Category: Resource Tips

Resource Tips

Publish Your Own Anthology

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Writing short stories will give you fresh insights and help hone your writing skills. It will also help to tighten those words and thoughts into a publishable collection. You can create an anthology of your own, or others’short stories! Pick a genre, create a theme, and get started. What’s stopping you?

This article has some great tips for how to get started….

A collection of short stories can quickly build into a book. One excellent example of this development method combined the author’s love for canine companions with her knowledge of training police and military working dogs. Violetta Kovacs collected multiple short stories about various K9s who exemplify excellence in the daring and often deadly “jobs” they carry out. Then, she published her book: K9 COMMANDO, Police and Army Dogs from New York to Berlin.  Read more...

via Conversations: 6/17/2016 — Self Publishing Advisor

Resource Tips

When Your Characters Take Charge…

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Let’s say you’re working on a scene in your story. It’s supposed to be a turning point. You know what’s at stake. You know which characters will be involved. You know what you want to have happen. You know how you want it to end. But somehow when you write it, nothing goes as planned.
Continue reading “When Your Characters Take Charge…” →

Resource Tips

14 Words That Are Their Own Opposites

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Here’s an ambiguous sentence for you: “Because of the agency’s oversight, the corporation’s behavior was sanctioned.” Does that mean, ‘Because the agency oversaw the company’s behavior, they …

Source: 14 Words That Are Their Own Opposites

Resource Tips

The Writer’s Voice

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Photo courtesy of Yvonne Erwin
Photo courtesy of Yvonne Erwin

Many writers struggle with what voice means, or, rather, what their voice is. While it is an ethereal concept, voice is not difficult to spot. Your voice began upon your birth and grew with every experience, and life event, good or bad, sweet or bitter. Voice is comprised of your heritage, your religious values, the region where you live. Voice is the sum of all your parts.

Voice is not to be mistaken for style, which is the conveyance of words on paper. Note Ernest Hemingway’s larger than life, manly voice. His style is spartan in conveying his story. Elin Hildebrand’s novels take place in the summer, on Nantucket Island. Her voice is summery, shimmering, while her style is contained, like Nantucket Island.

What is your voice? Think about it.

SWG PRESIDENT, Yvonne Erwin

Resource Tips

15 Tips to Self-Edit Your Book

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Picture courtesy of Open Letters Monthly
Picture courtesy of Open Letters Monthly

Once you have a solid draft of your book, the tough work of editing starts. Taking a chunk out of your ‘baby’ is hard to do but in order to make it better, it has to be done. Grit your teeth, and go for it.

Here are a few pointers to help you along the way. Continue reading “15 Tips to Self-Edit Your Book” →