Hello from Crystal Bowman! I have been writing for children for over 20 years. Before writing my first book, I spent 5 years as a preschool teacher and 12 years as a full-time mom. From my twenties to my forties, young children were part of my daily life. I am now in another decade with grandchildren, so I still have little ones in my world. When I teach at writers’ conferences, or when someone wants advice on writing for children, I always remind them that they have to know kids in order to write for them. They need to understand…
Category: Writing craft
This is our archive pageAvoid the Most Common Writing Mistakes
Georgia Shaffer from Pennsylvania Several of my coaching clients are writers and speakers who surprisingly make similar mistakes in their writing. Here are six suggestions I find myself repeating, which you may find helpful. 1. Write and let it sit for awhile. Your writing should be allowed to age, like great relationships. While you may not always have the luxury of time, plan ahead when possible. Work on other projects and come back to what you’ve written a couple of weeks later. You’ll be stunned at what you find that you did not notice earlier. 2. Hire a professional editor….
Pace Yourself: Part 2
Historical post by Gail Gaymer Martin. Earlier I’d blogged on Part I of Pace Yourself, the ability to drive a novel to the peaks and down again as the story builds and ebbs with excitement and drama of conflicts and crises. This post presents another look at good pacing through various techniques.
Pace Yourself: Part 1
Historical Post by Gail Gaymer Martin Today is the first part of Pace Yourself: Keeping Pace in Fiction. Pacing – What is it? Pacing is moving the characters from the opening situation through various growing conflicts to the resolution in a logical, realistic manner that shows character growth and, in Christian fiction, provides faith grow. Pacing is the speed at which action in the story moves and the reader gains information. Most people assume “pacing” means the book is too slow, and that is very possible. But the pacing can also be too fast if it rushes the conflicts and…
Your Friendship Circle for Success
Your Friendship Circle from Pam Farrel Text Message: “A frnd lvs @ al tms.* * “A friend loves at all times . . .” Proverbs 17:17 NIV My friend, Dawn Wilson, and I, wrote a book called LOL with God: Messages of Hope and Healing for Women. It is a unique devotional that has a humorous story on one page and a daily devotional on the other, and the theme through the book is “text messages” between you and God. In one of these devotionals, Dawn shared who is in her friendship circle, and at the Christmas season, as I…
Death by Publishing Contract!
Hi, Dave Fessenden here, to talk about writing issues, and today I’d like to discuss the issue of legalese, specifically in publishing contracts. I recently had to explain to a friend that the phrase “place of physical execution” means the physical location where the contract gets signed, and does not place the author’s life in danger! (Well, she knew that it couldn’t mean that, but it never hurts to ask!)
Tension and Conflict Part 7 – Stretching Tension
Welcome to CAN Blog where we share information with you on new books, writing tips, and much more. Hello from Gail Gaymer Martin. And before I begin, let me wish you a blessed and merry Christmas For the past seven posts, I’ve cover the topic of Tension and Conflict. This is a major part of writing fiction since it is emotion that captures the reader and keeps them hanging on to the pages even when dinner time rolls around. We all want readers to love our work and good conflict triggers tension which is shown through emotion. Today the topic…
Writing the Truth
We writers have a tremendous responsibility to write the truth. Look at what has happened to our country because the media, as a group, has refused to write and speak the truth. This failure to write and speak the truth has brought our great country to the brink of tyranny.
Proofreading Pointers #39
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 “PUGS”–Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling … tips for writers based on the most common mistakes I see in the manuscripts I edit. Active vs. Passive Verbs Wherever possible, strive to use strong, precise verbs rather than weak, vague verbs. Instead of saying, “They were going,” write, “They went.” Or better yet, show how they went. “They jogged,” “They raced,” “They ambled,” for example. The more description you can fit into a single action verb, the better.
“Just the Facts, Ma’am”
Hi, Dave Fessenden here, to tell you what I’ve learned about writing from Detective Joe Friday, on the old TV show Dragnet. Sergeant Friday was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He didn’t let crime victims go on and on about their feelings; his motto was “Just the facts, Ma’am.” And that’s the attitude you need to take when you want to put more description in your writing.
