Using Quotes in Narrative Nonfiction
IFW Instructor Victoria Sherrow shares how to effectively use quotes from historical figures and experts when writing narrative nonfiction novels and articles.
Narrative Nonfiction
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Melissa Stewart, writer and nonfiction evangelist, fills her Twitter feed with books and bits to help writers and buyers better understand nonfiction. She’s made nonfiction her life. And she explains that nonfiction is basically broken into two broad…
The Appeal of Narrative Nonfiction
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Just the facts, ma’am.” These oft-repeated words are associated with Sergeant Joe Friday, a character in the 1950s TV police drama “Dragnet.” Friday’s actual words were “All we want are the facts,” but the point remains: Investigators need…
The Perils of Picture Books
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Writing a publishable picture book is hard. It simply is. The competition is incredible. And your book must do so many things well. It needs to sing. It needs to speak to every reader, whether child or adult.…
Verb-Perfect: 7 Tips to Fuel Your Writing
Verbs play a key role in building effective sentences, so pay close attention to them as you revise and polish. These 7 writing tips will make your story shine!
How Do I Tell Where I Fail?
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > According to Dr. David Dunning, a psychology professor at Cornell, we are not good judges of our own competency. In other words, we aren’t very skilled at telling if we’re good at…
The “Feel” of Your Writing
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Everything is in the tone.”—Sherwood Anderson For a well-polished manuscript, make sure you use tone and mood effectively. Tone in fiction refers to an author’s attitude toward the characters and events in the story. The tone helps to…
Picking the Right Word
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Polishing a manuscript involves both big picture corrections, such as plot issues or motivation issues for your characters, and incredibly small, picky bits where you’re really bringing out the shine in each…
Time for a Sound Check?
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Hearing” your manuscript with a reader’s ear As you polish your manuscript, you will likely review it numerous times, looking for ways to improve the content, style, and presentation. Some experts suggest reading a hard copy in addition…
Perfectionism Alert
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > How Polished Does It Need to Be? In the many views about the importance of polishing a manuscript, there are two opposite ends of the spectrum. First are the writers whose work…
Polishing the Point of View
Today we focus on ways to intensify a third-person point of view to achieve a close third person viewpoint drawing readers deeply inside a character’s POV.
Dialogue and Plot
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Dialogue serves a number of purposes in a book or story. It brings immediacy since dialogue takes place at a specific moment in time, thus bringing the reader into the story. It…
Dos and Don’ts of Dialogue
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > What to do (and not do) in your characters’ conversations As a final check through your dialogue, a good idea is to give a scene to two friends and have them read a different character as if they…
Dialogue: Don’t Forget the World!
Setting and dialogue must influence each other. Let’s look at one conversation in three different places to see how setting influences the dialogue.
4 Tips for Snappy Dialogue
Dialogue is a great way to get readers to care about your characters and eager to find out what happens next. Here are 4 tips for snappy dialogue.
Dialogue Bits and Bobs
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Let’s talk about the mechanics of dialogue, the nuts and bolts of putting it on the page. In order to write good dialogue that communicates clearly with the reader, it’s helpful if…
Avoiding the “As You Know Bob…”s
Dialogue can be an effective way to share backstory with your readers. Here’s what to do and what not to do when using dialogue to convey a character’s past.
Dialogue and Humor
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Much of the humor in the books I write, both the children’s books and the adult mysteries, involve the dialogue. Because dialogue reveals character, it’s a perfect opportunity for the characters to…
Punctuating Dialogue
Properly punctuating dialogue trips up even the most seasoned of writers. Bookmark this post to help you as you proofread your manuscript for submission.
Writing Contemporary Realistic Fiction
What is contemporary realistic fiction? Is it the right genre for your story? Check out this post for tips and tricks in writing this genre for kids.
