A Quick & Easy Step to Make Your Manuscript Shine

I'm thrilled to introduce today's guest, author Jessica Bell. I started following her career a few years ago during the A-Z challenge. In addition to being an author and poet, she's the Co-Publishing Editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and co-hosts the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek Isle of Ithaca, with Chuck Sambuchino of Writer’s Digest.


Need to clean up your manuscript? The first step toward making this happen is to remove superfluous words.


I usually write in present tense, but for the sake of this post I'm going to use past tense for my examples as it is more common. 

These examples will also be very simple for the purpose of showing you what to remove.


So, see the words in bold below? Get rid of them. I call these words "slippery little suckers," because, to put it bluntly, they slip into first drafts uninvited and they suck.


He was standing by the door. → He stood by the door.


She could hear the dog howl. → The dog howled.


She felt him stroke her cheek. → He stroked her cheek.


She grabbed him by the arm. → She grabbed his arm.


Julie didn't even know how to do it. → Julie didn't know how to do it.


The doll that she lost sat on the windowsill. → The doll she lost sat on the windowsill.


They finally arrived at the last minute. → They arrived at the last minute.


All he really wanted was her love. → All he wanted was her love.


The kid climbed up the tree. → The kid climbed the tree.


Kit walked in through the archway. → Kit walked through the archway.


Tom dawdled over to the couch. → Tom dawdled to the couch.


Gemma played out in the garden. → Gemma played in the garden.


She just needed him to sit still. → She needed him to sit still.


Note: Even if the intent of the above sentence was to show that it was the only thing she needed him to do, the word 'just' still isn't necessary, because we would already be in the moment, and you would be showing how the situation is panning out, and therefore, this fact should already be evident.


Jack was almost at the door. → Jack stood inches from the door.

Jack seemed to be near the door. → Jack stood near the door.


Note: Readers don't want things to almost or seem to happen. Be direct.

I can't believe how much I do all of the things Jessica has pointed out! So, tell me - are you guilty of adding words that could be cut?

Developing Your Character with Jemi Fraser

 When I met Talli Roland and Hart Johnson during the A-Z Challenge, I also met another unpublished writer (like me) who was always there commenting and encouraging others in the challenge. A warm welcome to Jemi Fraser!

Six Questions with Talli Roland

  

Talli Roland was one of the first authors I came across when I began writing my novel almost three years ago.

Her kindness and generosity stood out and I've been a fan and follower of hers ever since.

A warm welcome to Six Questions Talli!

A-Z Fail

So here it is... A week since my last letter post, which incidentally was only the second letter of the alphabet... I'm amazed at myself. Now I could blame the fact that I have been sick with the flu this week, along with my family. But I won't. I could also blame the virus on my PC, but I don't think I should do that either. I could have easily picked up my iPhone and, even though it's annoying and typed up a post like I am right now.

But, let's just move forward! I have been working on some fun things this week from my couch- first thing is a guest blog over at Ashley's blog which I'm pretty excited about. She and Misty will be collaborating for Fairytale Fortnight starting April 17. I jumped on the opportunity to get involved because I love fairytales and I wanted to talk a little about the difference between Fairytales vs Faerie Tales. Confused? Well, come check it out!!

The next thing I'm excited about is I received a copy of my friend Terri's new book, In Leah's Wake... And she's so sweet that she sent me an extra copy to give away! More on that to come...

B is also for Bookplate

I am just browsing the web on this lovely Sunday and I found this article on Squidoo that features printable bookplates available on various sites on the web. I am so in love with the cute ones here. I know I'll be printing up a bunch on the books I lend out! I'm always happy to loan a friend a book, but let's be honest- it can be annoying when our friends forget where they came from... Lol

B is for Belated

So tonight I'm just getting around to posting B for the A-Z challenge. Not exactly a stellar start for me. But, with two sick little boys, that's the way it goes. I hope everyone else was able to be more punctual with their posts and visits. I did, at least visit my new friends who stopped by to say Hi to me! So thanks for coming and I'll be back Monday for C!

A is for Angst

Today is day 1 of the A-Z challenge! What did you choose for your A word?

So let's talk about Angst!! I read alot, and over the years I've discovered that no matter what genre I'm reading in, one thing that keeps me interested in a book is the level of angst the author achieves. It's an amazing skill, in my opinion, to raise the stakes throughout a novel to the point where the reader can actually feel the tension in their chest.

No matter your opinion of the Twilight series, it's a great example of some serious teenage angst.. And it was the book that got me into the YA genre, even though I was 29 when I read it- haha.

What's a book that keeps you up at night with the angst and tension rising to the boiling point?

Blogging From A-Z Challenge

Have you signed up for the Blogging From A-Z Challenge yet? If not... Get to it!
Started last year on Arlee Bird's blog Tossing it Out, this challenge is back and better than ever! This challenge is for bloggers to blog 26 days (A-Z) in April and the posts are in, you guessed it, A-Z order! Here are he deets, so hurry and sign up, we'll have Fun!!

             The premise of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge is to post something on your blog every day in April except for Sundays.  In doing this you will have 26 blog posts--one for each letter of the alphabet.   Each day you will theme your post according to a letter of the alphabet.

            Last year was nearly overwhelming for me to administrate the ongoing challenge by myself.  There is no way I can expand this Challenge to 300 or more participants and expect to do it alone.  That is why I've joined up with three of the most successful bloggers and blog event organizers that I know. 
            Just in case you don't know these great bloggers and writers, let me introduce them to you:

Star blogger Alex J. Cavanaugh, author of the popular science fiction novel CassaStar.  We met in last year's A to Z and he'll swear by the Challenge.  He's already organized events such as the Movie Dirty Dozen, The Top Ten TV Shows Blogfest, and the current Top Ten Music Countdown-- each one of these an unqualified success.    Alex is determined to see A to Z go to 500 participants and with him on board I think we can do it. 

Power-blogger  Jen Daiker from Unedited  jumped right into blogging last April by joining up in the A to Z Challenge.   In her short span of blogging she has amazingly passed the 1000 follower mark--I still am flabbergasted by that feat.  Blog events she has hosted or co-hosted are the Guess That Character Fest, The Great Blogging Experiment (with Alex Cavanaugh and Elana Johnson), and The Be Jolly By Golly Blogfest.   If only all 1059 of her followers blogged from A to Z with us!

Talli Roland from her self-named blog and the author of The Hating Game , her recent novel which is still doing hot business.  When Talli did her Web Splash to coincide with the release of The Hating Game, there were hundreds of fans who helped kick off the campaign with their own blogs.   She'll be in charge of our international affairs since she currently lives in London, England.   And Jen is already building her army of followers while Alex is taking control of CassaStar and the universe--it's a busy crew here.

           And if you're a regular reader of my blog then you probably know something about me, Arlee Bird--there's plenty written about me in my blog pages.    I encourage you to click on the above links to three blogs and give your greeting and, if not one already, become a follower of each of their blogs!