Hello and welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog. This week our author tipster is Melissa Maygrove. Melissa says she loves books with unpretentious characters and unforgettable romance, and she strives to create those same kinds of stories for her readers. She did just that with her book, Come Back, just released last spring.
You have an opportunity to win a $15 gift card to Amazon and a signed paperback of Come Back (US) or Kindle e-book (US or international). All of this goes to one winner! Thank you, Melissa! Enter at the Rafflecopter at the end of this blog post.
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Congratulations, Melissa, on the release of this intriguing historical romance, Come Back.What question do you get all the time from budding authors?
One thing I encounter often with budding writers is the fear of showing their work to others. Some remain closet writers for years. It’s never easy to receive criticism, however constructive, but you must if you want to reach a level of quality worthy of publication. My writing improved greatly once I joined a good critique group.
If you’re serious about making progress, investigate the various critique options and writing groups available to you. (I prefer swapping critiques online, but doing it in person in a local group is fine, too.) When you find a group that you think will be a good fit, give it a try. It might take some trial and error to find compatible online partners or a group that suits you, but don’t give up.
J.Q.-I really like your point on finding a critique group. Because of the the support of my Koffee Kuppe critique partners, I submitted my first e-book, Sunshine Boulevard, and signed a contract for publication.
What writing tips do you have for us today on dialogue and editing?
J.Q.-I really like your point on finding a critique group. Because of the the support of my Koffee Kuppe critique partners, I submitted my first e-book, Sunshine Boulevard, and signed a contract for publication.
What writing tips do you have for us today on dialogue and editing?
DIALOGUE
Many writers find dialogue difficult to
write, and poorly written dialogue can ruin an otherwise good story. It has to
sound natural, not stilted. And although it can contain errors (if it fits the
speaker) or changes in spelling that show accent or dialect, it can’t be so
full of such things that it’s difficult to read.
When writing dialogue:
- Make it sound natural. Think about how people speak to each other. We often use contractions, and we don’t always speak in complete sentences.
- We also don’t tell people things they already know. Don’t use dialogue to info-dump.
- Make sure your word choice fits the character (heritage / country of origin, background, educational level) and the time period if you write historical novels. Use an etymology dictionary to check words and phrases if you’re unsure when they were coined.
- When writing dialect or accent, less is often more. Add enough to give the reader the flavor of the speech, but don’t go overboard. It’ll make for difficult reading, especially if it’s for a main character who has a lot of lines.
- And be consistent. If your character makes particular grammar mistakes in his speech (because he’s uneducated, for example), have him do it consistently in his lines and in his thoughts.
- Don’t be afraid to let punctuation work for you. A dash at the end of a line indicates an abrupt interruption, while ellipses indicate a trailing off. Trusting such marks to convey pacing can save you some (unnecessary) action beats and make the reading experience better.
- When you’re done with a scene, read it aloud to see how it sounds.
1. EDITING
My best editing tip is: writers—even those
who work as editors—cannot edit their own work. You could do a hundred
read-throughs of your manuscript and still not catch all the mistakes. At the
very least, get your story checked by a competent proofreader before you
publish.
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Western
Historical Romance
Adult / New Adult
Sometimes a single choice
alters the course of a person's life forever.
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Buy Link: Amazon
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About Melissa:
Native
Texan Melissa Maygrove is a wife, mother, nurse, freelance editor, and romance
writer. When she's not busy caring for her tiny nursery patients or shuttling
teenagers back and forth to after-school activities,
she's hunched over her
laptop, complicating the lives of her imaginary friends and playing matchmaker.
Melissa loves books with unpretentious characters and unforgettable romance,
and she strives to create those same kinds of stories for her readers.
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| Author Melissa Maygrove |
Visit Melissa's author site to
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