| Back to Back Issues Page |
 |
|
Give your writing healthy weight: Editor's Notes #216 August 02, 2016 |
| Hello, -- Anon In this issue: 1. Give your writing healthy weight 2. Tickled my funnybone 3. Interesting Web site 4. Writing prompt 1. Give your writing healthy weight When your writing comes back from a publisher with a comment such as, "Too slight," or, "Too short," or, "Underdeveloped," the publisher is asking for more. But more what, exactly? If you write fiction, you add substance through plot, character, and setting. To enhance the plot, create additional steps necessary to the final solution. Add subplots: what else matters in the life of the characters? Enriching the plot allows scope for enhancing character development. Consider also fleshing out secondary characters, especially as means to further your theme. Work your setting. What is interesting about it that you can weave into your story? How does the setting change with time, weather, and human interference? If you write nonfiction, try these ways to give your writing muscular weight. Shift the viewpoint. Have you sufficiently covered arguments against the opposite point of view? Point out the relationship between your writing and other published works on the topic. Every time you interview someone or even ask for an interview with someone about your topic, ask, "Who else do you recommend I speak to?" And always consider the quote that opens this issue. It's not the number of words, but the consequence of the words publishers and your readers care about. As an editor, I engage in tough talk with writers about the weight of their words. If you need help, use this link: https://www.writershelper.com/sample-edit.html. =========== 2.Tickled my funnybone From a church bulletin: Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children. =========== 3. Interesting Web site If you are stuck for ideas, try putting your topic into the search box of Brainy Quote. Reading a series of quotations from others may lead you in new directions. http://www.brainyquote.com/ =========== 4. Writing prompt Choose a pair of opposites. Here are a few that leap to mind, but use whatever appeals to you: up/down, rise/fall, calm/turbulent, horse/carriage. Write about each item in the pair for 5 minutes. =========== Join Writer's Helper Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/WritersHelperEditor Follow me on Twitter @AudreytheEditor Link on LinkedIn https://ca.linkedin.com/in/audreyowen (Email me first so I know how you know me.) =========== If you know a writer who would appreciate receiving Editor's Notes, forward this issue. If someone has passed this on to you, you can get your own free subscription by signing up at https://www.writershelper.com/newsletter.html |
| Back to Back Issues Page |