Category: Guest Posts

Honesty and the Self-Publisher

Raymond Chandler

A Guest Post
by George Copeland

When Raymond Chandler wrote that poor writers are dishonest without knowing it, he had no reason to suspect there’d one day be a militantly tenacious army of them slinging their stuff with the ad hoc marketing arm of social media. Bad writing has always been with us, but what’s new in its current form is the rise of a concomitant philistine ethic, a seeming celebration of the act of writing itself, not of a more deliberate and circumspect writing culture in search of excellence for its own sake. It’s a touchy subject. Bring the problem up in a room of indies and you’ll get the hard stare of rough men sniffing out the double agent in their midst. Continue reading “Honesty and the Self-Publisher”

“Pick Six” Writing Tips

robert clay norman
Author Robert Clay Norman

Football season is here, and so I offer these suggestions to assist you in scoring your own “touchdown.” (For you non-pigskinners, “Pick Six” refers to a defensive touchdown from an intercepted pass.) My book is a narrative memoir, but I think these principles would apply to both fiction and non-fiction writing. Some of these tips come from others, and I pass them along certain that the originators would encourage it. A few of the ideas are mine. Perhaps some of these tips will be of help to you.

 

1. Buy the book Writing Tools by Roy Peter Clark. It is only about $9, and contains 50 tips that will improve your writing skills. It is a small book and a fun read. One good thing about this book is that you will realize that you are already using some of these tools, and reading this book will reinforce and validate your work thus far. Even better, you can pick and choose which tools to emphasize and adopt. The book can be read in any order you select. The reader doesn’t have to begin at the beginning in order to gain insight into these tips. Besides, can any of us really remember 50 of anything? Clark does a wonderful job of offering dozens of useful tools, and the user can consider and accept those of choice. Kind of like a great Asian lunch buffet. Continue reading ““Pick Six” Writing Tips”

I Love To Write Day: How it All Began

John Riddle

Guest post by John Riddle

In the spring of 2002 I was driving from my home in Delaware to the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s conference in Asheville, North Carolina, where I was scheduled to speak My oldest daughter, Bonnie, was in the car with me; she was a college student at the time and interested in attending some of the workshops. Even though she was already a published writer, she knew the value of learning more about the craft of writing.

As I was passing through the Richmond, Virginia, area, I was thinking about a magazine interview I had to do the following week. Normally I am the one interviewing someone and then writing an article, but this time I was going to be the subject of the article. Writer’s Digest magazine wanted to do a profile of me, highlighting my success in writing for so many Websites over the past few months. Continue reading “I Love To Write Day: How it All Began”

Memoir of a Memoirist

by Marlayna Glynn Brown
Being a memoirist isn’t easy. Creating art from real life requires story-telling talent, thick-skin, and the ability to hide a character’s identity without straying from truth. Writers like me, who couldn’t produce an entertaining piece of fiction to save their own lives, have no choice but to write what we know.

I’ve been an avid diarist for thirty years. It’s easy and natural for me to record events, thoughts, feelings and interpretations. When I was given writing assignments in high school, college and then grad school, I learned I could only base my work on what had really happened to me, and events I had actually experienced. Jumping from reality to imagination was never easy for me. Any time I tried to veer from reality and create a person or event that didn’t exist or happen, I found myself face to face with my own folly. The recording of actual events and people isn’t always necessarily interesting. A memoirist must be able to weave the threads of reality into a tale that others find entertaining. A memoirist can interlace facts with creative description, and events with ring-side interpretation. Characters and events can be presented, and sometimes shaded as the memoirist sees fit. A writer needn’t necessarily tell the reader anything in particular, and can merely present, or just partially describe without definition. Continue reading “Memoir of a Memoirist”