FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer J. Scott Coatsworth: How long are your chapters? How many scenes? And one POV per chapter or…? Why? Writers: This is a writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf
FOR READERS/WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer A.T. Weaver: Here’s a question for both readers and writers. If you have a story with two POVs, how important is it that they be similar or equal in length? Writers: This is a reader.writer chat – you are welcome to share your own book/link, as long as it fits the chat, but please do so as part of a discussion about the topic. Join the chat
FOR WRITERS Today’s writer topic comes from QSFer Julia AT Weaver Flowers: “Using different tenses and/or mixing them in your writing”. It’s an interesting topic. IIn general, most writers use third person, although even this is split into a few versions, like deep 3rd person POV and third person subjective. Some writers also choose present tense to give a story a more immediate feel. This can be jarring at first, but it does put the story right in your face, like sitting in the front row at the movie theater. I’ve tried mixing both in one story – deep 3rd … Read more
Anyone who knows me well will know semicolons are punctuation marks about which my views are passionate. Unfortunately, many digital/small publishing houses do not appear to agree. Notes from editors frequently come through to me with requests to remove all (or at least some) of my semicolons since they are ‘specialised punctuation’. My response to this (in my head) is to ask: Since when? Now, this column is by no means intended as a rant against any publishers or fellow editors; I merely use it to illustrate a point. I fully accept that each publishing house has its own preferences, … Read more