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Tipsheet Articles That Focus on Technique
For your convenience, we've clustered all the tipsheet articles that focus on technique.
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Author Intrusion - Brackets
Marg McAlister
">"Author intrusion" is what happens when the writer accidentally breaks the "story spell" for the reader, by reminding them that they are reading. Usually it happens because the author feels a strong need to pass along some extra information - and doesn't think twice about butting into the narrative to do so. . . . keep reading
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Inoculate Against the "ING" Disease
Marg McAlister
There's a very common error that gives away an inexperienced writer every time: the practice of starting too many sentences with a word ending in "ING". This leads to a secondary problem - monotonous sentence structure that soon has the reader's eyes glazing over. . . . keep reading
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Beware Monotonous Interior Monologue
Marg McAlister
A monologue is a long speech by one person. It can be dramatic, or it can bore the pants off listeners (or readers, if it's a character holding forth). The content has to be pretty dramatic for a monologue to work well. Interior monologue is a fancy name for 'thinking things through' at some length. It's similar to talking to yourself, but it's all done internally. . . . keep reading
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What Words Should be Avoided?
Marg McAlister
Is there any validity in a list of words that should be avoided? And if so, what ARE those words? Short answer: No word is 'bad' in itself. Long answer: some words can make your work seem pedantic, overwritten, or add 'distance' between the reader and the story. That's why Su was able to find a list of 'words to be avoided': because some words are used inappropriately (or too much) in the work of inexperienced writers. . . . keep reading
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Don't Distance the Reader
Marg McAlister
When critiquing a set task for one of my e-courses. I finished typing the following words: "This is one of those things that can create 'distance' between the reader and the character." Then I stopped and stared at what I'd written, thinking that I seemed to be saying the same thing rather a lot lately. So perhaps it was time to investigate the whole issue of 'distance' - particularly in regard to viewpoint slips, but with a nod to how you use your character's name, too. . . . keep reading
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Emotional Punch - One Vital Tip
Marg McAlister
It's very likely that at some stage, you've poured everything you have into writing an emotional scene - only to feel your heart sink when you read it through, because you realise that it simply isn't working. Why? What's the problem? . . . keep reading
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