Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Wednesday's Links to Writing & Marketing Blog Posts


By: Rebecca LuElla Miller

Adjectives receive a fair amount of discrimination from writing instructors. Sol Stein, author of Stein On Writing, has a great deal to say on the subject. In fact, he created a little writing math formula for adjectives: one plus one equals a half. Here’s his explanation:

Experience proves that when two adjectives are used, eliminating either strengthens the text. The more concrete adjective is the one to keep. Or the one that makes the image more visual (p. 200).

I’ll admit, when I first read Mr. Stein’s one-plus-one principle, I wasn’t sold, but the more experience I gained through critiquing manuscripts and then through editing, the more I understood the point. In writing, an author is creating an image for a reader to focus on. When introducing a character or place, he might think more is better, but in fact, the more describers, the less the reader focuses.

The best approach is to identify the “telling detail” and focus on that aspect. Again from Mr. Stein:

In addition to eliminating unnecessary words, I am focusing on using words for their precise meaning, which is the mark of a good writer (p. 199).

As he explains, beginning writers often suffer from a tendency to write using generalities.

Example: A man walked into the room and sat next to a woman.

Everything in that sentence is bland. Nothing stirs the reader to envision the scene.

. . .

Read the full article HERE!

~*~

If you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they are again:
  1. 2014 in Review: A Turning Point for Self-Published Authors | Claude Forthomme - Nougat's Blog http://ow.ly/GByKu
  2. Subscription Model Squabbles | Whatever http://ow.ly/GBzJP
  3. Author, Jody Hedlund: 6 Ways to Make Characters Stand Out in a Crowd http://ow.ly/GBBQR
  4. Fiction University: Getting the Best Response From Your Characters http://ow.ly/GBC35 Bang2Write | 11 Things To Do As A Writer In 2015 http://ow.ly/GBDcS
  5. Wrapping Up the Year: What Didn’t Work? | Jami Gold, Paranormal Author http://ow.ly/GBDyF
  6. 17 Ideas on How to Do Clever Content Marketing http://ow.ly/GBEJh
  7. Marketing Strategy - 2015 Will Be the Year of Video Marketing : MarketingProfs Article http://ow.ly/GBF4G
  8. How to Make Book Reviews Work Harder to Promote Your Book - Where Writers Win http://ow.ly/GBFW1
  9. How many Beta Readers do you need? - Women Writers, Women's Books : Women Writers, Women's Books http://ow.ly/GBG6d
  10. NOVA ZERO http://ow.ly/GBKLO  How I Outline Plot Using 6-Stage Plot Structure
  11. Time Management for Creative Types - BookWhirl Blog http://ow.ly/GBL2i
  12. Writer Unboxed » Creating Unforgettable Characters http://ow.ly/GBLbX
  13. The Secret to Setting Goals that Actually Get Done http://ow.ly/GBLeO
  14. What's the Difference Between Your Story's Theme and Its Message? - Helping Writers Become Authors http://ow.ly/GBLib
  15. More Than A Thousand Words: The Power of Visual Storytelling http://ow.ly/GBLrV
  16. The Place Of Adjectives In Prose | Rewrite, Reword, Rework http://ow.ly/GBLwE
  17. How to conquer your fear of publishing and get your work out there http://ow.ly/GC0BX
  18. Three Things You Must Have in Your Novel's First Paragraph | Live Write Thrive http://ow.ly/GCvVN
Happy writing and running, Kathy 

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