Sunday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts

JO ROBERTSON ON REVISION WITH DICTION AND SYNTAX 

By: Author Jo Robertson on Romance University 

One of the greatest tools in the author’s arsenal of revision and rewrites is working with language. Once you’ve got your plot and pacing well defined, what can you do to elevate your book above the common fray? What sets your story apart from the myriads available to readers?

You’ve written the draft, tightened the plot, and strengthened the pacing. What’s next? We talk a lot about an author’s voice, but often writers fail to understand the concept. Voice is the unique tone of your writing; if your voice is strong, it’s as distinguishable from another writer as fingerprints. It’s your writing DNA and arises from two strong writing elements many authors pay little attention to: diction and syntax.

Diction is word choice and includes tone, which is the attitude of the writer toward her subject, characters, or writing. Diction is the foundation of voice. Effective writers use words that are clear, concrete, and precise. Largely this can be achieved by skillful understanding of a word’s denotation (the literal, dictionary definition of the word) as distinguished from its connotation (the implied or suggested meaning of a word, the emotional tag).

Consider the words “gaunt” and “slim.” Both have the same denotations – both mean “extremely thin.”

Example: Your character hasn’t seen her friend since last Christmas and she’s lost a lot of weight. When Sara first sees Jane, she exclaims, “Oh, my gosh, you’ve lost weight! You look so ______.” Consider the words you could use and how they convey the precise meaning you want.

skinny, thin, slender, gaunt, slim, trim, tiny, petite, svelte

Connotatively, “gaunt” evokes memory of a concentration camp survivor or a cadaver. “Skinny” suggests too thin, perhaps even anorexic.

If you want your character to be a bit snarky . . .

Read the full article HERE! 

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If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:

1. Nifty Word Count Tool - Small Biz Spoken http://ow.ly/y0VZJ
2. Jo Robertson on Revision with Diction and Syntax | Romance University http://ow.ly/y0Y8O
3. 5 Reasons to Write a Short Book Fast http://ow.ly/y0ZdM
4. Smashwords Now Lets Authors & Publishers Create Daily Sales Reports - GalleyCat http://ow.ly/y0ZiG
5. Presence on the Page: What It Is, and What It Isn’t | LitReactor http://ow.ly/y0ZpH
6. Emily Tries, But Misunderstands: Writing Hated Characters: A Study in Snape http://ow.ly/y0ZvL
7. Most Common Writing Mistakes, Pt. 30: Describing Character Movements - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/y0ZR7
8. How To Write Poetry: Make It Easy For Editors To Say YES To Your Poems - Writer's Relief, Inc. http://ow.ly/y0ZV2
9. How To Conduct An Author Interview http://ow.ly/y0ZWx
10. Book Marketing Men & Mavens Worth Following | Molly Greene: Writer http://ow.ly/y101B
11. A Simple Marketing Plan Outline for Indie Authors | Wise Ink's Blog for Indie Authors about Self-Publishing http://ow.ly/y103L
12. Why Self-Publishing Authors Must Think Like a Publisher - The Savvy Book Marketer http://ow.ly/y106N
13. Back Cover Blurb - Let Your Reader In Through the “Back Door” http://ow.ly/y10Qm
14. New Template: Create Your Book Covers in Microsoft Word — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/y151L
15. 10 Inspiring WordPress Sites with Innovative Design - Jeffbullas's Blog http://ow.ly/y15a4
16. 39 Things to Remember While Struggling to Build Your Writing Career | Your Writer Platform http://ow.ly/y15tU
17. Self-publishing boom lifts sales by 79% in a year | The Passive Voice | http://ow.ly/y15x2
18. SlideShare Best Practices: How to Turn Written Content Into a Winning Deck - Copyblogger http://ow.ly/y15Ak
19. 3 Mistakes that Are Keeping Your Readers from Becoming Cash Customers : @ProBlogger http://ow.ly/y15Dg

Happy writing and running, Kathy