Please allow me to introduce today’s guest blogger, Shannon McNear! Shannon has been writing one thing or another since third grade and has completed five novels in genres from Southern fiction to Revolutionary War historical to fantasy. She has eight children–two in college and six still homeschooling–but does her best to steal slivers of writing […]
Writing Lesson 3.7-Who is Pilcrow?
October 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I want to introduce my new best friend. We met when I formatted my novel, Grow Old With Me, for publication in various eBook formats. Meet ¶ also known as Pilcrow. This mark should become your best friend too. Pilcrow shows the end of each paragraph and opens access to other non-printing characters in a […]
Writing Lesson 3.2-Story Engineering
September 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I’ve referred in past posts to Larry Brooks’ excellent book, Story Engineering. As I read this book the principles of plotting finally clicked–probably because Larry explains them in architectural terms, and I am a building designer by trade. Suddenly both the rules and the reasons for them became clear, and I’ve been a fan ever […]
Writing Lesson 3.1-“It Isn’t Personal”
August 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment
That’s what my professor said as he ripped miniature trees from my architectural model–the one I’d been up all night completing. I dreaded project juries. We hapless wannabes, sagging with exhaustion, would attempt to communicate our grand vision, knowing in our heart of hearts that the finished product failed to live up to those concepts […]
One Example
July 22, 2011 By 1 Comment
Shanaya Fastje is eleven years old. The homeschooled sophomore loves to write and illustrate her own stories. Shanaya and her family decided to use a small publishing company to get her stories into print (three of them so far, and she’s working on a fourth). Read more here. A Brief Disclaimer: Small publishing companies can […]
