v equipment. Most techs install for 3 or 4 years before they either move up or get a lacky. Clearly I have neither. I sit here sipping my tea knowing that I’ve recently set myself up as a company and hopefully can do away with the physical labour. However…

I started to thinkRead More