Continue reading Book Quote Corner #85
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Tag Archives: Novel
3 Things That Make a Great 1st Line
by Morgan S. Hazelwood
The title of this sounds pretty lofty, doesn’t it? For those of you who don’t have a finished manuscript, though, this might not be so useful. Write your novel, edit it, then see if you can cut the first chapter. Don’t count the writing as a waste, YOU needed to know what was going on so you could write the rest of the book. Then, it’s time to tweak that 1st line.
The first line of a novel has a lot of work to do.
At Balticon51, I attended one workshop on opening sentences with Steve Lubs and another on opening pages with Meg Eden. This is a lot of what they said, combined with knowledge from other places. (I tried not to copy their hand-outs directly.)
US E-Book Sales Decline 13.9% in 2016 [But Print Sees Growth]
by Michael Kozlowski at Good e-Reader
Over the course of 2016 overall publisher revenue was $14.3 billion, down 6.6% from 2015. One of the key trends from last year was that reading preferences continue to shift. Print books saw growth, and for the second consecutive year publisher revenues from eBook sales declined and downloaded audio grew.
Publishers’ book sales for trade (consumer) books from Jan. to Dec. 2016 were flat -0.2% at $7.1 billion. While Religious Presses and Children’s & Young Adult Books (Childrens/YA) saw growth in 2016, the Adult Books category (which comprises more than 65% of all revenue for trade books) saw a 2.3% decline.
Continue reading US E-Book Sales Decline 13.9% in 2016 [But Print Sees Growth]
Book Quote Corner #84
A Writer’s Path Social Media Links
Everything That Will Tempt You to Quit Writing–and How to Deal with It
by Meg Dowell
Pursuing a career in writing comes with plenty of obstacles. Overcoming those obstacles — especially when your barriers involve other people — can be overwhelming. The stress of trying to Make Writing Happen can be draining enough to force you to consider quitting. Even though you shouldn’t!
Here are a few things that will, or have already, almost convince you to stop writing — and how not to let them bring you down.
Continue reading Everything That Will Tempt You to Quit Writing–and How to Deal with It
Getting Yourself to Write
by Shelley Widhalm
Writing can be a struggle for writers of all levels, from beginning to professional.
The struggle has a dreaded name: writer’s block.
Writer’s block refers to not being able to write while facing the blank page or the middle of a project. It can be a matter of losing the inspiration or motivation to write, or not having the time and space.
Maybe the writer wants to write but does not know what to say or how to say it. Or the writer does not have anything new to think about or ways to describe things.
Or, could it be a matter of the writer not knowing where to go next?
Throwback Thursday: What to Do After the First Draft
Throwback Thursday is a series where we take a look back at some of AWP’s most popular posts. Enjoy!
by Katie McCoach
Your fingers hurt. Your eyes burn. You haven’t had anything to drink except coffee for the past few days, weeks, year. You are pretty sure you haven’t slept a full night without dreaming about characters and plot lines.
You are certain you will never type again. Because you finally finished writing the first draft of your novel. Phew!
No matter how many times an author finishes the first draft of a novel, they know this is only the beginning of the writing process. So what do you even do after you write that first draft? What comes next? Where do you even begin the process of revising, rewriting, sharing, and more?
Continue reading Throwback Thursday: What to Do After the First Draft
Book Quote Corner #83
What Can You Write in 15 Minutes?
by Kelsie Engen
Writers can mostly agree that writing is a time consuming process. You write a first draft, step back, revise into a second draft, send out for feedback (beta readers or developmental editor), receive and revise, send for final edits, then finally submit and (possibly change) and then publish. Whew. I get tired just writing that list.
Then factor in this: Some authors spend a decade or more writing and perfecting their novels.
So…what can you possibly do in 15 minutes?
