Writing dialogues is the second most difficult part of writing novel, the first one being avoiding them. There is no single rule as to how to write dialogues. However, it's always a good practice to avoid short dialogues. Oftentimes short dialogues annoy the readers especially when they are excited to continue with the story. Here we will try to take an example and try to find suitable alternatives. The meeting started. ...
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A book is usually organized into Front Matter, Body Text, Back Matter and Cover Page. Some of them are mandatory and others are optional. In this post, we will look at some of the important elements in a book and see if you need to include them in your manuscript writing. There are other pages like the title page, half-title page and the copyright page which will be added by ...
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Writer's block, the inevitable brain fry that happens to every writer. The symptoms include, staring at the computer screen, fingers hovering over the keys and you feel like you have selective amnesia and have lost it all. If it happens to you, don't worry, this is a completely curable case. Every author hits a blank wall at some point in her/his writing career, but how they overcome it is the ...
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Recently, I happened to meet an aspiring writer, who wanted to talk and discuss the book he is planning to write. We spoke over the phone, exchanged some ideas, and ultimately decided to meet at a coffee shop to sit down and talk about his plans and intentions. On meeting him, I noticed that he was an enthusiastic lad, who was really looking forward to this meeting speaking about his ...
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Lets begin with the blatant truth. Before you embark on a journey to write an autobiography, you will need to ask yourself one question Why would someone want to read your autobiography? An autobiography is a self- authored story of a persons life. Unlike a book, an autobiography is steeped in the truth. Fiction gives authors plenty of reign to make things interesting. But the crux of an autobiography is your ...
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We live in a world of 7 billion people; a beautiful planet that is home to amazing diversity. With thousands of languages spoken around the world, with people from different cultural and diverse backgrounds living together, and with so many things diversifying us at so many different levels, the world is indeed huge and not how the internet perceives it to be. Considering such vast diversity, we, as humans, have ...
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In the past, authors were known for their stints with typewriters or for bundles of papers and the trademark fountain pen. Times have changed today. Laptops have replaced the likes of typewriters, papers, and pens. This transformation is due to the advancement of technology and the advent of innovation in all fields, fostering the overall growth of us humans. In their day to day life, authors have to face a ...
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Everyone has a type. Be it people, music, movies or books. With music and books especially, the 'my type' is more evident, which we call, the genre here. The genre is defined by Google as ''A category of literary composition determined by the tone, technique, and content". That is Google for you, but to simplify, just imagine, you are at a confluence of roads. There are five paths, each further ...
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Writing a novel and finishing it is hard, however getting a publisher to print the novel is harder. Unable to find publishers, there have been many authors who have taken the self-publishing route. With various self-publishing programs and websites that allow writers to publish their own stories, more authors are moving towards self-publishing. Here is a look at famous authors who chose self-publishing. If you already have a manuscript, learn How ...
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Love is a universal feeling that transcends regions, boundaries, languages, ethnicity, and now even gender. It's the feel that everyone, throughout the world, can relate to. Perhaps, that's the reason why romance-fiction is one of the most popular genres in writing. So, if you've chosen to write a romance novel, there may be just two reasons you want to tap into the vast market of romance-fiction readers or you have ...
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Check out some of the fiction books lying in your bookshelf and you'll see that every story has a definite, basic structure to it. Structure is the building block for your story, without which your book will collapse. Imagine reading your favorite book from random chapters you start from chapter 10, then go on to reading chapter 4, and then to the last chapter, and finally the first. How would ...
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Let's come to terms with reality, readers no longer like to read stuff that has been washed, rinsed, and soaked n number of times. Readers are looking for something new to read; something that'll enchant them and enlighten them. So, if you want to steer clear from accusations on cliches to avoid while writing, follow some of the tips discussed below. But before that: What is a cliché? It is content ...
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Remember we mentioned that having a website or a blog is one of the most essential things to building an author platform? If yes, have you created a blog for yourself? If it's a yes again, you need to know how to differentiate your blog from tons and tons of blogs out there. For that, you need to write an engaging blog on the niche of your blog. If you think writing ...
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The importance of an attractive cover design cannot be overstated. The cover design will attract the reader to pick up your book from the stand. However, the next thing they will do is flip it over. No matter how attractive your design is, the content at the back of your book is what will convince them to buy your book. So now, what does a captivating back cover need? BLURB: This is the ...
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How many times has it happened to you that you picked up a book, read the title, felt hesitant on buying it, and decided to go for it after reading the book's subtitle? Quite often, I'm sure. A book's subtitles are those that attract readers more to your book. Subtitles are those that provide more information to readers the moment they pick to check it out. On the other hand, ...
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It is really hard to put into words the importance of copyediting. Besides, there are a very few writers in this world who could write an error-free draft the first time. If you're sure you're not one of those writers, you need to copyedit your rough draft. In this post, you'll learn some of the basic copyediting tips that'll allow you to proofread and correct some of the obvious errors ...
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I still remember this incident. One of my writer-friends finished writing his first novel (a murder mystery) and was all excited about it. He told he had done everything he had to do from a writer's perspective, including proofreading and editing. He intended to self-publish his work and before submitting his final draft, he happened to share the manuscript with me to have a look. I read the book in ...
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As writers, our minds are constantly thinking about writing, plots and characters, meeting the daily word count, and publishing the book. We ponder over our books so much that it actually reflects on our writing. Writing consistently for days together may be good from a training perspective. However, it does exhaust your creativity. That's something we don't want to happen, do we? So, as an author, you must understand the ...
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So, you're finally done writing your book and copy editing it as well. Cheers to that. Now, all you need to do is take care of things that would add more value to you, as an author, and your book when it releases in the market. You, now, have to write a preface for your book (check out the how to write a preface here), get a foreword from a ...
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So, you've decided the topic or a theme you want to write about, haven't you? When you're sure of what you're going to write, you've to now think about your target audience. Sounds like a marketing jargon, right? Target audience is nothing but the readers of your book who would dedicate their time and money to read your book. You should know who your target audience is, how to address ...
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