The Sleuth’s Eye: How Self-Editing Improves Your Mystery Writing
Maximize your mystery novel’s potential with effective self-editing. Learn how to catch inconsistencies, improve pacing, and create a more engaging story.
The Reader-Centric Approach to Editing Your Novel
Discover how a reader-centric editing approach can transform your manuscript and connect with your audience.
Quick Start Editing: Toward the Meaning of Words and Sentences
Transform self-editing from a chore into an opportunity to nurture your manuscript with the kind of precision, clarity, and vivid details that only an author’s careful reading and intentional revisions can offer.
How to Add Details to Your First Draft to Show Your Reader the Effects of Setting
Introduction to story details and how to use them, using editing to complete each scene with sensory details to ground the reader in your story.
Power Words: Transform Your Novel From Plain to Vivid with Captivating Language
Tips to use strong verbs and nouns to create emotional connection with your reader.
Second Draft: How to Wrestle Your Story When You Finish the First Draft
How to approach the second draft of your novel. Steps to make your story more enjoyable for your reader.
Enrich Your Novel with The Five Senses
Every scene needs sensory details. Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste are opportunities to get your reader to care about your characters.
Get Inside Your Character’s Body
Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash Body Details to Improve Your Story Most writers don’t think of anatomy and physiology when they are creating a story, but you can enhance reader engagement with body part details. If you find your characters all nodding in agreement or sighing in resignation, try expanding your view of the…
Manage Your Novel Scenes with Checklists
Scene Checklists Scenes are the building blocks of your story. Each scene moves the story forward. As you build your story alternate between action and reaction. When you go through the first edits of your story make certain that all scene components are in each scene. You’ll take your reader by the hand to lead…
Get To The End of Your Mystery
Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash The End That Satisfies A mystery novel is all about a puzzle. As the story unfolds you put more and more pieces in place that lead your sleuth toward discovering the killer. Once the sleuth reveals the killer, the puzzle is complete. As far as your reader is concerned,…