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Top 10 Tips from Speaker

July 21, 2011 by Marianne H. Donley in category Archives tagged as Erin Bauer

By Erin Bauer

I just renewed my membership with RWA for the first time. An easy choice, when I think of all the wonderful advice Iâ€™ve picked up at meetings and conferences over the past year. Hereâ€™s a list of the top ten tips:

1. Find the material that showcases your voice best. Donâ€™t change or repress your individual voice â€“ find the right frame for it. (Jane Porter)

2. Look for a critique partner whoâ€™s good at the things youâ€™re weak at. (Tessa Dare)

3. Writerâ€™s block is a step in the natural growth of an author, the process of gaining new mastery. Authors who work through their writerâ€™s block think they are better writers when they get to the other side. (Dennis Palumbo)

4. Novelty is not the selling point of your book. It might catch someoneâ€™s attention but it wonâ€™t keep their attention. (Zoe Archer)

5. Every scene must have a goal. (Carol Hughes)

6. Dialogue is faster paced than narrative. Donâ€™t bog down a conversation too much with musings or unimportant actions. Important details about where your characters are and what they are wearing go before or after. (Joan Johnston)

7. Think of characters and setting like an iceberg. Only 10% of what you know about them may show in the book, but you need the other 90% in your mind. (Terry Irene Blaine)

8. Adverbs allow you to be lazy when choosing verbs. When an adverb crops up in your writing, locate the verb it modifies and try to think of a different word that conveys just the right meaning. (Anne Frazier Walradt)

9. Take the tangent. If your story veers off in an unexpected direction, find out where itâ€™s going. (Leanne Banks)

10. Readers may love or loathe a character that is done right. Indifference is the response you should worry about. (Tessa Dare)

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