L i n d a  A.  L a v i d                                                                                          

Writing Tip: A character with emotional ups and downs makes a scene interesting. If a character is bored, by the end of the scene, have her engaged. If a character starts out happy, have circumstances make her sad. This type of manipulation makes change occur, essential in a scene. Also, emotional content hooks a reader and heightens the drama. The only caveat is to express one emotion at a time. In other words, don’t make a character actively lonely and angry and revengeful. Decide on one emotion that then changes to another. To up the ante, show her feelings rather than state them.

Editing Tip: Getting into a character’s head is the unique magic in fiction. Except for voiceovers in film and plays, it’s the only art form that portrays internal thought. In editing thoughts, evaluate frequent snippets of thought between lines of dialogue or short narration. If they cut into the flow, remove as many as possible. Thought punctuation: never place inside quotes; for brief thoughts, either italicize (What a loser.) or use a tag (What a loser, she thought.) Be consistent with punctuation and don’t mix italics with tags (What a loser, she thought.) For interior monologue that runs longer than a couple of sentences, make it a stand-alone paragraph.

Publishing Tip: No matter how well a manuscript is edited, there are bound to be some typos in the hard copy. Naturally, if you had a large number of offset books printed, this is a nightmare. On the other hand, updating or correcting mistakes in a POD book are significantly easier, inexpensive and quicker. Still, costs can vary should you publish through a subsidy. If not specified in their contract, ask how much they charge to update the digital files of your book. This expense could be twofold: an hourly rate to make the edits and the carryover cost charged by the printer.

Website Tip: The tone of your website can attract or repel visitors. Since we’re in the bookselling business, friendly, conversational language, humor, relevant and updated content go far in establishing rapport. Sharing information about your books, i.e., where they take place along with pictures, can be entertaining and interesting. To further personalize the site, answer questions and encourage visitors to contact you about your work. Profanity, the hard sell, or impersonal copy (press release), may cut a visitor’s stay to seconds.