Children and teen literature is classified in genres. This is not so much on the insistence of the authors, but on the insistence of the marketing department of the publishing houses and on-line distributors. The placement of your book in a certain genre is…
Everyone has some gaps in their grammar education. No matter how much grammar was pounded into us in class, we didn’t get it all. We might operate on the principle that if something ‘sounds’ right, it is right. Why it is right is often beyond…
Of course, I have style. Writing style is part of our personality: brash, in-your-face, shy, retiring, academic, rational or emotional. It is a little like clothes sense–something we develop to suit ourselves and to make a statement to others. Our choice of long sentences…
Of course, I have style. Writing style is part of our personality: brash, in-your-face, shy, retiring, academic, rational or emotional. It is a little like clothes sense–something we develop to suit ourselves and to make a statement to others. Our choice of long sentences or…
Here is the dialogue test: Give a reader a sentence taken from the dialogue in your book manuscript. Ask him or her to identify which character said which sentence. It should be obvious. Characters speak in dialogue that has a definitive and unique flavor. A…