Subplots Can Deepen A Story from CAN

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Welcome from Gail Gaymer Martin to the CAN blog. This post will be the first of three to provide helpful information for fiction writers about subplots and how to use them successfully. This post will talk about: Story Within A Story Subplots are stories within your story. They have a similar structure—beginning, middle, end—but they cannot overshadow the main plot. Instead they should enhance the main plot by providing complication to the life of a main character, foreshadowing an event to come in the main character’s life, reflecting the main character’s growth as he comes to the aid of a…

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INTENTIONAL MARKETING WITH BOOKMARKS

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A Note from Carol Last month, I posted about Seven Benefits of Bookmarks. Today I want to share some additional ideas for using   bookmarks. These ideas are particularly geared to retailers, but some could be used by authors as well.   To many of us, bookstores are like candy shops. There are so many wonderful choices, and it is difficult to see them all. How can a simple bookmark guide a book lover to that perfect book on the shelf? Here are seven ways that might be accomplished.

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Surprise! God Is Sovereign!

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Hello from Kathy Collard Miller in the desert of Southern California! Have you ever been surprised by God’s sovereignty? Early in my writing and speaking ministry in the 1980’s, I felt the need to make things happen. It felt like I needed to force things to happen. I even seemed to hear from the publishing world that it was up to me to make things happen. And within a decade or two, I began to learn that I needed a platform and it was all up to me. I felt tense.

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Proofreading Pointers #40

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Hi! I’m Kathy Ide. In addition to being a published author, I’m a full-time professional freelance editor. For CAN, I’m blogging about tips for writers based on the most common mistakes I see in the manuscripts I edit.

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Tips from the Pros: Donna Goodrich

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Greetings from Sarah Sundin in California! Today I have the honor of interviewing Donna Goodrich, a multi-published author dedicated to helping writers improve their craft. Donna, how did you get into writing? I’ve always wanted to write. Wrote my first poem for Memorial Day at age nine. Our pastor put it in the church bulletin; also wrote a poem for my mother for Mother’s Day that year. Sold my first poem for $1.40 at age fourteen, and my first short story at age eighteen for $12.

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