Editor's Notes Archives | Christian Authors Community & Services

Learn from the Tale of a Tale

May 19, 2020May 20, 2020
by Margaret Welwood

The invitation came out of the blue. Would I like to write a magazine article on a person with a very interesting mission?

I puzzled a bit—I’d never written for this magazine or on this topic before. However, I have written for a variety of magazines and also edited a business magazine. The editor’s choice became clearer when I realized that the “source”—also known as the “subject”—lived in a city near where I live. And I guessed that the editor had found me in our provincial writers’ guild registry.

I checked out the magazine, and found that it was a quarterly distributed free to professionals, administrators, post-secondary students, and politicians in a particular field. I checked out the editor’s website and Linkedin profile, then confirmed with him that I’d like to do the article. Read more “Learn from the Tale of a Tale” →

How to Write Body Language

March 16, 2020March 27, 2020
by Tom Blubaugh

Writers live in this 2-dimensional world struggling to make it (along with their reader’s excellent imagination) a living, breathing world of 4-dimensions. Real. Sometimes we hit the mark and other times not. [This article is directed toward the less experienced writer. I’d really like for the more veteran writers to offer guidance to Sprout Writers in the comments section. I love seeing how words create new worlds and environments with “real” people.]

There is one obstacle that will bite us every time and that is communication among characters. Dialogue is crucial, but that is only part of communicating. Body language and tonal qualities make up the majority of communication. Read more “How to Write Body Language” →

Anticipation is making me wait…

September 1, 2019April 13, 2020
by Tom Blubaugh

by Gina Burgess

Sally watched Harry yawn, scratch his chest and pad to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He wet his toothbrush and spread the minty paste over it then popped it in his mouth brushing up and down the one hundred twenty-eight times he allotted every night.

Bleh!

What a boring paragraph.

Why is it so boring? One reason is because there is zero anticipation, another reason is we know what’s coming next. He spits out the toothpaste and rinses his mouth then goes to bed. It’s something we all do every night. Routine. Who wants to read routine in a novel? We don’t read for familiarity. A third reason it’s boring is that there is zero conflict. We want escape, adventure, romance, quirky and/interesting characters. Yes? Of course, yes. But without conflict, those things don’t appear in a novel. Read more “Anticipation is making me wait…” →

Average cost of indie publishing a book

May 16, 2019April 14, 2020
by Tom Blubaugh

by Gina Burgess

DID YOU KNOW?!?
The average cost of developmental editing, copy editing, proofreading, cover design and typesetting for an 80,000-word book is as follows:

The Famous First Line

November 24, 2018April 13, 2020
by Tom Blubaugh

by Gina Burgess

Google tells me that I have to have what the post is about in the first line. It is about first lines and how crucial are they? Kinda boring first line isn’t it?

I had the misfortune of getting sick over Thanksgiving. It was the first Thanksgiving that I’ve ever spent alone, and I’ll tell you it was fine with me. I stayed in my warm PJs wrapped in a soft, warm blanket, and watched movies all day. I started feeling better somewhere around 3 am on Saturday morning. Ergo — I’ve almost never used that word, but it is really a fun word, isn’t it? Ergo, I need help with this week’s newsletter and blog post.

The post is just basically a few questions and an example:

Read more “The Famous First Line” →