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5 Writing Posts to Make You a Better Author

5 Writing Posts to Make You a Better Author – where am I going with this? I found these great articles teaching writing skills. Then I thought, “Maybe other people can benefit from these. Other authors, poets, non-fiction writers and students can all learn.

So tell me if you like this kind of blog post here.

5 Writing Posts – Your First Lesson

Just kidding! I thought I’d start with a laugh. Here’s the real article next.

Yes, that’s right. This initial post covers everything you should NOT do as a writer. It’s a simple list, but it covers most of the bad things writers can do and do do.

Your Next Lesson

Now you get a video tutorial on how to structure a book.

Various plot structures

The following quickly summarizes :

1. Hero’s Journey
2. Save the Cat – 15 beat story structure
3. The Plot Embryo
4. 27 chapters (3 act structure) Each act into 3 blocks and each block has three chapters.

Do I follow these structures? Not consciously. I seek to start quickly with a tense situation, and build through each chapter. I’ll have ‘relief’ chapters where I surprise the reader with new, interesting characters and conflicts, before returning to the big conflict. The problems build through the book until they’re finally resolved in a big climax. Then I throw in a twist at the end.

I did this for each of my books:

5 Writing Posts
Andy Zach’s novels

5 Writing Posts – Your Third Lesson

Now, let’s tackle that dreaded activity–editing after you’ve written your book.

My quick summary, in time order:

  1. Developmental editing – story structure and organization
  2. Line editing – making each sentence the best it can be.
  3. Copy editing – getting rid of stupid speling misteaks and grammar errorz and punctuation!!!
  4. Proofreading – how does the final copy look on the page? Font size, spacing, paragraphs, page breaks.

I just use items 2-4. I’ve never really had anyone criticize my structure so far. My editor for edit types 1-3 is Dori Harrell at Breakout Editing. She’s worked on Zombie Turkeys, My Undead Mother-in-law, and Paranormal Privateers.

For my latest novel, Secret Supers, just published last March, I tapped Leslie McKie’s expertise.

Aside from professional editing, she’s taught middle school and disabled children. She was perfect to edit my book about seventh-grade disabled superheroes.

5 Writing Posts
Secret Supers Cover

For my layout or proofreading edit, I use Rik Hall at Wild Seas Editing. He’s formatted all my books for print and ebook versions.’

Your Fourth Writing Post

More on plotting! I dislike any structure forcing me to write a particular plot, but I follow everything it says.

Your Last Writing Tip

Naturally, I couldn’t resist publishing another joke first. Your real, last tip comes next.

What can you learn from this lady?

  1. You’re never too old to start writing.
  2. Once you start writing, keep writing
  3. Publish what you write. You may finally catch on.
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First Draft Complete: Now What? Andy Zach Will Tell You!

Happy Mother's Day

First Draft Complete: Now What? Andy Zach Will Tell You!

Andy Zach here to tell you what to do when you achieve your book’s First Draft Complete stage. First of all, celebrate!

First Draft Complete
Chipmunks celebrating. They’re key characters in ‘My Undead Mother-in-law’. Click to learn more.

Take a day or two off! Go hunting zombie turkeys!

First Draft Complete
Zombie Turkeys fly to escape to Zombie Turkey hunters

But you say, “Andy! I want to publish my book! Can I just ship my first draft to a publisher or editor or agent?”

Of course you can do that! They’ll be happy to take your money! But on the off chance you want to sell your book, you need to do more work. That’s what this blog is about.

First Draft Complete: My Editing Steps

First, these are my steps I’ve borrowed from articles I’ve read. You’re different and may need to/want to do this differently. But these are my starting points for my second draft.

These are the actual steps I followed for my latest novel Paranormal Privateers.

First Draft Complete
Andy Zach’s ‘Paranormal Privateers’ cover. Click to order

Paranormal Privateer Edits: The First Three Steps

Don’t worry: I’ve deleted spoilers out of these notes. I plan my editing before I even start writing.

  1. Read through, noting problems – For me, these’ll be comments inserted in my Word document.
  2. Add missing scenes, if necessary – This step, well as the next two, depend upon having a scene chart, as documented in my earlier blog post.
  3. Delete/combine scenes, paragraphs – The goal here is to simplify and clarify for the reader what is happening and eliminate unnecessary words. I had 98,000 words after the first draft.

Paranormal Privateer Edits: The Next Three Steps

4.  Rewrite 1st POV into 3rd. – If you write only in 3rd person point of view “he said, she said”, you won’t need this step. But I wrote several characters from a first-person point of view.  I had too many first-person POVs, in fact, so I had to trim this down.  The narrative becomes too confusing and the reader’s focus can be diluted.

5. Review character arcs: Paranormal Privateers has eight protagonists, five antagonists, and minor characters:  You need to check character arcs, their entries and exits. Are they introduced properly? What happens to them during their scenes and afterward? Do they teleport between scenes? What happens to them?

6. Update timeline and scene chart, detailed scene flow. See here for more information on this important chart.  Ask yourself,  Is this scene really necessary? Do the scenes fit together on the overall timeline?

The Final Set of Edits

  1. Read the book out loud. I’ve found this is the best way to find awkwardly worded sentences. I also find logic errors and wrong words that I’ve used.
  2. Look for passive words: is, were, was, am, be, been. Combine this check with Grammarly Free Version to find spelling and grammar errors.
  3. Review adverb use. Search for “ly”. Adverbs should be used sparingly, like salt.
  4. Read aloud again
  5. Finally, send the manuscript to my editor, Dori Harrell

What’s Next?

Do you think this is all that’s necessary for the next great American novel?  Nope! The first half of the editing process is complete. Now you must work with your editor to perfect your novel.

That’s it for now!  Andy Zach, signing out!

First Draft Complete
Get Your Ridiculous On! Andy Zach

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6 Writing Tips SEO and a Free Book

I’ve collected 6 Writing Tips SEO and a free book.  Enjoy!

First off, let me share some things I learned about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and images. Let me know what you think!

And here’s another fascinating tip about using visual elements to focus your reader’s attention:

First Tip

Here’s some good, practical advice about building your writing platform.  It’s good because it focuses on what works.

The Second Tip

Forget the idea of the lone writer in a garret. Instead copy Hemmingway, who worked with a group of writers.

Your Third Tip

If you pursue self-publishing for your book, don’t make these mistakes!

Your Fourth Tip on Instagram

Do you promote your books on Instagram? If so, this article can be helpful.

A Strange Turkey Occurrence

We interrupt your 6 Writing Tips SEO and free book blog post for a strange turkey news story.

Your Fifth Tip, On Typography

If you’re an author and you have a website, this article matters to you.

The Sixth and Last Tip – 13 Editing Tips

Here’s a .99 Book

Before the free book, I’ve got a .99 book for you.

Here’s a Free Book

I know, it’s not fantasy or science fiction. But it’s free and it’s a book! That’s two good things, right?

Finally, Enter Here for a Free Copy of Zombie Turkeys, or My Undead Mother-in-law

Why is it the best giveaways are last?  Oh, I know: it’s so you’ll read the whole article.  Unless you just skipped down to the bottom for the free stuff?  If so, you’re welcome to the free books!

To enter the monthly drawing (held on April 30th–so hurry!) first enter your email here.  Then click Subscribe button on the zombieturkeys.com homepage. Finally, you’ll get a confirmation email which you need to confirm.

If you want to read free excerpts of Zombie Turkeys, you can go to the ebook page on Amazon and check it out.

That’s it for today!  Andy Zach, signing out!

6 Writing Tips SEO
Andy’s autographed picture

Free Zombie Book Drawing
Cover of Kindle edition of “Zombie Turkeys”. Click to download.