For those of us that write kid lit, especially at the chapter level and below, it’s essential to understand reading levels. Unfortunately, there are nearly a dozen different scales you can use to “grade” your story. Additionally, how do you know what makes a story a higher or lower level, are your edits even working? […]
Do you consider yourself American or British? This isn’t a trick question. I’m not trying to dig into your lineage. American English differs quite differently from British English in many ways. What’s the craic? AKA What’s up? Waffle AKA ramble Pissed AKA drunk It’s pissing down AKA It’s raining In addition to many fun words […]
Finding a good comparable title is like following a map to buried treasure. Once you’ve got a good one you’re golden but the journey can be grueling. Let’s add some tools to your backpack on this excursion. Beware! None of these ideas will help you if you don’t fully understand your own story first. You […]
Chocolate-covered strawberries + popcorn = best Valentine’s Day ever!
I talked last week about different types of critique. Check out that post HERE. This week I want to dig in about how to create and maintain a critique group. I saw an interview with a group of writers who’ve been critiquing for over 15 years and I took notes. These folks were making it […]
Emotions get a bad rap. Emotional women are hysterical. Emotional men are weak. Characters that withhold emotion are seen and written as strong. Did anyone else cringe while reading that? But it’s true. That’s how our society writes and often thinks about emotions. The funny thing is, we talk about the positive side of emotions […]
I’ve been taking a writing course for picture books and something has become abundantly clear, there are different types of critiques. Within a group of writers and authors I’m looking for specific feedback regarding plot, pacing, character, sentence structure etc. All the things that writers have learned to improve craft through the editing process. That’s […]
