Celebrating Independent Authors
Guest Post
by Dale E. Lehman
For the past fourteen months, I’ve read and written flash fiction for IU’s weekly contest. Experience and a bit of research has taught me several things about this art form. At the risk of making it harder for me to win than it already is, I’d like to share some insights with you. Continue reading “Writing Flash Fiction”
Guest Post
by Dale E. Lehman
Are you satisfied with your writing? If so, something’s wrong. After all, who writes to perfection? If our writing is to grow, we must constantly hone our craft. In what follows, I’ll share four secrets essential to improvement; key practices I’ve learned through decades of experience.
Let’s begin with that tired cliché about writing being a solitary business. If you’re like me, you spent years writing privately and sharing with nobody. You liked what you wrote. Sometimes you amazed yourself with a character or a turn of phrase or even an entire story. Sure. It’s easy to amaze ourselves. Amazing others? Not so much. Continue reading “The Top 4 Ways to Hone Your Writing”
Guest Post
by Dale E. Lehman
You’ve heard “show, don’t tell” so much you’re sick of it. But do you know what it means? Based on numerous discussions I’ve witnessed, many writers don’t. If you can stomach one more spoonful of the subject, I’ll demystify the adage. Plus, I’ll offer a simple writing exercise for honing your showing skills. Continue reading “Real Show and Tell for Authors”
This should be called “Mistakes I Made That You Shouldn’t” series. Once more, you lucky people are going to will get the benefit of my lengthy writing experience. As in, lengthy writing is the problem. In other words, I’m editing a novel I wrote several years ago and cutting out all the junk I have since learned not to put in. If some of you are now where I was then, these examples could be of use in tuning help tighten up your own language. Let’s see how many words we can save if we are firm with ourselves. Continue reading “Writing Tip: Trim Your Language”