Where to Begin the Story

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Hello from Crystal Bowman! This blog post is for those who want to write fiction for children, and even for those who don’t because the more you know, the more you grow. Most of my books are for the children’s devotional or Bible storybook market. However, I have written several fiction picture books as well as few dozen I Can Read! books, so I want to share something I learned many years ago in my novice years of writing. The mistake many writers make (and I used to be one of them) is to write an explanatory introduction to “set…

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Editing Tips #56

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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 manuscripts I edit.

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Tips from the Pros: Angela Breidenbach

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Greetings from north-of-Orlando Mount Dora, Florida, where the soggy remnants of Tropical Storm Colin are steaming their way out of our backyards. But I know the weather where Angela Breidenbach (the lovely subject of today’s author interview) lives looks a bit different. Angela, a former Mrs. Montana International, still lives in that northwestern state when she’s not busy participating in author events, teaching at conferences, or traveling in her role as president of the Christian Authors Network. Angie has lots to share, so let’s move on to the Q & A. Welcome back to the CAN blog, Angela! How many books do you have published? Nine, with…

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Tip From the Pros – Nancy Mehl

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Welcome from C. Kevin Thompson! The more I write, the more I become appreciative of those who have gone before me and “blazed a trail,” if you will. It’s no small feat to write multiple books, especially when it was done before the advent of the modern self-publishing phenomenon. I know of many people who tell me they’ve started a book. It’s the finishing that’s the hard part. That’s why writers like our guest keep me writing. They’ve shown that good, old-fashioned hard work, perseverance through times both good and not-so-much, and a persistent pursuit to hone their craft pay off…

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Fruit (A Writer’s Prayer)

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Bob Hostetler here, offering another prayer for writers: Holy Spirit, cultivate and proliferate your fruit in my writing. Let love permeate my words. Help me experience joy in the writing, and let my readers experience joy in reading. Use my writing to spread shalom. Give me patience in the writing. Let goodness characterize what I write, and gentleness how I write it. Make and keep me faithful to you, to the publisher, and to the reader from beginning to end, and let God-given self control guide my every thought, impulse, and decision as I write, revise, edit, and review, in…

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Proofreading Pointers #38

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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 “PUGS”–Punctuation, Usage, Grammar, and Spelling … tips for writers based on the most common mistakes I see in the manuscripts I edit. Books vs. Articles US book publishers use different reference manuals than magazine or newspaper publishers do. For book manuscripts (and some popular magazines), use The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. For newspapers and journalistic-style magazines, use The Associated Press Stylebook and Webster’s New World College Dictionary.

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Tension And Conflict Part I

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Welcome to CAN’s new website from Gail Gaymer Martin. Today I will begin a new series on Tension and Confict which is a driving force in fiction writing. I hope you enjoy the seven articles on this topic. The Set Up to Tension and Conflict I recently presented a workshop on tension and conflict. The topic offers many steps to writing a good novel. I began this workshop with the basic elements needed to begin a novel because it sets up how conflict begins. Conflict is a concept you know is vital to any story. It is what drives your…

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Examining Tone To Enhance Your Writing – Part 2

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Good morning from Gail Gaymer Martin at www.gailgaymermartin.com In Part 1  Understanding Tone In Fiction from January 10, the meaning of tone was defined and how it is important to your fiction. The post made it clear that authors want to work on this quality in their writing which helps to grab readers into the story and make them want to read more of the author’s books. This is a goal that you and I want as we write our novels. This post will cover dissecting tone step by step, and examining problematic areas in tone.

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Getting Agent Ready: 7 Steps to Prepare for Success

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Greetings from Jackie!  ___________________________________________________________________________________ Do you want to get published—or get published again? If your goal is to get a book deal from a traditional publisher, it’s important to know what literary agents are looking for. Why? Because in today’s publishing environment writers can no longer send unsolicited manuscripts directly to publishers (at least, about 99% of the time), so it is essential to have a literary agent to represent your ideas to publishers. 

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Intimate Storytelling – Part II Character’s Feelings

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It's Friday and I know you're looking forward to the weekend.  Most of us are, but a wirter often writes seven days a week with a few hours squeezed in for family, church, exercise and eating. But it's always nice to share some thoughts with you about wrting techniques that makes our books the best they can be. Hi from Gail Gaymer Martin www.gailmartin.com Part I covered some of the elements of staying in a POV character’s viewpoint, but intimate storytelling needs more than a character’s viewpoint. The reader needs to feel the story through the character’s impressions and experience….

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