Editor's Notes Archives | Page 3 of 16

Editor’s Notes: Begin As You Mean To Go On

by PennyFreeman | Oct 7, 2014 | Editor's Notes, Writing

BY MEGAN OLIPHANT As a reader, a writer, and an editor, I’ve had lots of experience reading beginnings of books. And the more I have read, the more I can tell by just a few paragraphs if the story is going to keep my attention or not. Many writers try to “fix” this...

Editor’s Notes: How to Be the Best Hooker

by PennyFreeman | Sep 25, 2014 | Editor's Notes, Writing

BY MCKENNA GARDNER See? I can even catch your attention in a title. How do you draw a reader in with one word? One line? One sentence? One paragraph is pushing it. You better have them sucked in completely by then. Otherwise, unless their friends recommended your...

Editor’s Notes: Any Man of Mine

by PennyFreeman | Sep 23, 2014 | Editor's Notes, Writing

BY ELIZABETH GILLILAND A few weeks ago on the X blog I wrote about the art of writing strong female characters. Just to show that fair is fair, I’ve decided that today we need to discuss the art of writing a compelling leading man. In a conversation with a group of...

Editor’s Notes: Words We Use

by PennyFreeman | Sep 18, 2014 | Editor's Notes

BY TERRI WAGNER What Did You Mean? An editor and a writer go into a bar . . . Heard that one yet? It ends badly for both. Why? Irony. The two people most likely to have appropriate, effective words at their disposal, don’t! They make rookie mistakes. When the editor...

Editor’s Notes: Getting Past the Words

by PennyFreeman | Sep 16, 2014 | Editor's Notes, Writing

BY MERILYN OBLAD My high school English teacher liked shocking her students in any way that she could. She was an ardent KISS fan (picture a five foot nothing 56 year old woman dressed in full KISS regalia and makeup for Halloween). But that was just for physical...

Editor’s Notes: The Right Stuff

by PennyFreeman | Sep 11, 2014 | Editor's Notes, Writing

BY PENNY FREEMAN How many times have you said this to yourself (or someone else): I just can’t write today. I’ve got stuff going on. And you can’t—not really. You can’t work on your current project when your whole mind/heart/soul is consumed with your stuff. So,...