Plan for When You Finish the Book
You finished writing your book. Yay! Now what? Jan Fields helps you make a plan for when you finish the book. You might be surprised at what comes next.
Revision: Surviving the Cutting Process
Revising to get within word count can be painful. Jan Fields shares revision techniques to make the process less painful and your writing stronger than ever.
Big Picture Revision: Sticking the Landing and the Perfect Ending
The perfect ending is more than the point where you stop writing. It’s where everything you’ve written before pays off. Today, let’s revise and stick the landing.
Big Picture Revision: 4 Revision Tools for Tidying Messy Middles
When writing for children, one of the toughest parts of any piece to write is the middle. Today we look at four revision tools to help you tackle the messy middle.
Bang! Big Picture Revision of Your First Pages
A big picture revision is to make sure your writing, whether fiction or nonfiction, engages the reader at the beginning, keeps the reader through the middle, and offers a satisfying ending.
The Value of Feedback for Writers
Feedback for writers is one of the most important tools needed to get from first draft to polished, submission-ready manuscript.
214: Become Your Own Editor
214: Become Your Own Editor
August 21, 2020
200: 200th Episode Celebration
200: 200th Episode Celebration
May 15, 2020
196: Poetry-Based Revision for Picture Books
196: Poetry-Based Revision for Picture Books
April 17, 2020
Verb-Perfect: 7 Tips to Fuel Your Writing
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Perfecting a manuscript means scrutinizing every sentence. Does each word deserve a place in the sentence? Does the sentence convey the action, viewpoint, meaning, and mood you intended? Verbs play a key…
188: Misunderstood Verbs
188: Misunderstood Verbs
February 21, 2020
How Do I Tell Where I Fail?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > According to Dr. David Dunning, a psychology professor at Cornell, we are not good judges of our own competency. In other words, we aren’t very skilled at telling if we’re good at…
The “Feel” of Your Writing
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Everything is in the tone.”—Sherwood Anderson For a well-polished manuscript, make sure you use tone and mood effectively. Tone in fiction refers to an author’s attitude toward the characters and events in…
Picking the Right Word
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Polishing a manuscript involves both big picture corrections, such as plot issues or motivation issues for your characters, and incredibly small, picky bits where you’re really bringing out the shine in each…
Time for a Sound Check?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Hearing” your manuscript with a reader’s ear As you polish your manuscript, you will likely review it numerous times, looking for ways to improve the content, style, and presentation. Some experts suggest…
Perfectionism Alert
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > How Polished Does It Need to Be? In the many views about the importance of polishing a manuscript, there are two opposite ends of the spectrum. First are the writers whose work…
Polishing the Point of View
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Drawing readers closer to your character Fiction offers readers the chance to “live” in another world while making emotional connections with characters. Award-winning author Nancy Kress says, “It lets us experience the…
180: Renee LaTulippe
180: Renee LaTulippe
December 29, 2019
178: Revision Power Tips
178: Revision Power Tips
December 14, 2019
168: Reshaping Your Story Part 2
168: Reshaping Your Story Part 2
September 27, 2019