April 2009

Perspectives on Prologues

April 30, 2009

Prologues are tricky creatures. I’ve been asked about them several times lately, so I thought I’d pool the resources and advice I’ve found all in one convenient place. Suspense writer Brandilyn Collins has some great advice on prologues: If you think you need a prologue in order to get your story moving, don’t use one. [...]

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Parsecs and Philippa and Podcasters, Oh My!

April 27, 2009

There’s a lot going on in the podcasting world lately! First, in general news, Parsec Award Nominations are now open. The Parsec Awards recognize excellence in speculative fiction podcasting. Please go and nominate your favorite podcasts. Closer to home (or, depending on how you’re counting, farther away!), podcaster and author Philippa Ballantine has received a [...]

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Why Hire an Editor?

April 23, 2009

Money should flow toward the writer. You might have heard this phrase before. It’s one of those standard bits of advice you hear a lot in the publishing industry. And, it has a lot of merit. You shouldn’t have to pay someone to represent your book. Reputable literary agents operate like real estate agents, making [...]

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Bard-inspired

April 20, 2009

William Shakespeare was baptized April 26, 1564 and died April 23, 1616. Whether you’re celebrating his birth or commemorating his death, this is the Bard’s week. There are a lot of Shakespeare-inspired gifts out there. Far more than I could spotlight or even list in a single post. They could fill a whole blog by [...]

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The Crapshoot

April 16, 2009

Authors will often refer to the submission and rejection process as a crapshoot. For those unfamiliar with the term, craps is a dice game of chance. A crapshoot is a roll of the dice, and it’s come to mean a gamble with random and uncontrollable results. You’ll probably have heard, more than once, that getting [...]

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My Submission Preferences

April 13, 2009

When submitting to another editor or a publisher, follow their guidelines. When you’ve hired me to edit your manuscript, or when your manuscript is being submitted to me or edited by me for Dragon Moon Press, the less formatting work I have to do, the better. My personal preferences (which bear a striking resemblance to [...]

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Submission Guidelines

April 9, 2009

One of the recurring themes I heard writers talk about at Ad Astra was the inconsistency or vagueness of submission guidelines, and what to do when submission guidelines are vague. The one issue on which most publishers are clear, is whether submissions are welcome or not. This is usually followed closely by whether they need [...]

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The Lost Art of Pleasure Reading

April 6, 2009

I often offer up advice on this blog: advice for writers, and advice for editors. Today’s tip is for both. It’s going to sound blatantly obvious, but it’s no less important for it. Today’s advice is: read. Read for fun. Read your genre. Get a feel for the latest trends. Read outside your genre and [...]

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Spelling out numbers

April 2, 2009

When do you spell out numbers and when do you leave them in numeral form? How do you know where to put the pesky hyphens? Your mileage may vary based on house style, but here are some guidelines to get you started. How to spell out numbers: – Hyphenate all numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine, [...]

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