Category Archives: Uncategorized

Today’s Writing Tip

Posted on by

typewriter-801921_1280 copy

First drafts tend to be unbalanced, depending on your style. They may have too much or too little of certain elements. For example, many authors, myself included, tend to focus on action and dialog. These are great for keeping a story moving, but the reader isn’t likely to “see” the story in their head or feel much empathy for the characters.

To remedy this, for your second draft, start by checking how your IDEAS are presented, where IDEAS is an acronym for Imagery; Dialog; Emotion; Action; Suspense. Examine each scene to determine if you need to add something to round it out. You don’t want to slow down heavy action with too much detail, but get enough in there so the reader can visualize it. Setting up the location beforehand is one way to handle that, so the reader already has a mental image for the action to occur.

May the 4th Be With You!

Posted on by

maythe4th copy

May the 4th Be With You! And better yet, May the Four Books of Star Trails Be With You!

To celebrate, don’t miss this FLASH SALE! Each of the four volumes of the Star Trails Tetralogy, plus “The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51”, is on sale for only 99c!

If you’re a hard science fiction fan, this series is for you! But don’t take my word for it. Being the author, you know I’m seriously prejudiced, and not to be trusted. So here’s an excerpt from an Amazon reviewer who’s read the entire series and left this comment under “Refractions of Frozen Time:”

“I love seeing the threads from all the books come together, and the climax is so amazing and unexpected, I kept waiting to hear a huge pipe organ chord! Wow! I love this family and how they all grow in unexpected ways, even when facing death. This series has made me remember why I love science fiction–it stretches my brain in mind-bending ways and opens new ways of seeing the universe. Thanks to the author for a great read and a wild ride!”

And thanks to that wonderful reviewer as well for sharing her feelings about Star Trails!

You can find out more about the series on the website StarTrailsSaga.com.  There are videos for each book, links to excerpts on Bublish, and various other things, including forms to request your local library to carry the series, newsletter signup, and coming events.

Here are vendor links to the various books. [Note that “Beyond the Hidden Sky” is always FREE, everywhere but Amazon where it’s 99c.]

Beyond the Hidden Sky

A Dark of Endless Days

A Psilent Place Below

Refractions of Frozen Time

The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51

Today’s Writing Tip

Posted on by

writing-pad-3229690_1280 copy

Economy of words makes your message stronger. Using too many that are extraneous distract and dilute it. This is why adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases often add extra bulk that should be trimmed, just like the fat on a brisket.

Flowery writing or over-writing simply doesn’t work. Do you want your reader to get your message or get lost in a tangle of words? [Please note this is not to be confused with saying something so beautifully that your reader (most likely another writer) pauses to admire how well you expressed a thought or rendered a description.]

Being redundant is ever worse, and a special case of over-writing. As a reader, I feel somewhat insulted, like the author thought I wasn’t smart enough to catch it the first time. Doing so within the same sentence or paragraph is even worse. If this is part of your natural style, don’t let it hamper your creativity; worry about it when you start to edit.

 

 

 

Audio Book Release!!!

Posted on by

TheTerraDebacleAudioRGBflatsmall+ copy

I’m excited to announce that the audio version of “The Terra Debacle: Prisoners at Area 51” has just been released! You can find it on Amazon/Audible here. It will be available via iTunes in a few days. If you’d like to give Audible a try, you can get the audio book for FREE! If you’re already a member, it’s out there now and I’d love to start getting some feedback via reviews! So far people have loved it as you can see from the reviews for the printed version on Amazon as well as the Star Trails Website.

Hollywood actor, T.W. Ashworth, did a fabulous job narrating! You can find out more about him here. T.W. has been busy auditioning for a variety of roles during this time while still doing a fabulous job of bringing the story to life. Check it out! There’s no time like the present to give audio books a try. They’re a multiplexer’s dream and the ideal way to make that long commute more enjoyable!

Today’s Writing Tip

Posted on by

technology-3200401_640 copy

Be aware of your most common typos. Mine are typing “you” instead of “your” or “the” instead of “that”. A simple spellchecker is very likely to miss such goofs when it’s an actual word and not misspelled, just not correct in context. These are also difficult to find when you’re proofreading or editing because that same disconnect that originated between your brain and fingers will come back to haunt you when reading it. However, an alert reader will trip over it in a heartbeat. During your final edit, be sure to take your time and read each word deliberately, looking for such things. If you’re beta reading for another author, be sure to point out such goofs because the author is less likely to catch it.

Today’s Writing Tip

Posted on by

paper-3242863_1280 copy

A good grammar checker should pick up various mistakes including subject-verb agreement and using the wrong homonym. The finer points of grammar can get lost in a creative frenzy, plus many talented writers were bored in English class and didn’t learn as much as they should have about proper use of the language. One mistake I hear a lot is “we was”.

Another mistake waiting to happen is when a sentence has something like a preposition phrase between the subject and verb, it’s easy to mess up. For example, “He looked over his list of grocery items, which was written on the back of his hand” (correct where “list” is what “was written”) versus “He looked over his list of grocery items, which were written on the back of his hand” (incorrect, i.e. “items” isn’t what’s written on his hand).

One homonym frequently used incorrectly, which drives me nuts every time, is using shutter (a window covering or decoration) instead of shudder (to shake or shiver with fear or cold.)  Look it up!

Today’s Writing Tip

Posted on by

nobody-2798850_1280 copy

Always spellcheck your work, especially after completing each draft iteration or editing pass. I don’t know about you, but my fingers have a mind of their own and don’t always type the words my brain had in mind. I’m notorious for typing “you” when I mean “your” or “the” when I mean “that” and a host of others. I’m sure you have your own set, unless you’re more thoughtful with your keyboarding skills. I’m a fast typist, with such goofs the price I pay for speed. These types of errors are extremely difficult to find in your own work because you’ll tend to see it as the expected word as opposed to what’s there, kind of like a rerun of that disconnect between your fingers and your brain that caused it in the first place. A good grammar checker should find any misused words. Test it out by deliberately using the wrong word, then seeing if it shows up.

Our line of sight to bright planets today

Posted on by

This is a fantastic illustration and article showing where the planets are currently with respect to the Sun. Check it out!

Source: Our line of sight to bright planets today

Today’s Writing Tip

Posted on by

laptop-3303835_1280 copy

Epilogues work well to cover “the rest of the story”, i.e, that which relates to proper closure of the plot, yet occurs after the story officially ends. Similar to prologues, epilogues can involve minor characters, or in some cases, someone who wasn’t in the main story at all. For example, it could be someone discovering years later what the effects were of your character’s actions. Sometimes they can even include hints of other stories to come, as opposed to closure.