Author: Lynne Cantwell

Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. But she began as a fantasy writer (in the second grade), and is back at it today. She currently lives near Washington, DC. Learn more about Lynne at her blog and at her Amazon author page.

“Do I Need All Those Hads?” – Past Perfect Tense

past perfect tense pocket-watch-598039_960_720I admit it: when I see certain things in a book, it sets my teeth on edge. One thing that sets me off is abuse of the past perfect tense.

What’s past perfect tense, you ask? Let me explain.
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Let’s say you sent the following two sentences to your editor:

Vivian never saw a skyscraper before she visited New York. So by the end of her first day in Manhattan, her neck ached because she was spending so much time looking up.

And she kicked them back to you with the following edits: Continue reading ““Do I Need All Those Hads?” – Past Perfect Tense”

Blogging with Facebook “Notes” to Improve Visibility

facebook notes for bloggingFor the past couple of months, I’ve been conducting a little experiment with Facebook’s Notes feature, and I’m ready to declare it something of a success.

I got the idea from a post I saw on Facebook (surprise!). A Canadian journalist named Mitch Joel mentioned that he was going to begin using Facebook’s upgraded Notes feature as a blogging platform. For years, Joel said, bloggers have hosted their blogs on their websites, or on blogging platforms. Then they would put a link to their posts on social media in an effort to drive traffic to their own site. Once someone is there, the conventional thinking goes, they may take a look around and maybe even buy something from you.

But readers are sometimes unwilling to click a random link to an unfamiliar site. And besides, they’re already on Facebook. If the point is to get readers for your posts, why not blog where the readers are? Continue reading “Blogging with Facebook “Notes” to Improve Visibility”

FOULED!: Update on Indie Writer Support

#PublishingFoul Logo Indies UnlimitedA couple of years ago, Lin Robinson told us about some shady activity on LinkedIn by one Korede Abayome, who runs Indie Writer Support and ParaDon Publishing , among other things.

According to his bio, Abayome was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in California. He goes by a number of different aliases, including Celina Marka (acquisitions editor for ParaDon), Judd Miller (ParaDon’s webmaster), and Artis Reed (which appears to be a pen name of Abayome’s). He sells publishing services to would-be writers, but his customers say he pockets the payments and never provides the services. One of these iffy services is a $250 “Elite Membership” to Indie Writers Support, which claims it has “raised a few authors to the NY Times best sellers list.” Of course, it doesn’t say which authors it has helped to get on the list. ParaDon also claims to have struck a deal recently with BookBub; as you might have guessed, BookBub says it has never done business with ParaDon. Continue reading “FOULED!: Update on Indie Writer Support”

Writing the Hero’s Journey

amazon is ready for battle carnival-787071_640At a recent conference for fantasy writers, I attended a couple of panels on the subject of the quest. They reminded me that a quest is also a “hero’s journey” – a story structure used in myths and legends around the world, and explained by Joseph Campbell in his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

The structure is used extensively in science fiction and fantasy – Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are prime examples – but it shows up in lots of other types of stories, too. Any time a protagonist goes out to find something and comes back wiser for it (or not), you’re seeing a hero’s journey. Continue reading “Writing the Hero’s Journey”