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Getting Inspiration from Films

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on March 12, 2024

Can You Get Inspiration From Films?

Films can be rather obvious sources of inspiration. However, as always, take care not to get into copyright infringement issues. Hence you will need to tread lightly. And you should pretty much assume any movie you see is not in the public domain.

Because the vast majority of them are not.

I will use The Wizard of Oz as an example, because most of us know the film.

The New Prequel

So when we first meet Dorothy Gale, she is a teenager living on her aunt and uncle’s farm in Kansas. And everything is eerily gray in color. Furthermore, the song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, hints at dissatisfaction. Dorothy yearns to understand and see a lot more of the world.

But why is Dorothy living with her aunt and uncle, and not her parents? The absence of both parents begs a few possible questions. Maybe Dorothy became an orphan in some horrible accident which took both of her parents.

Or maybe her father abandoned her mother, or they perhaps never married. Still another possibility: they are alive but gone for some reason, such as work, or missionary work, or even prison.

Because Dorothy is a good person, and Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are as well. Yet that does not guarantee that her parents were good people at all.

The Side Character Gets Center Stage

So this has already been done. It happened when the Syfy Channel reimagined the story and came up with Tin Man. And it was kind of an odd idea, but that is one way to change a film.

So, let’s imagine a life for the Cowardly Lion. He might have been bullied, or maybe was under stress before he met Dorothy and the others. And what happens after the story ends?

Does he return as King of the Forest, the undisputed? Or does he have to fight some usurper for the title?

Flipping the Ending of Films

So what happens if Dorothy loses Toto for good in Oz? Or how about if she and Toto get away in the balloon with the Wizard? Another possibility is of both of them staying behind, either voluntarily or not.

And yet another scenario is if she returns home but someone comes with her, say, the Scarecrow.

Consider the Art of Filmmaking Itself

Yet another thing to think about concerns the making of films. When films open, they are huge collaborative efforts which include not only the writers, actors, makeup and set people, special effects, the director, and the producer. They are also a product of budgets, and of timing.

When a tragedy occurs, a film might be delayed, or even shelved indefinitely. And the same thing can happen if the star dies or becomes embroiled in a scandal. Furthermore, some films would benefit from an update in special effects technology.

And others would change with our current social sensibilities regarding feminism, LGBTQ rights, and other issues.

Takeaways

I am not suggesting you copy any intellectual property. So please don’t misunderstand me. However, what I am suggesting is to think about basic plots and try to reinvent and reimagine them. Because if you make enough changes, they become your own.

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Eavesdropping for Fun and Inspiration

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 13, 2024

It’s Time to Start Eavesdropping… For Fun and Inspiration!

So, Eavesdropping? Seriously?

Eavesdropping really works, and it is probably a writer‘s best tool. Once you start listening in on conversations, you will open up a whole new world. Because real dialogue, interspersed with your created dialogue, adds realism. And it’s the kind of realism you may not have been able to pull off by yourself.

Subtlety

First of all, you have got to be subtle. This means maybe you pretend to play with your phone. Or you look out a window or stare into space. Because you should not be obvious about such things.

Furthermore, conversations are often layered. While you are perhaps listening to one person talk to three other people, there is a give and take between that person and the others. However, there are also words passed among the others in the group. Then they might even break off and begin their own conversations.

This doesn’t even get into what happens when you’re in a crowded room. Since it is hard to follow a lot of conversations, concentrate on only one or two. You won’t hear it all, anyway. Furthermore, if you split your focus, you won’t get anything good.

Nosiness

I am not saying you need to be nosy. Furthermore, this is not for gossip. You’re not some latter day Gladys Kravitz. Rather, you are a writer and you are doing research. And do yourself a favor and mix up what you hear. Don’t copy paragraphs outright. Instead, grab a sentence here and there. Write them down and put them away for later. Since you will presumably be writing for years, a sentence might work a decade from now. You never know.

The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent

Have you ever heard that? Make sure to change names. Or eliminate them altogether. You can also swap gender. Hence if a friend is complaining about her boyfriend, why not change the friend to a man? Or slip the complaint into something else. The complaint could be about your protagonist’s coworker.

Eavesdropping: Takeaways

Be subtle. Don’t use what you hear in order to gossip. Change the details. Finally, don’t repeat truly personal information (bank account numbers and balances, divorce proceedings, fatal disease diagnoses, etc.) unless you change nearly all of the verbiage. Be your usual pleasant, polite, and caring self. Yes, even as you gather some writing fodder.

And by the way, if someone notices you’re using their words, and they don’t want you to, be a sport and change your manuscript. That is, if you care about maintaining any sort of a relationship with them.

If not, then bombs away, I guess.

Eavesdropping — all the cool writers are doin’ it! 😉

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Getting Inspiration from Friendship

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on February 6, 2024

Why Not Grab Some Inspiration from Friendship?

Ah, Friendship

Friendship is as inspiring as the memory of old love affairs. Our friends can help us write. Sometimes it’s because of something we did together. And sometimes it’s because we want to honor them.

Names

For stories which need a lot of names, why not ask your friends whether they want their names used? I’ve come up to people and asked, “Can I kill you in my novel?” People usually love this. Bonus – when you write about them or you publish, or if you post a quote, be sure to tag them. Because your best friend from sixth grade will probably be thrilled (but ask, in case they aren’t).

And if you’re going to make a friend a villain, be particularly careful about asking permission. A suggestion: for truly villainous villains (e. g. sadists and despots), don’t use friends’ names. For my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel, I needed to populate a space ship with crew members. Some got more screen time (page time, I suppose) than others. Asking whether I could use my friends’ names was the fastest and easiest way to populate the ship.

Furthermore, it paid dividends with social sharing because so many people were tagged.

Friendship Characteristics and Quirks

Why do we love our friends? Is it how they play poker? How they sing? Their love of the same fandom we love? Then find a way to adapt these details and put them in your work. It can be something as simple as a man stroking his mustache or a woman’s Kentucky accent. Maybe your friends collect stamps or they run track. All of these are good details.

Of course, don’t spy on your friends and take extensive notes. But you know these people well. You have already observed their teddy bear collections and their overly full makeup drawers. You don’t have to spy.

Scenes Inspired by Friendship

Did you and your friend meet in some interesting manner? Did you bond over something funny? Then ask, can I adapt this for my novel? And I say ask – don’t assume. Because some people may feel that’s overly private.

Takeaways

Be respectful, of course. And your friends might not want their memories used for writing fodder. So ask! And if they allow it, do be sure to thank them. The acknowledgements section of your book is a great place for that.

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Writing Better Dialogue

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on July 27, 2023

Writing Better Dialogue

Better dialogue can elevate any piece. And it can even help to salvage a bad or otherwise forgettable piece of writing. Consider, for example, the works of Aaron Sorkin or Robert Altman. While these are examples from television and film, they should give an idea.

Sorkin is known for excellent dialogue, from such films as The Social Network and TV shows like The West Wing. However, Altman’s fame comes more for overlapping dialogue, from films like Nashville, M*A*S*H, and McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

Word Choice

Consider your characters’ educational levels. A college graduate will, in general, use longer and more complex and subtle words versus a high school dropout.

This does not necessarily mean one is smarter than the other, I might add. Hence consider who says prior to instead of before, or automobile rather than car.

Because that will help the reader to define who is speaking if you are more or less consistent with who uses the ten dollar words, and who does not.

Affectations, Accents, and Pet Names

While I don’t want to get into accents again, you should consider regional dialects and regionalisms.

A sandwich on a long roll is a grinder in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but it’s a hoagie in Philadelphia, a po’boy in New Orleans, and a sub in New York.

So, if your characters are from Queens, you’d better have them call it a sub unless they’re messing around or are copying someone from out of town.

Pet name usage can be extremely helpful in writing. When you write a couple, you may find you are writing a ton of dialogue between them. And it can get boring to constantly write he said, she said, so you can usually drop that after the first trade of words.

However, you may need to pick that up again after a while if you think the reader will get lost.

And it could be that they can really get lost if your couple is of the same-sex variety. However, if one person calls the other one snookums, and the other doesn’t use pet names or just says darling, then the reader gets a clue when you use those terms.

Just be consistent and your readers will thank you.

Takeaways

Listen to people talk whenever you can, and try to read your dialogue aloud. If you can get a friend to help you, even better. Because if your sentence is a tongue twister for you, then it is for your character (and, by extension, your readers as well).

Unless you meant to do that.

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Descriptions in Fiction Writing

Descriptions in Fiction Writing

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on May 4, 2023

Descriptions matter. A lot.

All About Descriptions

Descriptions are a must. You need them for any type of writing beyond the barest drabbles. Involve the reader in the piece. And that means pulling descriptive prose out of your head. You must commit it to paper or pixels.

But there is a balancing act that comes along with this. Too much describing turns it all into a boatload of exposition. While you do need some exposition, too much will grind your storyline to a screeching halt.

Scenes

Scene setting is covered elsewhere in this blog. However, that’s closely related to your descriptive abilities. Consider what is important. And try not to turn it into a tour of a city or country (or planet’s) greatest hits.

People

Describe human beings as soon as you can. Unless the character’s appearance is some sort of spoiler, you should get their basics down quickly. Otherwise, your readers will picture one thing and, when they are told something different about the character, it will feel jarring to them.

If I think your Mary character is Asian, and then you later (finally!) tell me she’s a blonde, that has the potential to take me right out of the story.

I will blog about describing people of color elsewhere. For now, just concentrate on basic descriptors. Those are, generally: gender, age range, height, body size and shape, hair color (or baldness), facial hair if appropriate, and eye color. Furthermore, add any unique identifiers. These are a disability or tattoos or the like.

Think about what is normally considered in a standard police lineup. For example, police officers can’t conduct an overly suggestive American police lineup. And it might even be unconstitutional. That is, if the witness claims the suspect is male, then the lineup is no good if it consists of four females (not transmen) and one male.

More Natural Exposition and Descriptions

You don’t have to dump a garbage can full of expository data in the first sentence. A female pronoun or name can give away gender. A nickname might indicate age, such as Junior or Grandma. Maybe you can comment on agility or speed or fatigue in order to get physical condition across.

And height can come up fairly naturally if your character has to reach something on a high shelf, or look up or down at another character. Or maybe they have to determine if they’re tall enough to get onto an amusement park ride.

Any of these is better than a list of vital statistics. Those don’t really come up naturally unless you’re writing about medicine or, maybe, a beauty pageant or a sporting competition.

Aliens

Describe aliens very quickly. The basics should still be your guide. However, you might need to cover other issues, such as whether they can speak or hear, or whether they can breathe our air.

Descriptions: Takeaways

Give your readers as much of the picture as is necessary. Don’t describe the corners of the room unless you need to. But at least tell them there’s a room.

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Writing a Blurb

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Writing a Blurb

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on April 18, 2023

Are You in the Thinking About Writing a Blurb?

Have you ever written a blurb for a book? Here’s how.

You Have GOT to Grab the Reader’s Attention

The most effective blurbs are:

• short
† specific as to genre (never be coy; if it’s horror, then say so!)
• open about who the protagonist is
† spoiler-free
• not a rehash of the first chapter or the entire plot
† neutral about the quality of your work (don’t say: this is an incredible book. Your saying that does not make it so. Sorry.)

So keep in mind – these are not the same as the summary you write for a query.

Blurb Samples

In this fantasy tale, Dorothy is whisked away by a twister to an unknown magical land. But first she has to deal with the quite literal fallout of her house landing on, and killing, a wicked witch.

Blurbs give us an idea about the story, and they make us want to read more. Also, a blurb for The Wizard of Oz would likely be longer than the above. The idea would be to better reflect the work’s complexity and length. It would likely cover more than just the opening scenes.

While a long book does not need to have a long blurb, it at least could conceivably support one. However, a short novel probably would not.

Unless, of course, you’ve written The Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mockingbird.

Spoiler alert: you probably have not.

Yet.

Some More Blurb Samples

Reclusive millionaire Jay Gatsby leads the good life in 1920s New York. As his friend Nick Carraway watches, Gatsby’s life takes a turn with the arrival of the all-too appealing yet all-too married Daisy Buchanan.

Or –

Scout and Jem Finch live in Alabama with their widowed father, Atticus, the town’s leading lawyer. It’s the 1930s, and Maycomb seems far from sophistication or enlightenment.
And so the trouble starts when a black man is accused of raping a white woman – and Scout’s father agrees to defend the accused.

Get in Some Practice

We all have to start somewhere, and we have all got to practice.

Yes, even you.

This is a skill like any other. Or, rather, it is unlike any other. And a lot of us can become paralyzed with fear and self-doubt when we try. That is totally understandable.

After all, a lot is riding on just a simple blurb.

So, start small.

I honestly think practicing on classic novels is a good idea. It’s not fraught with meaning because you’re not trying to sell anything.

In fact, I bet it would make a pretty cool game. That is, write a blurb, don’t give away the title, and then ask the other player to Name That Book.

Takeaways

Practicing on works that are not your own can help you get started. It’s a lot easier because there is nothing riding on writing a blurb for a novel you did not write.

Get in some practice and give yourself some grace. It won’t be perfect immediately. But much like with an elevator pitch, you’ll find that the more you practice, the better you get at it.

Back to you.

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Working With a Cover Artist, Part 2

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Working With a Cover Artist, Part 2

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 11, 2022

It’s Time for Working With a Cover Artist, Part 2

There is more to the engaging of a cover artist part of working as an independent writer than just selecting an image or giving them an idea of what you want. Working with a cover artist involves some paperwork. Welcome to the business side of writing.

Because—surprise!—guess what you suddenly are now?

You’re a small business owner.

Working With a Cover Artist Should Mean a Contract

A lot of us get nervous talking about contracts and copyright and that is completely understandable.

They seem difficult, complex, fraught with meaning, and all-too final. It feels like a prenuptial agreement sometimes – don’t you want to have faith that everything will work out all right?

Eh, not so fast.

This is not your great love (even if the cover artist is a friend or a relative). Instead, this is about rights. Your rights and the rights which belong to the visual artist.

The question is: who owns what? Without getting into the minutiae of copyright law just yet, this site offers not only a decent basic breakdown of the law in the United States, but also a good basic contract for a free download.

Contracts are also extremely helpful because they are, in part, a set of instructions. The artist produces the work as of X date, you pay Y amount of dollars as a down payment, etc. So, you get the idea, yes?

So, Are We There Yet?

Are you all set now, and just have to fill in the blanks and you’re good to go?

Not exactly.

Read over the agreement. If any of it does not make sense to you, talk to a lawyer! Even those of us not specially trained in copyright or contracts law can generally dope out an agreement.

Further, in the US, you have got to have competence in Contracts Law in order to pass the Bar examination. It’s a basic part of the Multistate Exam.

Hence even your friend the real estate lawyer should be able to answer your basic contract questions. Oh, and please pay for their time.

One Quick Tip

For the part which is about City, County, and State, you want to write in your own city or town and state, and county or parish. Why?

Because if a lawsuit comes down, you will be a far happier person if you get to go to the courthouse in your county, instead of one potentially on the other side of the country.

It will be far less expensive, and you will be far more likely to exert your rights if you feel they have been violated.

But when it’s a dispute for $100 and it costs $200 each way to fly to where the lawsuit is happening, you’ll do a cost-benefit analysis and not assert your rights. At least, that’s what the vast, vast majority of people would and will do.

Second Quick Tip

Introduce the idea of a contract before the cover artist does anything. Make it clear you won’t engage them to do the work if the agreement is not signed, but also give them an opportunity to look it over and make changes to it (e. g. they might agree to a different-sized format, etc.).

Note: this agreement is rather artist-centric. They probably won’t have much of a problem with it. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Be patient and pleasant like you would be with anyone. This is not you forcing the artist to do anything. But do insist on a signed agreement.

Anyone who is insulted by your insistence on signing an agreement is never, ever someone who you would want to work with. Ever.

Changes

You might want to make changes to a design. You can spell those out in the contract. Should the artist charge you for any changes? They might. So, make sure all of that is in writing. See why it’s a good idea to know pretty much what you want before you start?

It could come in handy for, say, an agreement that the first three changes are free.

Working With a Cover Artist Means Payments

Don’t pay it all up front, and don’t agree to do so. If you are absolutely, flat-out broke, you should still be able to pay something, even if the artist hand waves and doesn’t want anything for their work.

Be good to your conscience and at least ask if you can make a small donation to one of their three favorite charities.

Otherwise, payments should be as specified in the agreement. Are they in dollars, Euros, bitcoin, or something else? Do you pay with a check, a credit card, PayPal, or something else? When is the first payment due? What percentage of the total is due at the time? What’s the mechanism for getting a refund if things don’t work out?

If this sounds an awful lot like engaging, say, a roofer for your home, then ding ding ding! You’ve got it. You are, in essence, working with a service contractor.

Recommendations

Do you absolutely love your cover? Or do you dislike it but still think the artist is great (in other words, sometimes our visions can clash)? Then find out where and how to recommend them, whether it’s a recommendation on LinkedIn or a review on Yelp. And be sure to tell your writer friends, too!

Be good to your cover artist, and they will reward you many times over.

Want More About Creating, Commissioning, and Deciding on Book Covers?

If my experiences with book covers resonate with you, then please be sure to check out my other blog posts about getting the best cover for your book. Because, like it or not, we all use them to judge books.

• Color Theory, Part 1
† Color Theory, Part 2
• Part 3 of Color Theory
† Part 4 of Color Theory
• Working with a Cover Artist, Part 1
† Covers, Working with Them
• Video on Working with a Cover Artist
† The Weird World of Being Published

Next blog post

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Working With a Cover Artist, Part 1

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on October 6, 2022

Let’s Look at Working With a Cover Artist

Have you ever worked with a cover artist?

They are a fellow creative soul. But they express their artistry in a far different way from how you and I do.

It is like any business relationship, or it should be. Respect your cover artist, and they will help you. Don’t, and beware!

Get an Idea of What You Want Before You Start

So the last thing a cover artist wants to hear is, “Surprise me!” When they ask you how you envision your cover, you need to have an idea. One of the best ways to get such ideas is to browse Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and even your local bookstore.

Look at the typical covers in your genre. Are they natural-looking? Industrial? Hand-drawn?

What are the predominant colors? Black and white? Green? Pink? Red? Something else? So are they angular, or are the shapes softer and more muted?

Consider the fonts as well. Science fiction tends to have sans serif fonts. Romances tend to have serifs and script display fonts.

Also, are there people on the covers of the books in your genre? Is it two people holding each other, or just someone’s impressively chiseled abs?

Use Care!

Now we have all heard or read the expression, don’t judge a book by its cover.

Except that it’s absolutely untrue. We do judge books by their covers. All. The. Time.

Do Your Cover Artist a Favor and Do Some Research

If the covers in your genre’s section of the bookstore are all orange, should your cover be orange, too? It’s hard to say. You want it to look like it belongs in that section, right? But you also want it to stand out.

I would say, if you are a new author and you are predominantly selling online, you need to consider how your work is going to look when it’s shown with others in the genre.

Perform an Amazon or Barnes & Noble search for your genre, and for any keywords related to your plot. If your book is a children’s work about a super-ocelot named Clive (please don’t steal this work. I suddenly have a wicked plot bunny ping-ponging around my head), then you could search under children’s works and then under superheroes or animal stories, etc.

Do some in depth research because your cover is a valuable piece of your marketing.

It might even be helpful to take a screenshot, print it and then consider images which would fit in and images which would stand out.

Your Name

So, your name is probably not going to be recognizable to most people. While it is an important part of the cover, it might be better for the artist to make the title stand out more.

Unless you are very famous already, it is highly likely that the cover will have the title of your book at the top and your name at the bottom.

Cover Artist Contracts!

Oh, and another thing – be sure to have a written agreement with this person. Even something relatively informal, signed by both of you, is better than nothing. But why? Because you’re exchanging money for labor. And that means, sometimes, people sue.

This is the very essence of the business side of writing. So, it’s time to pull out all the stops and be a professional about such things.

Want More About Creating, Commissioning, and Deciding on Book Covers?

If my experiences with book covers resonate with you, then check out my other articles about getting the best cover for your book. Because, like it or not, we all use them to judge books..

Book Covers and You, the Writer

• Color Theory, Part 1
† Color Theory, Part 2
• Part 3 of Color Theory
† Part 4 of Color Theory
• Color Theory Videos
† Working with a Cover Artist, Part 1
• Working with a Cover Artist, Part 2
† Covers, Working with Them
• Video on Working with a Cover Artist
† The Weird World of Being Published

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Self-Review – Cynthia

Self-Review – Cynthia

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 25, 2022

Review – Cynthia

So the thing about Cynthia is, it’s a fun although ultimately sad story.

You see, Cynthia is a Great Dane.

And to her sorrow, her master is succumbing to Alzheimer’s. This short story was written for the second volume of The Longest Night Watch. All of the proceeds go to the Alzheimer’s Association.

I love the canine point of view. There is just something about writing about a species that is so incredibly close to us yet their ‘language’, such as it is, is vastly different.

Furthermore, even science says that dogs experience so much more than we do when it comes to scent. And so, I firmly believe that their perceptions have to be rendered in that manner.

Background

I have always been a dog lover, and I even have some fan fiction where the POV comes from a canine perspective. As a result, I had the itch to write something similar yet wholly original. I also wanted it to reflect the overall subject matter, Alzheimer’s. What better way, than to show that the creature keeping their faculties is one who didn’t have quite so many to begin with?

Plot

The plot is small and compact, and it reflects how Daniel’s life is shrinking in on itself. The dog even says that there is more food when Keisha arrives, and the walks are longer. You don’t need to be human to know that Daniel is faltering. Because this status quo will change, and the center will not hold.

Characters

The characters are the narrator, Cynthia the dog, Daniel Robinson, her owner, and Daniel’s daughter, Keisha. However, we only see Keisha at the end, although there is a mentioning of her before.

Memorable Quotes from Cynthia

I love him.

He smells good.

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Cynthia: Upshot

Canine POV, as I noted above, is great fun to write. But the story is truly a sad one. For Keisha in particular, her father is slipping away. And even though she’s a nurse, she can do nothing to slow down or stop his decline.

Cynthia’s devotion and love are as real and true as any human’s. #amwriting

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Writing Better Accents

Published by Janet Gershen-Siegel on August 23, 2022

Writing Better Accents

Accents can be tough to write. However, not to worry. Because New York Times bestselling author Dayton Ward has some wonderful advice amidst the humor.

Distinguishing Each Accent

So, can you tell the difference between someone from the Bronx and someone from Brooklyn? And what about Chicago versus Detroit? Or Swedish versus Norwegian? YouTube has a number of videos about speech and speaking details; just conduct a search.

However, I caution you that the information is not always correct. Hence, listen to several videos and try to split the difference, unless you know for certain where the speaker hails from. Because sometimes a person is just trying to practice or mimic the way others speak and they don’t always do such a great job of that.

Respecting the Speakers

If your southern American characters sound like Gomer Pyle, and your Mexican characters sound like Señor Wences, you are probably not doing such a hot job with depicting their accents. Same with a British character who ends up sounding like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. Just, don’t.

Furthermore, areas of the world have variations when it comes to speaking. And it’s not just with word choice (e. g. Bostonians call a sandwich on a long roll a grinder whereas that same sandwich is a po’boy in New Orleans and a sub in New York City); it also has to do with sounds. Brooklynites tend to broaden their vowels and can often drop an ending g or an r.

For example, a Brooklynite from the area called “East New York” (such as my own mother) will call Barbey Street “Bobby Street”. Yes, really – true story – I didn’t know the correct name of the street my mother grew up on until we went there and I saw the street sign for the first time.

In addition, a county does not have to be as large as the United States for there to be differences in speech. England is notorious for this. Go to Liverpool and they speak far differently from how people speak in Cornwall.

Accents and Takeaways

Be sure to listen to people who have the accents you want to write about. Do so in person if you can, or at least online with a reliable source. And particularly pay attention to how people say the name of the place they come from. Finally, respect accents and don’t automatically assign intelligence or stupidity based upon them.

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Tag: art

Can You Get Inspiration From Films?

The New Prequel

The Side Character Gets Center Stage

Flipping the Ending of Films

Consider the Art of Filmmaking Itself

Takeaways

Share this:

Like this:

So, Eavesdropping? Seriously?

Subtlety

Nosiness

The Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent

Eavesdropping: Takeaways

Share this:

Like this:

Ah, Friendship

Names

Friendship Characteristics and Quirks

Scenes Inspired by Friendship

Takeaways

Share this:

Like this:

Writing Better Dialogue

Word Choice

Affectations, Accents, and Pet Names

Takeaways

Share this:

Like this:

All About Descriptions

Scenes

People

More Natural Exposition and Descriptions

Aliens

Descriptions: Takeaways

Share this:

Like this:

Are You in the Thinking About Writing a Blurb?

You Have GOT to Grab the Reader’s Attention

Blurb Samples

Some More Blurb Samples

Get in Some Practice

Takeaways

Share this:

Like this:

It’s Time for Working With a Cover Artist, Part 2

Working With a Cover Artist Should Mean a Contract

So, Are We There Yet?

One Quick Tip

Second Quick Tip

Changes

Working With a Cover Artist Means Payments

Recommendations

Want More About Creating, Commissioning, and Deciding on Book Covers?

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Let’s Look at Working With a Cover Artist

Get an Idea of What You Want Before You Start

Use Care!

Do Your Cover Artist a Favor and Do Some Research

Your Name

Cover Artist Contracts!

Want More About Creating, Commissioning, and Deciding on Book Covers?

Book Covers and You, the Writer

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Review – Cynthia

Background

Plot

Characters

Memorable Quotes from Cynthia

Rating

Cynthia: Upshot

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Writing Better Accents

Distinguishing Each Accent

Respecting the Speakers

Accents and Takeaways

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