How to Write Really Bad Fiction and Enjoy the Benefits of Rapid Rejection

As a writer I am always looking for articles to help me improve my writing. I happened upon an absolutely hilarious article by Hank Quense. His advice is given the other way around… but it works!

Hank: "I'm an author of five books and over forty short stories along with a number of fiction writing articles. From my experience, I've learned a number important lessons and I want to pass them onto others. One important lesson involves getting a book published; it changes your life. No longer can you sit in your office and spend your time writing more fiction. Once you become a published author, you also become the book's marketing manager and its sales manager, a terrifying situation if you're not prepared for it."

To protect others from the trauma of this situation, I've put together a list of fiction writing techniques that will guarantee non-publication. Following them will ensure a rapid reply from editors who will use a preprinted form or a terse email. This rapid reply will allow you to maximize the rejections you receive in a given period of time.

Here is the list in no particular order:

• Always use adverbs! Lots and lots of adverbs. One of your writing objectives should be to use an adverb to modify at least fifty percent of your verbs. And don't forget about using them in dialog tags. Why show the reader a woman shredding a paper tissue? Make it easy on the poor readers. Tell them the woman is nervous. Thus, "He's making me so fidgety," she said nervously.

• A naked noun is evil! Adjectives exist to be used. Their primary purpose is to modify a noun, so make use of this most excellent writing technique. Load up your nouns with modifiers so the reader will have no doubts about the noun. “The skinny, ugly guy wore a hideous, ripped t-shirt, dirty, baggy pants and shredded sneakers.” Here's an even better example of clever adjective usage: “The scrawny boy used his undersized biceps to try to pick up the clumsy weight and place it in the old-fashioned truck before the foul-mouthed old man became aware of his clever trickery.” Get the idea? Remember, a naked noun is e-v-i-l!

• Use conversation. Don't limit yourself to dialog. Conversation is the stuff of life. Don't allow your characters to be stuck inside the story by restricting them to dialog that moves the story forward. Make your characters more life-like by letting them engage in idle conversation just like real people do.

“ How you doing?”
‘I'm cool. What’s up?”
“I'm good. Couldn’t be better. Watching the Yankees tonight?”
“Who they playing? . . . Yada, yada, yada.”
This stuff doesn't move the story along like dialog does, but it shows the characters are just as boring as real folk.

•Motivation is overdone. To properly show motivation requires a lot of creativity, time and words. It is much better to skip over that part and get right into the action. So what if the guy disarming the ticking bomb is only doing it because his shift doesn't end for two hours and he doesn't have anything better to do. The character doesn't have any motivation, but who cares; it keeps the story moving and doesn't slow it down with a lot of words explaining the motivation.

• Don't worry about Point of View rules. POV is perhaps the most technical of all aspects of writing and handling it correctly is time consuming and requires advanced planning. Who needs all that extra work when there is another scene to write or another crisis to defuse? Most of the readers will figure it out and sort of follow the story.

• The fine art of the -ing word. It's wise to develop writing habits such as peppering the page with –ing words. This technique will give your writing a pleasing sing-song effect. “Opening the door and running down the corridor while waving her hand, she tried shouting, calling attention to her life-threatening situation.” Doesn't that sentence make you want to hum along from all the –ing words?

• Use empty words. Very, really, ever, still, just and others are words with no meaning but they do fill up sentences and make them look more impressive. Fiction writing is filled with opportunities to use these words and titillate the readers. With a bit of imagination, you can also use these words to punctuate the sentence.

•Why bother with multiple-dimensional characters? Flat characters work just as well. Flat characters can fight, love and die just as well as the more complicated ones, but take considerably less work. The simple approach gives you more time to write still more stories.

• Character Voice. This attribute allows the reader to identify the characters from their dialog “voices.” What nonsense. That's what names are for. Just use the names in all the lines of dialog and the readers will be able to keep the characters straight.

Keep this list near your keyboard and refer to it frequently. Within a short time, your friends and family will be impressed by the huge stack of rejection notices you've accumulated. A side benefit is that your family will know you're really doing something in your office. Right now, they probably think you're goofing off and playing computer game. If you chose to ignore this excellent advice, there are alternatives listed in my book, Build a Better Story. Be advised that following the advice in Build a Better Story can significantly increase the response time from editors.

By Hank Quense © 2011 Originally published by Writing-World.com March 2011

Award-winning author Hank Quense lives in Bergenfield, NJ with his wife Pat. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. He writes humorous fantasy and sci-fi stories. On occasion, he also writes an article on fiction writing or book marketing but says that writing nonfiction is like work while writing fiction is fun. He refuses to write serious genre fiction saying there is enough of that on the front page of any daily newspaper and on the evening TV news.


I am looking forward to reviewing Hank’s latest work Zaftan Entrepreneurs. In it, an alien mining ship discovers a planet that holds promise to be a mining bonanza. Unfortunately, it is inhabited by humans, dwarfs, elves and other races and they object to the mining expeditions. Sounds like a whole lot of fun. Watch this space.

Find out more about Hank on his website.

Are You a Perfectionist?

If the answer to the title question is yes, then look no further for advice than Jami Gold's excellent article A Perfectionist's Guide to Editing: 4 Stages.

Jami's words will strike a resounding chord with anyone harboring even vaguely paranoic perfectionist tendencies.

Jami says, "Perfectionists tend to be nitpicky, no surprise there. But there’s a time when that trait is very helpful, and a time when we need to ignore the compulsion to tweak. How do we tell the difference?"

That's a good question: how does one tell the difference between useful tweaking and compulsive (possibly ultimately destructive) tweaking.

Finish the Story!
As the song goes, "start at the very beginning" and that means "finish the story."

Jami: "Before we even start on the revision process, we need to finish the story. Many people give advice to not edit previous chapters before finishing the draft of the whole thing. Usually, the thinking goes like this: If we start editing before we’re finished, there’s a greater chance we’ll never finish the story and much of that editing time will be wasted further down the road."

4 Stages of Editing 
Expanding upon these four stages of editing this excellent article tackles:
*Revising - scene structure and character
*Dialogue, POV and motivation
*Polishing - grammar, sentence structure, use of words/adjectives/adverbs etc
*Tweaking - everyone's favorite! There is no finality about tweaking. One can tweak forever but that's when one has to rein in the tweaking tendencies and know when to say, "It's finished!"

Oh, but is it ever finished? Possibly not, but by then your product should be at a stage where you can submit it to the eagle-eyed agent of your choice. Good Luck!

A Passion for Writing: Author Tasha Wright

Say hello to my VBT guest number 14, Tasha Wright. Her passion for writing began at an early age and drives her ever onward to create and publish more books. Tell us about yourself and your work, Tasha.

I was born in a small Texas town, so I had to find creative ways to occupy my time. At a young age I discovered my passion for writing. I have always embodied what my mother preached, anything in life is possible! In holding on to her words I’ve had the chance to publish my work, Carelessness of the Heart and When a Tattered Past Catches You, with many more to come. I write to allow people to drift into another world, if only for a moment.

Tasha’s latest book sounds interesting. Here’s more on it!

Tough willed, strong as nails Willa will do whatever it takes to provide for her family even if that meant putting her life in danger or on hold. Living the street life meant not allowing anything or anyone to get close enough to hurt or destroy her. But, after the death of her mother she is forced to return home and confront a past she tried to erase from her memory. As Willa confronts a tragic past she also has to confront something else, her long lost love, Damon. Living the street life and becoming the head woman in charge was something Willa did with ease but there was always something or someone missing in her life. Will Willa let down her guard and allow Damon back into her life again or will she continue to live the street life?


Q&A with Tasha Wright.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
That is a funny story. When I was 16, I turned into a drama queen. My mother grew tired of me having meltdowns and fabricating things. So, she bought me a computer and made me sit down and write. From that day on, anytime I would come out of my room and start an argument with my brothers, she would simply tell me to turn around and go write something. Lol, I’ve never stopped writing. As I touched on earlier, my mother really allowed me to be creative and she would read the things I wrote. Writing was the one thing I set for my life goal and I am doing it. I live on cloud nine each passing day.

How long does it take you to write a book?
If I dedicate the time needed to write, I can write a book and determine where I am going with it in about six months. Now, to get it exactly where I want it to be I would complete it totally in eight to nine months. But, I also write at least two or three books at one time.

What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
Well, I am not a New York Best Seller YET. I still work full time and I am also a full time College student.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I would say my humor. When I write, somewhere in my work I want my sense of humor to shine through. I would like to believe I’m quite the character.

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books?
When I write, I do not brainstorm and chose one certain thing I would like to write about. When I write, I take the first sentence and let it flow. By the end of the chapter I will see where I want to take it or scrap it. Remember, if you write bored and it bores you. Either fix it or get rid of the entire thing.

When did you write your first book and how old were you?
I wasn’t intending to write my first book. It was just a short story I had written because I was a bored housewife. My sister-in-law read what I was writing and she became excited and told me she had to read more. So, I gave her more and it keep going until I noticed I was about to complete an entire book.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?
When I am not writing, I love to just relax and sit at home. Now, that I have accomplished my goal of publishing I have so much on my plate. So, when I am home and I do not have any commitments that would be my relaxation time.

What does your family think of your writing?
My family is very supportive and they are my biggest promotion. I love that my family is excited for me. They make me feel like I am already that bestseller I strive to be. When I call home, there is always that excitement and love. There is nothing that could beat it!

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
The most surprising things would be my imagination. My books are very different and they all hit a different aspect of life. I feel that is what will keep my readers intrigued on what I will write next.

Do you have any suggestions to help other authors become better writers? If so, what are they?
Learn the basic structures and grammar. I thought I had it down until I signed with Passionate Writers. They were hard on me but I also learned a great deal. They understand a character will have their own way of speaking but when it comes to my writing and my narration, I have to be on point or I will have to fix it. But, they only work with quality work and that will help both the writer and the publishing company in the end. Your readers deserve quality work.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I do hear from people who have read my work and the majority always say they enjoy not knowing what is going to happen next. Every time they thought they had me figured out, I took a different route.

Do you like to create books for adults?
I do have adult scenes but I have not written a book that is designed specifically for adults only. Maybe one day I will create a hot steamy romance but that is a very particular craft and has to be written well to evoke passion and feelings in your readers.

What do you think makes a good story?
Life makes a great story. Many things that occur in relationships and daily life can be pushed to the limit to create something so huge and will always keep readers intrigued. Your readers will say, “I know someone who’s going through this right now. This is such a coincidence.”


Thanks for sharing so much information with us, Tasha. Readers can visit Tasha's author site and purchase her latest book from Amazon.

Swimming With Wings & Author Lee Libro

I’d like to welcome my fourth Virtual Book Tour guest, Lee Libro, to share some thoughts about writing fiction from experience, and to tell you something about her fascinating book, Swimming with Wings.

First up, Lee has a riveting bio, steeped in literary magic and the kind of history that just beckons to be explored. Lee is a visual artist and writer. Elements of fantasy, myth and Jungian symbols are often interwoven themes in her art and fiction. Her influences include Alice Hoffman, Flannery O'Connor, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Anne Tyler, Eudora Welty, Salvador Dali, Alex Grey, religious studies and new age principles, all media relating to metaphysics and the paranormal...and on a different note, the movie "Gone With the Wind." She lives in Florida with her husband, children and two dogs. She grew up in Augusta, Georgia and Portland, Maine and earned her B.A. degree in English specializing in Renaissance literature at the University of Connecticut. She spent nearly ten years in Marketing Communications and then the following decade as a foreign language translations editor. She is currently working on her two next novels. One is based on the true life story of her own great, great aunt, Dr. Alice Lindsay Wynkoop, accused and convicted of murdering her daughter-in-law on the surgery table, a suspected abortion case covered by national media in the 1930s. The other is a modern adaptation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, "Rappaccini's Daughter", involving a modern day neurobiologist who tampers too far with the chemistry of the mind, and in so doing, discovers the threshold of the soul.

I spent a very enlightening time on Lee’s website which includes writer resources and a plethora of interesting angles on the craft of writing. Lee is also a book reviewer so feel free to hop over to her site at Literary Magic and read her submission guidelines.


Now, about Swimming with Wings…

Lark Jennison is a free thinker and imagines she has wings! What does she have in common with a light healer who can raise the dead and the suspected gypsy-turned-evangelist who share her hometown? A story of human brotherhood released only through the colliding dogmas surrounding their shared tragedy from long ago. Through this coming of age love story and the solving of a mystery, a cast of soul seekers ultimately tells the story of brotherhood and the forces that shape belief. Lee Libro's writing style is southern lit with a modern twist and has been compared to that of Alice Hoffman. In Swimming with Wings the mystique of Practical Magic meets the human angst of Flannery O'Connor. Readers will enjoy an arresting blend of literary fiction, mystery and romance and ultimately a story about searching for direction, the hidden influences of ancestral roots and the forces that shape belief.
Genre/ Description: Literary Fiction/ Spirituality/Romance
Paperback - 277 pp   ISBN: 9781450580434

I am always curious about how writers get their inspiration: dreams, events, life experiences, other people’s experiences, a story they heard one day… the list is endless. Here’s Lee’s take on inspiration and writing fiction from experience.

Writing Fiction From Experience

Some of my earliest lessons in English composition and creative writing included the idea that in writing fiction one can only write from their experience. As I was very young at the time and had no experience, or at least no time to have reflected yet upon what experience I had thus far accrued, I felt that this placed me at a great disadvantage in the world of writing. Though I felt compelled by a theme or a glimpse of a character, these were often fleeting and untenable like sand, when what I really needed were good solid bricks to build my story. Though I held the desire to write, the creative vision and technical expertise to do so, my first attempts at the craft felt hollow and underdeveloped. And though my youth had indeed been full of experience, translating it into fiction would take reflection, skill and a good dose of relaxation to let it go and become something new, fictional, breathing a life of its own.

What I have since learned is that one needs several building blocks to successfully craft a story, not just experience from which to draw content, for what is content without accurate grammar, themes, voice, dialogue, plot and pace. For me personally, I did not consider myself a true writer until I fully understood the roles of each of these. Likewise, however, building blocks are dry and unstable without some mortar, or magic (as I often refer to in my blog. Voice and the figurative are essential in the art of storytelling. Now, at the ripe age of 50, I also have much experience from which to draw. Together with experience, reflection, an understanding of the building blocks, a handle on voice and a keen sense for the figurative in themes, after years of short-story writing I finally made the leap to writing a novel.

As the mother of five children and a supporter of spiritual diversity, I wrote my first novel, "Swimming With Wings," as an expression of the soul-seeking, gypsy-like route many take to find love and a way to make sense of spirituality in earthly existence, outside of religious structure, especially where grief, prejudice and pain can color one’s experience of it. These were all topics I grappled with up until my 20’s, and also as I took on the responsibility of raising other human beings, my interpretation of humanity became clearer.


Though "Swimming With Wings" was born from my experience, it is purely fictional. The novel evolved from my short story, “The Resurrection of Marcia Mueller” because the idea deserved a much deeper story arc. However, despite knowing this, it was written it in a very organic manner. I had a loose synopsis only, which I believe allowed for greater creativity as I wrote. My only fixed points were character based, except for the beginning and ending events. So in essence, I let these characters loose in a world launched by the effects of the tragic drowning of Lark and Peter’s fathers and set them off on a journey to reach the final scene. With the secondary characters, such as Peter’s grandfather, the mystic light healer, I interwove stories from the past as a backdrop to compare and contrast with what was occurring in the present.

As I wrote, I constantly reassessed the plot logic and consistency of details and because I’m also an artist and am very visually oriented, I laid out key points in the plot on large color-coded sticky notes on a big storyboard that I could easily rearrange. The dual timelines made this especially tricky. Once I found the right pace and the proper interlocking of the present with the past, the story became sort of predestined, taking on a life of its own and it flowed more easily.


People have asked me if the story was based on any of my own experiences, and while I would say that many of the elements are directly drawn from my life, the story is completely separate from my own. I’ve known people in my life who share characteristics with my characters, even the natural mystic, Salvatore Roma, who “could raise the dead: birds, squirrel, mice,” as he’s introduced in the first line of the story.


Reflecting back on my professor’s proposition that one must draw from experience, I now understand that what he meant was not actual experience, but rather what one learns from experience.


Thanks for sharing those enlightening thoughts with us, Lee. You can purchase Swimming With Wings from Powell’s Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or on order through any bookstore in the USA.

Creative Writing for Kids: Easy Classroom Tips for Teachers

Creative writing for kids is one of the most challenging and fulfilling aspects of the classroom. Many teachers who are not writers may struggle to explain the nuts and bolts of writing in relation to the imaginative and creative process involved in making a story. Children may also not grasp the solid hard work involved in creating the structure and plot of a good story. Here are some easy classroom tips to make the creative writing process both successful and fun.

Writing can be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences of your life. There are many reasons a person decides to write: to share their life’s experiences, to tell a good story, to express the feelings and situations of others … the list is endless. Some people even write just for fun. I wrote my book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab because I visited Egypt with my two nephews and wanted to write a short story to help them remember a special time. To my surprise, the short story turned into a book, and then a book series. So, you never know what’s going to happen once you begin!

Any good story is composed of a really gripping plot and realistic, believable characters.

• How To Choose a Great Story Topic: You may think, “But what can I write about?” Write about what you know best, or what excites you, or what you enjoy. You’ll find that when you are really keen on something—it can be an activity, a place, an event, or a person (real or imaginary)—it becomes easier to write. Do you love reading about faraway exciting places? Then research a place you find interesting and set your story there. Do you enjoy mysteries? Think about something that’ll keep people guessing. Are you good at a skill or a sport? Set your story around a character with those abilities.

• Plot Comes First: Everyone has their own ideas but I believe the plot should come first. What’s the point of great characters if they sit around and don’t achieve very much. So, step one, write your plot down in a few words (that’s all you need). “My story is about … who manages to … and goes on to ….” Example from my book: two cousins go to Egypt with their aunt Isabel and their Gran and are given an ancient scarab that plunges them into a whirlpool of exciting events. I have my two main characters, two secondary characters, a great location (open to all kinds of amazing events), an important object, and … well, the amazing events are up to my imagination.

• How to Construct your Storyline: Structure is very important otherwise you’ll end up writing away like crazy but forget some vital detail here and there, and your story will fall to pieces. Sit down and draw your storyline—remember, you have already written it down in a few words. You may not stick to it exactly, but it’s important to map out where the story is going. You don’t want to give away the plot too soon, or tell the reader everything all at once.
So begin with a simple 3-point system: the Beginning (your hero appears—what is he doing? What does he want to achieve?); the Middle (something will happen to him and he has to …? ); the Ending (your hero resolves the situation). From those three vital points you will fill in your other plot points—how did… why did… what happens next…

• Make Your Characters as Interesting as Possible: Tip: take them from real life examples. You could write about someone like yourself, or else model the characters on friends at school, teachers, or other people you know. The dialogue between your characters is also important because that’s one place to develop the plot line. Their interaction will reveal the chain of events as the characters work out various situations. Don’t forget to break your dialogue with various activities so that readers don’t get bogged down in lots of talking but no action.

• Make Your Information to the Reader as Interesting as Possible: You can do this by weaving it into the story. Don’t say that it’s cold. Get your character to shiver because he left his jacket at home. You can set the scene around your characters by using adjectives and adverbs to enhance your descriptions and actions but don’t overdo it. The reader is also going to use his or her imagination, so don’t overload your writing with too many descriptions. At the same time, your reader is not in your head so you have to help the reader along by using your five senses to engage theirs: sight, sounds, touch, taste, smell. Is your hero in a hot, exotic climate? He (or she) will be sweating, the sounds will be different, the taste of the food unusual etc. Is your heroine (or hero) in a strange place – what is she experiencing? e.g. confusion, anxiety, excitement, or curiosity? Is she hungry or thirsty? You will create the environment for your readers so they appreciate exactly what the hero is experiencing.

• The Hard Part: If you love what you’re writing about, and you trust your imagination, then writing will be as fun and exciting as you can imagine. However, two important elements must never be forgotten: research and grammar.

Research will be necessary whether your story is set in the real world, or if it’s an imaginary, fantasy, or sci-fi land. Make notes before and during your writing process. Your heroes are likely to be around your own ages, so think about how they are going to get places and achieve things. If they are travelling, are they alone (not likely) and will they need assistance (possibly)? If they are in a foreign country then make sure your facts are accurate. How did they get there, who are they with, and how are they going to accomplish their task/challenge? If it’s a fantasy setting, then make sure you don’t lose track of your characters and the various places and items found in your fantasy world. Make your own research notes relevant to your fantasy land.

Grammar and Spelling are very important otherwise your readers will never get through the first few pages. They’ll get bogged down in bad grammar and terrible spelling, so make sure you use your spelling and grammar check on your computer (if you’re using one) and your dictionary and style guide (if you’re writing by hand). In any case, you’ll have to check everything yourself because sometimes computers will accept a word that is spelled right, but is actually the wrong word for the sentence or context.

A final piece of advice: writing should be fun and exciting. Just enjoy yourself and let your imagination take you to places you only ever dreamed of…

Writer's Block: Imagined or Real?

Writers block: does it exist? Anyone who has ever experienced it will nod their head vigorously and say yes, of course it does. Other writers will smugly say they have never experienced it. There are differing viewpoints on exactly what one should call the phenomenon of when ideas grind to a halt, plots get stuck, and why one just can’t seem to move the action or the characters forward. Advice to Writers offers some interesting viewpoints of writers from Toni Morrison to H.G. Wells to Irving Stone on what they consider to be writer’s block and what to do about it. Some are very amusing.

Whatever one does or doesn’t like to call it, many authors get to a point where they’ll do anything except sit down and write their book. Carrie Lofty, a romance writer with a passion for history, has a new take on an old problem: it's called 'fiddling' and when writers don't want to write, they fiddle. Let's hear it from Carrie who has the solution to the writer’s habit of ‘fiddling!’

Are You a Fiddler?
By Carrie Lofty

I like to think that I've been writing romance since I was 13, but that wouldn't be entirely accurate. Although I finished a romantic screenplay at that age, I wouldn't complete another work of romantic fiction until September of 2006. In the interim, I wrote a series of fantastic, incomplete 100-page attempts. Some didn't even make it to 100 pages. I might finish a few chapters, or a chapter … or a scene.

To say that I hit a wall would also be inaccurate. I've never had writer’s block. After all, the ideas were always there. And that was the problem! I would dive headfirst into a new idea only to be distracted, a few days or weeks or chapters later, by a newer and shinier one. My husband threatened to stop listening to my writing discussions if I changed stories again.

This carried on until that fateful summer in 2006 when my husband flew to Virginia for an internship. I stayed behind in Madison, Wisconsin with our two daughters, who were then aged two and three. I wanted desperately to finish a novel so that I, too, could have a career that would take me around the country. And more importantly, I wanted to prove it to myself that I could finish. I couldn't stomach the idea of being a wannabe who always talked a good line, but never actually finished their “some day” novel. What I had been doing was obviously not working. I would write a chapter—then print it out, eviscerate it, revise it, reread it.

In essence, I was a fiddler.

After the initial burst of inspiration wears off and the hard work of actually finishing a 300+ page novel begins, hesitant writers are left with only one recourse: to fiddle. Revising, creating note cards, reading craft books, rereading—all of these can be useful skills and techniques, but only if they are used productively. I was using those same techniques to delay. After all, it looked like I was working!

I believe it stems from fear. The new, bright, shiny, beautiful idea in your head can be an intimidating muse to live up to. While first drafts are messy and unwieldy, the idea in your head looks more like a polished novel or a big-screen movie. The contrast between those two—what you’re attempting to create and what you imagine—can be so dissonant and daunting as to cause a fatal case of fiddling. It's fatal to your chances of finishing a book, that's for certain.

How did I break the cycle?

I started with a very reasonable goal. I would write 1000 new words every day. No matter what. Rain, shine, cyclone—no excuses. The first night was the hardest. I wanted to go to bed. I wanted to give up, go back, and mess with what I had already written. But I persevered. After days of practice, and then after weeks of success, those 1000 word slogs began to add up. I finished my first draft in 88 days.

Granted, revising the sucker took four months. I was still learning, and that first draft was truly horrible. But I had done it. I had finished my thought. I had resisted the urge to fiddle. What's more, by the time I typed “the end,” the beautiful bright-and-shiny idea that I'd started with didn't glow quite so fiercely. It didn't hold as much appeal. I had moved the flawless “one day” idea out of my head. Now it was a tangible “that day is now” novel. My sense of accomplishment and pride was far outweighed by distress about how many revisions it still required.

So…are you a fiddler?

Do you have so many ideas, all of which you hope to get to “some day”? Do you often start a project, only to abandon it part way through in favor of a newer, better idea? Do you obsess about research and character backgrounds, or reread and revise chapters—all to the detriment of producing new words?

Then I would suggest that you need an intervention. Set yourself a small, reasonable goal to produce new words every day. No matter what. Do not reread what you wrote the day before. Once you’ve filled up your pages, you can go back and fiddle to your heart’s content. And if a new, fantastic idea comes along, use it to motivate yourself into finishing this idea first.

That’s my take. I hope you glean wonderful things from it. But just like eating healthy or exercising or quitting smoking, the real impetus to make lasting changes in your writing habits begins with you.

Carrie’s witty and observant reflections on life can be found at her website and if you’re fascinated by historical romance that takes risks, then check out Carrie’s latest book Scoundrel’s Kiss (and enjoy!).

Some Top Advice

Alan Rinzler (Consulting Editor) has a great post that suggests perhaps one of the reasons you can’t finish that novel is because your plot is not clear. His advice is simple and clear: get your outline right.

Matthew Stibbe (writer in chief at Articulate Marketing) suggests that concentrating on writing will get you over your hurdles and offers 22 ways for staying focused on your writing.

Have you overcome your writer’s block? Got any great suggestions? Please let readers know.

Better Book Readings For Kids

I recently gave a book reading at a local Montessori school here in Johannesburg for a middle-grade audience eager to find out more about my book. My previous reading at a literacy centre had been great because the teacher organized a fancy dress parade and the kids had worked on some creative writing to read to me. All the children arrived in Egyptian costume with poems and prose for me to hear. There was such fun and excitement that much time was taken up with the judging of the writing and the costumes. I read a chapter, they loved it, and that was that.


This time I wasn’t going to get off so easily. This particular teacher asked if I could chat to the kids about creative writing, plots, characters, and structuring a story of their own. I had recently written a blog post on that very subject, but writing and explaining it out loud to kids are two different things. My task that day was somehow to initiate a discussion on creative writing and to use my book to illustrate my points. I discovered that using simple but effective items to enhance your topics adds interest to the reading and contributes to the fun!

I had already turned to my book and website illustrator Lori Bentley for some ideas on accessories such as bookmarks and postcards to give away. Lori’s ideas were so stunningly effective that I was able to tell the assembled kids the entire story of the book and discuss creating a plot just by using the bookmark. I hope you’ll read Lori’s account of how she came to create her magnificent illustrations.

Some ideas to enhance your author readings for kids at schools, libraries, or bookstores:

• Chat to the teacher, librarian, or organizer in advance and find out if they’d like an educational theme (a school probably will) or an artistic theme such as kids coming in costume, doing their own illustrations of your book’s themes, or even some creative writing to read out aloud.

• Encourage the organizers to put a mention in the local newspaper or community press. Often newspapers will send a photographer along for some local newsworthy events. This will help spread the word about your book. You should also publicize it using your own social media outlets.

• Bookmarks and postcards are a fantastic yet simple and cheap way to promote your book. If your book is illustrated, you can (like Lori did) use thumbnails on the bookmark, with tantalizing hints of the plot outlined next to each picture. Postcards are effective with the book cover image on the front, a brief plot synopsis on the back, and don’t forget to include either your contact details or author website or the book’s website details. Parents will want to know where they can buy your book if your reading is not at a bookstore.

• Posters are also cheap and effective to promote your title. If you’re having some kind of contest then a signed poster is a great prize for an excited child. Don’t forget to give one to the venue hosting your book reading. A school or library will definitely put the poster up in the venue. That way your book will linger in their minds long after you have gone.

• Have a pen ready for the unexpected. I was astounded that all the children at the reading wanted to have their bookmarks signed so be prepared for that as well. Remember, to your audience you are an amazing creature – a real live author – and that’s incredibly exciting for them. They’re going to want a little piece of the excitement to take home. This is particularly pertinent if you are reading at a bookstore because parents will more than likely purchase the book right there and the child will want you to sign it.

• A visual impact is important. If your book is set in a different location and you have photographs then take them along. Kids love to know where something ‘really happened’ and images are important. If you have artifacts related to your book, even better. A bit of ‘show and tell’ will fix your book in every child’s mind if there is more to it than just words. (I have some painted papyrus so was able to use those pictures to explain how the ancient Egyptians made paper.)

• Once you’ve had your initial intro, discussion, and answered questions, you can focus on the book reading. Choose the most exciting chapter possible. Kids don’t have to know everything in advance and a brief outline of the story will be enough. Using my bookmark, the kids chose the image of the giant cobra menacing my two heroes for a riveting 20-minute read. (Have your glass of water at hand – you’ll need it!)

• During your reading make sure you interrupt yourself to ask the kids questions such as “Where is so-and-so place?” or ask them if they know what particular words mean. My book is set in Egypt so talking about an exotic country was great, and asking them to explain words like ‘sarcophagus’ kept us busy. You’ll find plenty of interesting material in your own work. You can also keep an eye on their level of concentration.

• Don’t forget to thank the organizers for inviting you to read and give them your business card so they never forget you. After all, you’ll be reading your next book there, won’t you?

A captivating book reading is an excellent way to create interest in your book, the kind of interest that remains unforgettable because it is both innovative and fun. Come up with creative ideas of your own based on your book’s themes and what resources you have available.