It’s rhythm and flow, but it’s much more than that — Have you ever had a really good look at the sentences you write? Sure, you examine them for grammar and punctuation errors and fix them (I hope), but that’s like polishing the hood of your car when really your engine needs a tune-up. There are a lot of small ways…

Maybe the question is — will readers know the difference? — Those are scary ideas to me. I put a lot of time and energy into my novels, but more vitally for me, I put my imagination, intuition and serendipity into them. I also create characters that feel real to me, whose voices I hear in my head. The proposal that…

Tips for flourishes to add in your rewriting and polishing drafts — I’ve written before about literary devices that can add extra layers of imagery, meaning and impact in your novel — in a first draft we want to get the story down and show who our characters are. But in subsequent drafts, look for opportunities to add these little touches. …

You see them in poetry, but they work in fiction and memoir as well — If you read a lot of poetry and have studied it, you may know of some of these devices I am about to describe. “Devices” is the term we use in literature, but I think lots of writers would be more likely to think of these as “imaginative or heightened…

Getting rid of these will tighten your writing and improve pacing as well — My recent article on redundancies seemed to strike a clear note with many — and it reminded me to double-check my own writing! But as I continue to edit other people’s fiction, I gather more examples of things you need to look out for as you self-edit. Over-explaining There’s a tendency…

It’s not about being selfish, it’s about impossibility — One of the biggest things I learned by going to a counselor was this — you can’t MAKE other people happy. …

Everyone has to think twice about this one! — Recently I have edited several manuscripts in which the writer has got the whole lay/lie thing wrong every time. I’m not surprised. When I’m writing, I have to stop and think it through myself, and I’m supposed to know this stuff! Part of the problem is we get confused between…

You’re writing about your own heart and it’s precious — Years ago, I heard about a fiction writing workshop where the teacher started with a memoir piece. Strange, I thought, how does that help? Then I discovered the “memoir” topic was to write about the worst thing that ever happened to you when you were a child. For some of…

Collect the favorite recipes that have meaning for your family — Public holidays are a great time for families to get together — and eat! Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably the favorites, with family members of all ages gathering to share a special meal. And how many of your family have dishes they are famous for? It seems like everyone has…