HEARTICLES: Articles with Heart

The writer who neglects punctuation, or mispunctuates, is liable to be misunderstood. ~ Edgar Allen Poe PUNCTUATION punc·tu·a·tion pronounced: pəNG(k)(t)SHəˈwāSH(ə)n noun the marks, such as period, comma, and parentheses, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning. Reflecting over this past year, one of the biggest things that stood out for me was manuscript submissions. Submissions stood out because, as a writer myself, I was trained to always submit as perfect a manuscript as possible. Unfortunately, a majority of submissions that came in this year were disappointing from a presentation standpoint. I'm not talking about author voice or story quality. I'm talking about what the manuscript looked like when I opened the file. What I see on the screen instantly tells me a lot about the author and his/her work. Examples: The author is lazy and/or careless The author is sloppy with his/her work The author is unprofessiona...

Have we fallen out of love with e-readers? The Independent UK, 6 October 2014, Caroline Cororan I read this article last night but decided to read it again this morning just to be sure I still felt the same. I think I do. I'm sharing it with you to get your impressions on the subject of our ereaders. My opinions -- I call bullshit on this article. Plain and simple. Here are my reasons: 1) "In 2013, British consumers spent £2.2bn on print, compared with just £80m on e-books" That's because British (and Irish books by default) are priced through the roof. For example, an $8 paperback in the US costs consumers  around £8. Seems like like for like, right? Convert to US dollar and that same book is now over $10 usd. Ebooks are notoriously much lower in cost than traditional print books, especially with small presses which dominate the digital market. And for those publishers and authors putting out POD books, the average cost of those is higher still than mass ...

Have you written the next best-seller but are struggling to get it published, or even picked up by an agent? Is each submission being met with rejection? Are you at whit's end trying to figure out why your work isn't getting an offer, even though comments are good about your story? Or is your work just simply not getting a look-see? It might not be editing, plotting, characterization or anything to do with the book itself, but it could have everything to do with presentation! Here are some suggestions that may help your work get the attention is deserves. 1)      Following Submission Guidelines ·         Why are guidelines so important? §   Publishers receive hundreds of submissions ever month, and because they each have their own unique needs, guidelines have been established to help their offices expedite submissions more effectively. ·         Why is it important to fo...

To anyone who ever said writing was easy . . . {blowing rasperries!} If it's so easy, you try it. For those of use who make our livings doing some form of writing -- creative writing, poetry, journalism, etc . . . we must engage in some practices others don't readily understand. Read. A lot! READ Read a lot. Read everything. Read outside your comfort zone, especially when you feel blocked. You're not looking to copy anyone else or to try emulating their success. Reading opens creative channels in your brain. Reading stimulates the imagination, as new ideas ping and clash into each other until you see a clear path in your own work. Reading classics is a great way to see how some of the greats because 'the greats'. You'll not only read some amazing stories, but also see how literature has changed over the decades, and how your work is part of that change. And you'll also see what's in those books that makes them classics today. Learn from the gre...

" On Writing " by Stephen King When looking for writing advice, it's usually best to consult a master. Like his work or not, Stephen King's advice is sound for every writer, and for anyone who wants to publish. 300 million books can't be wrong! 1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience --  “When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story. Your stuff starts out being just for you, but then it goes out.” 2. Don’t use passive voice --  “Timid writers like passive verbs for the same reason that timid lovers like passive partners. The passive voice is safe. The timid fellow writes “The meeting will be held at seven o’clock” because that somehow says to him, ‘Put it this way and people will believe you really know. ‘Purge this quisling thought! Don’t be a muggle! Throw back your shoulders, stick out your chin, and put that meeting in charge! Write ...

What I see a lot of lately, in writer’s groups and submissions, is debut novelists trying to ‘break’ the rules Keep it Simple, Silly (K.I.S.S.) Write the simplest story you can. In other words: to be unique. This is my advice: Simple plot . Use the common ‘three act method’ or a similar simple structure. Simple story arc (man in hole, boy meets girl, etc). The plot still needs to be well developed, but don’t try to pen The Stand or other complex, twisting plots for your first work. Simple language . No long words, no wordy and flowery description. Show us with your first work that you can write well without any tricks. Simple punctuation . Almost zero exclamation points. Use only commas, periods, and question marks. Avoid semicolons, em-dashes and ellipses unless absolutely needed to tell the story. Simple, but not simpleton characters . Give them depth, but make them someone we can either admire, relate to, or both. Too complex or odd, and you will lose us. At the same ...