Marilyn's Musings

I've served as a judge for many writing contests and some want the judges to leave comments about the manuscript on the judging sheet. One thing I've seen far too often is wrong formatting in a manuscript. Most editors want the manuscript double spaced and an indent for the beginning of a paragraph, not a space between paragraphs. Before sending off to a publisher, check the guidelines and do what is asked for. Active voice works so much better than passive. For an example: Passive: Mary was strolling along the pier. Active: Mary strolled along the pier. When ever possible get rid of sentences with the was .....ing combinations. Use strong verbs instead of adverbs to describe the verb. Start a new paragraph when someone new does or says something. Break up some of the long descriptions with action and/or dialogue. Be sure something exciting or some conflict happens in each chapter—end a chapter with a reason to go on to the next chapter. Use a person’s a...

If you'll hop on over to http://nevets-qst.blogspot.com/  you'll get a little writing advice--well maybe more than a little. I think I got carried away. In case you don't know who Nevets is, he writes wonderful reviews for the books he likes, and he liked Invisible Path . He also won a contest to be a character in my next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery which will be out sometime next fall--it's called Bears With Us . You'll have to get the book to find out which character I gave his name to. He won the contest because he made a comment on the most blogs on my blog tour for Invisible Path . This is the second time I've had a contest like that, so I need to put on my thinking cap and come up with another idea for the next blog tour. Oh sure, I'll be on another one, this time for Angel Lost , the next in the Rocky Bluff P.D. crime series. I'm anxious to see what people think about this one because I departed a bit from the standard mystery. Anyway, d...

Over the years I've learned a lot as a writer. That doesn't mean I'm an expert. I still make plenty of mistakes, but I've been around long enough to know that I do have some tips that I can share. #1. If you want to write a book, don't talk about it, sit down and start writing. Outline if you want, make a story board, put your ideas on 3X5 cards, or just sit at your keyboard and begin. The method doesn't really matter, what matters is doing it. #2. Plan your characters ahead of time. Make notes about them that so you won't forget things about them. They need to have a back story, but you don't need to put it all in the book. The reason you need to know is so you'll know how each character will react to the events that happen in the book. #3. Pick appropriate names for your characters. A person's name should reflect them somewhat. If writing a historical piece, don't pick a name that wasn't in use at the time. Be careful not to have your c...