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Author: Iola

I provide professional freelance manuscript assessment, copyediting and proofreading services for writers of Christian fiction and non-fiction books, stories and articles. I also review Christian novels at www.christianreads.blogspot.com.

Five Reasons to Enter a Writing Contest

Five Reasons to Enter a Writing Contest (and Five Contests to Enter)

Why should you enter a writing contest?

I can think of several good reasons:

Honest Feedback

Writing contests are a great way to get honest feedback on your writing, and we all need honest feedback. Feedback is a gift which can show us what we’re doing well, and where we need to improve on.

Feedback from Writers

But it’s important to get feedback from the right people. We can ask family and friends for feedback. While they might give encouraging feedback (You’ve done a great job! Keep it up!), it might not be accurate. Family and friends will be proud of you for having written a book, and may be able to tell you what they enjoyed and why, but they probably can’t tell you what needs to be improved (unless they happen to be successful writers who know your genre).

In contrast, contest judges are fellow writers, usually people who write in the same genre. Some will be fellow unpublished authors, some will be published authors, some will have won awards. All are willing to give up their time to help other writers improve their craft.

Targeted Feedback

Because they are writers (or editors, or agents), they know what good writing looks like, and they will judge accordingly. Most contests use a score sheet which looks at different aspects of the writing, such as the opening, the characters, the plot, and use of point of view or showing vs telling. Entering a writing contest will show you if you have issues in some of these areas.

Finding out you’re not using point of view well may be painful, but it’s better to find out from an anonymous contest judge early in your writing career than to polish the manuscript for months (or years), submit to a publisher and be rejected because of your point of view. (And point of view isn’t your opinion on a subject. If you’re a fiction writer and don’t understand what I mean by point of view, you need to learn).

Anonymous Feedback

Judging in unpublished contests is blind, which means the judges don’t know whose entry they are reading and judging. Most contests for unpublished writing ask writers to say who has read the entry so the contest organiser can avoid assigning the entry to a judge who may be biased. In addition, judges are encouraged to notify the organiser if they have seen any entries before so they can be reassigned.

Blind judging means judges can give feedback without worrying about that feedback potentially affecting a relationship (as can happen if you ask family or friends to critique your writing).

Bragging Rights

Finalling in or winning a contest gives you bragging rights aka a line in your query or proposal to an agent or editor. Many well-known Christian writers credit contests with helping them land an agent and/or publishing deal.

Five Contests to Enter

There are several contests currently open for entries, or opening soon. These contests are all for fiction writers only. Some are for Christian writers, some are for romance writers, and some are for both. If you write Christian romance, I recommend you enter at least one to get unbiased feedback on your work.

Note that most contests are for unpublished fiction authors, but some do permit authors who haven’t been published in fiction in the recent past (e.g. three years or five years), and some are open to any author, published or unpublished, as long as they enter an unpublished manuscript.

2022 Touched By Love Award

The Touched By Love Award is managed by Faith, Hope & Love Christian Writers, formerly the FHL chapter of Romance Writers of America. Writers do not need to be a member of FHLCW to enter.

This is a contest for unpublished authors, so entrants must not have been published a novel or novella in any form in the last three years, either traditionally published or self-published. Entries may not be contracted or published while they are still under consideration.

The contest has three categories:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Historical romance
  • Sweet romance (i.e. not specifically Christian)

Authors enter their first 20 pages plus an unjudged synopsis of up to 2 pages (all double spaced).

Entries opened on 1 June, and close on 1 August 2022, and the entry fee is USD 20 for FHLCW members, and USD 25 for nonmembers, payable via PayPal.

Click here to find out more and enter.

The Crown Award

The Crown Award is run by the Virginia chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers, and is for Christian fiction.

The award has six categories:

  • Contemporary
  • Contemporary Romance
  • Historical/Historical Romance
  • Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Romantic Suspense
  • Speculative
  • Young Adult/Middle Grade

ACFW Virginia have not yet released the names of the final-round judges, but the 2021 judges included a range of bestselling authors, agents, editors, and bookish influencers.

Authors enter a one-page synopsis and the first five pages of their manuscript.

Entries opened on 5 July, and close on 5 August.

Entry fees are USD 20 for members of the ACFW Virginia chapter, and USD 25 for non-members, payable via PayPal.

Click her to find out more and enter.

The Big Apple Contest

The Big Apple Contest is run by the New York City chapter of Romance Writers of America.

The award has eight categories:

  • Category Romance
  • Contemporary Single Title
  • Historical Romance
  • Romantic Suspense
  • Paranormal Romance
  • Erotic Romance
  • Young Adult/New Adult Romance
  • Inspirational Romance

The advantages of this general-market contest are that it has a specific Inspirational Romance category,and all entrants are guaranteed two one-page written critiques as well as the score sheet.

The contest is open to published and unpublished authors, and judges the book’s first chapter (up to 25 pages).

Entries opened on 1 July, and close on 31 August 2022. Entry fees are USD 20 for RWA/NYC members, USD 25 for RWA members, and USD 30 for non-members.

Click here to find out more and enter.

The Emily Award

The Emily Award is run by the League of Romance Writers, and is a contest for unpublished general market writers.

Authors enter the first 5,600 words of a completed or almost-completed manuscript. No synopsis is needed, although the organisers recommend entrants write a synopsis in case it is requested by a final-round judge (which are all agents or editors).

The award has six categories:

  • Short Contemporary Romance (under 70,000 words)
  • Long Contemporary Romance
  • Historical Romance
  • Romantic Suspense Romance
  • Paranormal Romance
  • Young Adult Romance

Entries open on 1 September and close on 2 October 2022. The entry fee is USD 30 for members of the League of Romance Writers, and USD 40 for non-members, payable via PayPal.

Click here to find out more and enter.

First Impressions Contest

The First Impressions Contest is run by American Christian Fiction Writers, and judges the first five pages plus a back cover description of up to 200 words. Entries “must be consistent with a traditional interpretation of Scripture“, where “one or more characters’ Christian beliefs are blended with and form a part of the story.”

The award has the following categories:

  • Contemporary
  • Historical
  • Historical Romance
  • Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
  • Novella
  • Romance
  • Romantic Suspense
  • Short Novel
  • Speculative
  • Young Adult

Entries open on 2 September and close on 15 October 2022. The entry fee is USD 15 for ACFW members and USD 25 for non-members.

Click here to find out more.

Which contests will you enter this year?

Do I Hire an Editor before Submitting to an Agent or Publisher?

Do I Hire an Editor before Submitting to an Agent or Publisher?

This is a common question from unpublished writers seeking a traditional publishing contract.

It’s not a question I’ve ever seen a traditionally published author ask. Published authors know their process and know what they need to do to submit a manuscript their publisher will accept.

Published authors usually have established critique partners who read and comment on their manuscript. Some use a professional editor to ensure the manuscript they submit is as clean as possible. Most have agents, and many agents will edit before submitting the manuscript to publishers.

But agents don’t get paid for editing. They only get paid when they sell a manuscript to a publisher. So agents are unlikely to take on new whose manuscripts that need a lot of work.

So why hire an editor?

1. You don’t know what you don’t know

I’ve come across hundreds of unpublished or self-published authors who are convinced their novel is brilliant, because their mother/sister/BFF loved it. Without fail, their books are not up to the standard I see in fiction from the major traditional publishers.

Why?

Their mothers and sisters and BFFs are proud of them for finishing a novel. They love the writer and want to encourage them to pursue their passion. It follows that they love their novel, no matter how good or bad it is. To add to the problem, they might not know what a “good” book looks like e.g. if they haven’t read a book since high school or mostly read nonfiction.

They don’t know enough to give good advice.

The common issues are:

  • The manuscript has no opening hook.
  • The manuscript doesn’t fit a clear genre.
  • The manuscript tells where it should be showing.
  • The manuscript uses omniscient or distant third person point of view
  • Writing errors show the author has not researched current writing trends or styles.

Any of these problems would be enough for a reputable agent or publisher to pass on the manuscript. And …

2. You only get one chance to make a first impression

It’s a cliché, but clichés become clichés because they are true.

Agents are busy people, and most won’t accept submissions from an author they have previously rejected. Don’t waste your one opportunity to pitch an agent with a manuscript that isn’t the best it can be.

3. A good editor will teach writing craft

A good editor will do more than point out issues and correct mistakes. A good editor will explain why something is an issue and teach the author how to correct it, so the author doesn’t make the same mistake again.

This will improve the author’s writing, increase their chance of being accepted by a publisher, and reduce the cost of future edits.

What are the Disadvantages of Hiring an Editor?

1. Editing can be Expensive

Most editors charge by the hour, so the more issues there are with a manuscript, the longer the initial edit will take, the more expensive it will be.

A full developmental edit (which is the level of editing most first-time authors need) can run into the thousands. And this is only the first round of editing: the manuscript will then need line editing, copyediting, and proofreading.

Click here to find out more about the cost of editing.

A Manuscript Assessment or critique is a less expensive first step. This will provide feedback in the form of an editorial letter rather than on the manuscript. As such, it should cost hundreds rather than thousands of dollars.

2. Authors need to select the right level of editing

New authors may not know what level of editing they require, so may be tempted to go for the least expensive—proofreading or a light copyedit. While no one wants to submit a manuscript with basic spelling or punctuation editors to an agent or publisher, a copyedit or proofread is unlikely to identify fundamental fiction writing issues, such as telling.

3. Agents and publishers edit anyway

This is the most common reason I see quoted as to why authors don’t need to get their manuscript edited before submission. Why bother paying for an edit when the agent or publisher will edit anyway?

There is some validity to this argument, but it assumes the manuscript is good enough that the agency’s first reader will see sufficient promise to forward the manuscript to the agent, and that the agent or publisher will accept it, mistakes and all. They might—but only if there is a strong hook, a solid synopsis, and the sample chapters show great writing.

Otherwise, they will reject the submission … and you may have lost your one chance with that agent or publisher.

Note that reputable agents and publishers will not charge you for editing. Some literary agents do offer freelance editing services, but these are separate from their work as an agent.

4. Some agents want to see the “raw” manuscript

Some agents specifically say they don’t want to see manuscripts that have edited by a professional editor. They want to see the author’s own work. My guess is these agents want to see the unedited manuscript so they can best gauge the writer’s skill and the amount of work they, the agent, will have to do to get that manuscript and future manuscripts to saleable condition.

5. Professional editing doesn’t guarantee publication

You might go through several rounds of paid editing and still not find an agent or publisher for that manuscript. This could be because your writing doesn’t meet the standard they expect. But it could also be because the agent/publisher doesn’t represent/publish your genre, or because your manuscript is too similar something they are already planning to publish.

Conclusion

Overall, I absolutely recommend getting competent external feedback before submitting a manuscript to an agent or publisher. This might mean hiring an editor. I think the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

If paid editing isn’t an option, then I would like to suggest three alternatives:

How to use colons and semicolons in fiction

Write Tip | How to use Colons and Semicolons

One of the “rules” of writing I’ve come across is that we should not use colons or semicolons in fiction. I have to admit that I rarely see either punctuation mark in the fiction I read, but is it a real rule … or a guideline?

First, let’s look at how to correctly use colons and semicolons.

Note that the correct use of some punctuation marks will depend on which style guide you are following e.g. Associated Press, Australian Style Manual, Chicago Manual of Style, or the Christian Writers Manual of Style (which does not include an apostrophe in “writers”, no matter how much you or I might think they should).

How to use Semicolons

The main use of the semicolon is used to join two independent clauses in a way that is stronger than a comma but weaker than a full stop. The key is that each clause can stand alone as a separate and complete sentence; if either clause cannot stand alone (i.e. is a dependent clause), a comma should be used.

(Yes, my previous sentence is an example of correct semicolon usage.)

The other use of the semicolon is in run-on lists. As per Chicago 6.131:

  • run-on lists are preceded by a colon;
  • each item in the list starts with a lowercase letter;
  • each item in the list concludes with a semicolon except the last;
  • the last item concludes with a period.

Semicolons can also be used in complex lists in running text. For example:

The members of the team were from London, Canada; London, England; and Sydney, Australia.

Using a combination of commas and semicolons clarifies that the members of the team are from three locations. Using commas alone would likely confuse the reader. In this example, the other option would be to simplify the information so only commas were needed:

The members of the team were from Australia, Canada, and England.

(As you can see, I choose to use the Oxford aka serial comma.)

How to Use Colons

As you can see from the examples above, colons can be used to introduce a list or example. Colons can also be used to join two independent clauses when the second clause amplifies the first:

I couldn’t help myself: I baked a double batch of cookies and put the second in cupcake papers.

The other use of colons is when citing verses from the Bible e.g. John 3:16 (NIV).

Using Semicolons in Fiction

I can’t think of any novel I’ve read in the last year from a mainstream traditional publisher that used colons or semicolons. In fact, the only novel I can think of that used semicolons was self-published, and had a lot of small punctuation errors so isn’t a great advertisement for semicolon use.

I have seen blog posts saying it’s okay to use colons or semicolons, but they tend to use old authors (Austen and Dickens) or literary fiction as their examples. This leaves the impression that using colons and semicolons is similar to using quotation marks for direct thought: technically correct, but dated.

I suspect there are two main reasons editors and publishers don’t encourage colons or semicolons in modern fiction:

  • Many authors don’t use them properly.
  • There are alternatives that are easier to use correctly.

(Incidentally, that’s the other way to punctuate a list: start each item in the list with a capital letter, and end it with a period.)

Steven James suggests cutting semicolons to improve readability:

You never want to include anything that will cause a reader to pause or stumble.

The typical alternatives to colons and semicolons in modern fiction are:

  • Use two sentences.
  • Use an em dash.

However, using em dashes can introduce another problem: overuse. Em dashes—and other special punctuation marks such as ellipses—should be used sparingly. As editor Beth Hill says:

While I won’t tell a writer he can never use a certain punctuation mark, I will offer the advice to not overuse the semicolon or any punctuation. Anything that distracts from the story should go, and too much of any one element is a distraction.

Not using colons and semicolons solves two problems:

– You don’t have to remember how to use a semicolon or colon correctly.

– You don’t have to decide whether the sentence requires a colon or semicolon.

So using or not using colons or semicolons in fiction is more of a guideline than a rule. It’s author (or publisher) choice, like using the Oxford comma or deity pronouns.

Whatever editing choice you make, the main thing is to make the writing and punctuation as invisible as possible to allow your reader to focus on what matters: the story.

Tips for Writing Younger Characters

Writing Tips | Tips for Writing Younger Characters

Years ago, I read a contemporary Christian novel that was the final in a long-running series that had covered the history of a single fictional family for almost 400 years. The Epilogue was about how their family story was about to be made into a movie. The hero was a young man … who would be played by Robert Redford. In 1996.

Yes, the handsome young hero was about to be played by a sixty-year-old man.

It struck me as stupid even then, and I mentally rewrote the ending. In my version, the movie starred Brad Pitt (who was still a baby-faced thirty-three). I never thought of why the author made such a silly mistake (or why their publisher didn’t swap Redford for someone more age-appropriate). But I’ve suspected the reason for a while, and a recent conversation on Twitter confirmed it.

Many authors use their own cultural touchstones instead of those which fit the character.

This mostly comes up when authors are writing about characters younger than themselves, resulting in characters who are in their twenties or early thirties (or, worse, in their teens), but sound like they’re in their fifties. I’ll share some examples from my own reading, editing, and from the Twitter discussion:

Actors

If you’re using actors (or movies or TV shows) as a cultural reference, make sure they are the actors the character would use. In the 2020s, the hot actors are Bradley Cooper and Henry Cavill and Benedict Cumberbatch, not Robert Redford, Brad Pitt or even Leonardo di Caprio. The power couple is Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, not Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Movies and TV Shows

Equally, your contemporary YA or romance heroines watched Star Wars: The Phantom Menace before Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. To them, Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica and Higgins from Magnum, PI are both female. And, as shocking as it might seem, Mr Darcy is not played by Colin Firth.

Musicians

Work out what musicians your character would be listening to (probably musicians their own age or up to ten years older). If they are listening to older music, make sure there is a reason. If they’re a musical theatre fan, it’s likely they’ll know and love all the musicals. If they play the violin in an orchestra, it’s likely they’ll listen to classical composers as well as contemporary hits.

Books and Magazines

I remember spending hours of my teenage years pouring over magazines telling me what makeup to buy and how to apply it. Modern teens get this information from Instagram and YouTube.

Adults buy magazines on a range of topics: home decor, fashion, motherhood. The younger generation watches shows YouTube. So don’t write that a room looks like a shoot in a design magazine. Say it looks like the “after” shot in a home renovation show.

Technology

Technology is another area where writers can get it wrong. Now that almost everyone has a mobile (or cell) phone, many people no longer have a home telephone line (if they do have a landline, it could be because it’s free with their internet connection).

Equally, conversations aren’t necessarily the one-on-one dialogue from our past. We might put the call on speaker so several people can contribute to the conversation. And calls don’t just have to be sound: internet video calls are common, whether they use old-school Skype, or something more modern like Facebook, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. And we’re just as likely to make those calls on a table or desktop computer as on a landline (previously known as a telephone).

Text messages are another potential issue.

Back when mobile phones only had number keys, people would use txtspk and abbreviations to get their message across in as few keystrokes as possible. Now, all phones have full keyboards along with predictive text and dictation functions. Teens text in full words and often even in grammatically complete sentences (and often dictate longer text messages).

They don’t write c u l8r.

They also don’t go to the video store to hire a movie on videotape (or even on DVD or Blu-ray). They have a Netflix subscription (and possibly Apple, Amazon Prime, and their favourite anime channel as well).

Fashion

We even have to check our fashion accessories. While I’ve been wearing scrunchies in my hair for twenty-odd years, they’ve been seriously out of fashion for at least ten of those years, so aren’t something a younger, hipper woman would wear. Pinterest is a great place to research what people are wearing.

Vocabulary

Finally, make sure your vocabulary is consistent with your character’s age and education. Avoid works like dear, folk, and slacks—they’re words my grandmother used (for reference, Grandma was born in 1921). My mother doesn’t use words like that, and I certainly don’t.

Using such vocabulary may give the wrong impression. You might think “dear” implies affection, but the reader might see it as something quite different:

It was strange that this man who was likely only a decade older than her thought to call her “dear.” It was a sweet term of endearment, but it reminded Emma that she wasn’t presenting herself as a competent adult.

Google Ngrams is a handy tool for figuring out what words were common and when, although it can’t tell you what the term meant (and meanings do change: much of Urban Dictionary is NSFW,  but it’s an excellent tool for discovering the current meaning of a word or phrase.)

The basic principle is that a reader shouldn’t be able to tell how old the author is by their vocabulary or the cultural references they use.

Remember, you’re writing your character’s story, not yours.

Consider your character’s age, culture, educational background, and make the effort to find and use the appropriate cultural references.

The bonus? This will make it easier for you to write original characters, because each character has a unique upbringings and cultural experience. Reflect that (not yours), and you’ll go a long way towards creating unique characters your readers can care about.

Hook Your Readers by Tamar Sloan

Book Review | Hook Your Readers by Tamar Sloan

A great hook is one of the keys of great fiction. In Hook Your Readers, Australian psychologist and author Tamar Sloan explains why the hook is essential and offers great tips on creating a compelling hook.

In it, she explains the importance of story to the human psyche (which Lisa Cron also addresses in Wired for Story), and discusses the key psychological components that make a book compelling. Sloan starts with the 1944 Heider and Simmel study. You can try this yourself if you’re not already familiar with it. (I wasn’t.)

Watch the short video below (it’s 72 seconds, and there isn’t any sound):

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx7lBzHH7c8]

Now, describe what you saw.

Are you one of the less than 3% of participants who gave a subjective answer?

Or are you one of the 97% of participants who turned this into a story?

Anyway, back to Hook Your Readers. The book is structured in four sections:

  1. Why Readers Read
  2. Capture Curiosity
  3. Engage Emotion
  4. Craft Compelling Characters

Capturing Curiosity covers the importance of questions: consciously or subconsciously, readers want to seek out new information (which is why cliches are a bad idea). It shows why authors need to ask questions (and answer them, but not immediately), and to offer surprises.

Engaging Emotion encourages writers to create characters readers will care about, and to show that emotion. I’ve seen some of this information before (e.g. in Margie Lawson’s Body Language course), but there were still some new-to-me ideas.

The big idea was understanding that we don’t experience one emotion at a time, so we shouldn’t write that way either.

I subconsciously knew that, but hadn’t had it articulated in such a way before. It also explains why some emotion in fiction comes across as shallow: because the author is focusing on one emotion, not a complex range of sometimes conflicting emotions.

Craft Compelling Characters delves into the need for our characters to have a universal need (a goal, as described by Debra Dixon), perhaps derived from their emotional wound. That need should be something the reader can relate to (which taps into the idea of universal wants). Finally, great characters are exceptional in some way.

On that basis, Hook Your Readers is a solid writing craft book.

But what steps it up a level is the “Now It’s Your Turn” section at the end of each chapter, which includes three or four simple (or not-so-simple) questions to address in our own manuscripts.

It is a short book which is easy to read. However, the length means it doesn’t go into great detail about some of the topics.

If you would like more information on some of the specific topics raised in Hook Your Readers, I recommend:

Overall, I recommend Hook Your Readers as a solid craft book for fiction writers.

You can read the introduction below:

Should I Write My Novel in Omniscient Point of View?

WriteTip | Should I Write My Novel in Omniscient Point of View?

Almost all novels are written from first person or third person point of view.

If you don’t understand those terms, click here for a post outlining the different points of view.

A lot of newer authors like writing in omniscient point of view. After all, that’s how many classic authors wrote, so it must be okay. Right?

Unfortunately, no.

So what’s the problem with Omniscient Point of View?

Omniscient was the prevailing point of view for most fiction in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Omniscient point of view is often popular with writers who have grown up enjoying the classics of English literature … most of which were written in omniscient point of view.

Essentially, omniscient point of view is writing the story from one single point of view, but a point of view that knows everything. That’s why it’s sometimes called the “God” view … because only God knows everything.

But omniscient point of view has fallen out of favour with publishers and readers because it introduces distance between the reader and the characters. Even novels set in the Victorian era now tend to be written in third person rather than omniscient.

Modern readers see omniscient point of view as old-fashioned. Readers now prefer a more intimate point of view that allows them to engage with the characters they’re reading about.

(Click here to read more about using Deep Point of View to engage readers.)

Omniscient point of view can also signal writing craft issues.

The main issues are:

  • Telling vs. Showing
  • Confusing Omniscient with Third Person
  • Headhopping
  • Author Intrusion

Telling vs. Showing

Many new authors don’t understand point of view and the way point of view is used to draw the reader into the story. New writers often start with a story they want to tell. They then write their novel from their own point of view. As the author, they are all-knowing and all-seeing, and their novel follows this train of thought.

“[Omniscient] is probably the easiest point of view for the beginning writer—and the most dangerous. The writer… can see everything everywhere. Because the writer flits about from character to character, often thoughtlessly, the result can be more like alphabet soup than a controlled experience for the reader.” (Sol Stein, Solutions for Novelists: Secrets of a Master Editor)

Modern fiction shows the story by putting the reader inside the heads of the main characters without flitting between them. This allows the reader to get to know the characters:

“the more intimate the point of view, the better. One of the most vital and difficult tasks facing a writer is creating believable and engaging characters, and an intimate point of view is a terrific way of doing this.” (Renni Browne and Dave King, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers)

Omniscient Point of View vs. Third Person

The second craft problem is that many writers don’t understand true omniscient point of view, possibly because third person and omniscient point of view both use the same he/she and him/her pronouns. What a writer thinks is omniscient may actually be third person point of view with headhopping and author intrusions.

True omniscient point of view tells a story through the eyes of an all-knowing, all-seeing narrator e.g. The Book in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. If there is no clear narrator, the novel is not written in omniscient point of view.

In contrast, third person shows the story through the eyes of one or more point of view characters, one at a time. Moving between characters in a single scene is not omniscient point of view. It’s headhopping.

Headhopping

Headhopping can become an issue when the author is writing in third person point of view. Third person typically uses multiple point of view characters, and each character has their own unique voice.

Headhopping is writing from the point of view of more than one character in a scene using the voice of each character (omniscient point of view would use the single overriding external narrator).

The general rules of third person Point of View are:

  • There must only be one point of view character in each scene (this is why third person is sometimes referred to as limited: because the point of view is limited to one character per scene).
  • The point of view character should be the individual most affected by the actions in that scene.
  • The first name mentioned in a scene should be that of the point of view character.

If the author switches point of view from one character to another within the scene, this is referred to as headhopping. Telling the story from the point of view of multiple narrators within a scene presents a problem:

Anytime you change viewpoint inside an ongoing scene, you risk confusing the reader about the goal, losing reader sympathy for the desired character, putting the spotlight of reader-identification in the wrong place, and muddying the dramatic waters in terms of what is at stake for whom. (Jack M Bickham in Scene and Structure)

Author Intrusion

Author intrusions are another potential issue with third person point of view. An author intrusion could be:

  • Where the text says something the viewpoint character can’t possibly know (e.g. little did she know what would happen tomorrow).
  • The author describing something the viewpoint character can’t hear or see.
  • The author editorialises the story in their own voice, telling the reader what they should feel or believe.

Author intrusions should be avoided no matter what point of view an author is using.

So should you write your novel in omniscient point of view?

If you are writing purely for your own pleasure, then it doesn’t matter.

But if you’re writing with the intention of publishing, then first person or third person are safer options because they are more likely to engage readers and publishers.

For more information on point of view in writing, see:

 

 

Introduction to Intellectual Property for Writers

Introduction to Intellectual Property for Writers

As content creators, we need to understand the basics of intellectual property law, particularly copyright. This post covers the basics of copyright for authors, and links to my more in-depth posts on the topic.

Please note that I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. There is a lot of great information about copyright on the internet, but none of it is legal advice. To get legal advice, you pay a lawyer licensed to practice in your state or country.

Intellectual property (IP) is that branch of property law that covers creations of the mind, including books, articles, blog posts and other written works. These are forms of property just like a house or a car, and intellectual property law seeks to protect the rights of IP creators.

Property can be a physical asset (like a house or a car or a computer), or intellectual. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (part of the United Nations) divides intellectual property into five categories:

  • Copyright (e.g. ownership of a book, a photograph, a song, or a blog post).
  • Trademark (e.g. a logo or brand that is associated with a product e.g. an Apple computer or a McDonalds burger).
  • Patents (e.g. pharmaceutical products are usually protected by patent).
  • Industrial designs.
  • Geographic indicators.
Copyright and trademarks are the two which are relevant to authors.

All writers need to understand the basics of intellectual property law for two reasons:

  • So they know their rights in regard to the work they write and publish
  • So they do not infringe the rights of others

Click here for more information on what copyright covers and who owns copyright.

Why do we have Intellectual Property rights?

Like physical property, intellectual property is something you can own. If you build a table, you own the right to do what you want with that table. Intellectual property rights give you the same rights over your creative works, such as books or blog posts.

Intellectual property rights recognise that individuals and organisations put time and effort into developing their intellectual property. As such, they have a right to benefit from their investment—to have the exclusive right to sell what they’ve made.

Just as we have laws that prohibit people from stealing your table (and ensuring the face consequences if they do), copyright laws help ensure no one steals and sells your work.

As a general rule, you own the copyright on what you write from the moment you write it. You can gain additional protection by registering a published book with the US Copyright Office, even if you’re not from the USA. It costs USD 35, and takes about fifteen minutes.

Note that posting something to yourself (sometimes referred to as “poor man’s copyright’) doesn’t strengthen your claim to the work. You own the copyright from the moment of creation. (Besides, printing and posting a 300-page manuscript to yourself isn’t cheap and could end up costing more than officially registering the copyright. It’s not exactly the “poor man’s” option).

Exception: Work for Hire

If you work for an organisation that employs you to make tables, you don’t own the tables you make. Any table you make at work is the property of your employer, because you are working for hire.

The same holds true for intellectual property. If you’re asked to write a book or write content for a website as part of your job, your employer owns the words you write. If you’re employed to undertake research, your employer owns the results of that research and may choose to protect that by trademark, patent, or another form of intellectual property protection.

What Copyright Doesn’t Protect

Copyright doesn’t protect all creative endeavours. For example, ideas aren’t protected by copyright:

Copyright protects the author’s expression, but not the underlying facts, ideas, or theories, no matter now novel those may be … what counts is not quality or novelty but only that the work be original. (Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, 4.5)

Click here to find seven works creators can’t copyright.

Copyright also doesn’t protect patents and trademarks. They are protected by patent and trademark law. Click here to read more about trademarks.

Other Copyright Tips

Copyright is relevant to us in more ways than as writers. For example, images are also subject to copyright. This means we need to be aware of who owns the images we see online, and how we use images in our own work e.g. in blog posts, or cover designs. Click here to read how to use images in blog posts.

There are times when authors and bloggers can use material created by others:

You can’t copy a book review on your book without permission, because the reviewer owns the copyright on that review. Click here to read more about book reviews.

You should be careful about “borrowing” a character from another author’s book to include in your own. Click here to read more about borrowing fictional characters.

Even if you don’t need permission (e.g. because the work is public domain), quoting another writer without acknowledging the source is plagiarism, which is a form of fraud.

International intellectual property law gives authors and other creatives the right to benefit from their work. As creatives (and especially as Christian creatives), we need to honour the copyright of others.
Can I Edit my Novel with Grammarly?

Dear Editor | Can I Edit my Novel with Grammarly?

I usually answer these kinds of questions with an it-depends kind of answer. Sometimes the answer is yes and sometimes it is no, depending on a variety of factors.

This is no one of those times. My answer is clear.

No.

You can’t edit your novel with Grammarly. (And I’m not just saying that because I’m an editor.)

Well, you can. But it won’t be correct.

This topic has come up in several editing groups I’m a member of. Yes, editors may well have a vested interest in saying they can do the job better than a piece of software. After all, that’s how editors earn money.

The general consensus among editors is that Grammarly is correct around half the time.

The challenge for authors who need help with spelling and grammar is working out which half.

I also have a real-life example to prove my point: a novel the author claims was edited in Grammarly. We’re both members of a Facebook group for writers, and the author shared that in a post. That’s all I’m going to tell you about the book. The point here isn’t to embarrass a new writer.

The point is to show that while Grammarly can identify more errors than spellcheck, that’s not going to give an error-free novel. Far from it.

Let’s go through the first few paragraphs in the Kindle sample:

“Sonny Quick, under the table.”

This sentence is grammatically correct if we assume the unnamed speaker is telling a character named Sonny Quick to get under the table. Unfortunately, that is not the case: the next line makes clear the unnamed speaker is telling a young boy called Johnny to get under the table.

To make this clear, the sentence should read:

“Sonny, quick, get under the table.”

This shows “quick” is an instruction, not the character’s surname.

Better still, revise the sentence to give the character’s name (Johnny), and avoid the awkward double commas:

“Johnny. Get under the table. Quick.”

Let’s move on.

Lieutenant Smith stomped in, slamming the door open.

Again, this sentence is grammatically correct: the words are spelled correctly, capitalised appropriately, and the punctuation is in the right place.

But it describes a practical impossibility. The lieutenant must open the door before he stomps in. Not after. As such, the sentence should read:

The door slammed open, and Lieutenant Smith stomped in.

So we have had two sentences that Grammarly has punctuated in a way that is technically correct, but which is incorrect based on the actual content.

This next sentence is missing two commas and a period. It also says “horseshoes” even though a blacksmith can only beat one horseshoe at a time. The sentence should read:

Mr Thomas said to Lieutenant Smith, “Johnny hasn’t turned up to work this morning, so I don’t know where he is. I’m busy.” He kept beating the horseshoe he was making.

That’s how a competent proofreader (or grammar checker) would edit the sentence. A line editor or copyeditor would revise the paragraph to start with dialogue and move the action beat to the middle:

“Johnny hasn’t turned up to work this morning.” Mr Thomas beat the horseshoe he was working on. “I don’t know where he is. I’m busy.”

Why? Because we don’t need to know who Mr Thomas is talking to. It’s obvious.

Lieutenant Smith grew red! His anger was visible.

The sentence doesn’t need the exclamation mark! It’s not a Hardy Boys novel! Too many exclamation marks are annoying! (They can also be a sign of poor writing …)

On the plus side, first the sentence is showing. Unfortunately, the next sentence tells the emotion, which isn’t necessary.

Mr Thomas’s shoe tapped Johnny on the knee, just motioning that he would keep him safe.

Again, this sentence is grammatically correct. But it doesn’t make sense. Try to visualise the scene: Mr Thomas is making horseshoes, an activity normally conducted on an anvil in a forge. I’m no blacksmith, but the pictures and demonstrations I’ve seen have the blacksmith facing an anvil (which he beats the horseshoe on). The anvil is positioned beside the forge, so the blacksmith can easily heat the metal. There will also be a bucket of water next to the anvil, so the blacksmith can quickly cool the metal.

At least, that’s how I picture a blacksmith’s forge. But that doesn’t match the description we’re given.

  • If Mr Thomas is facing the anvil, how can he tap Johnny on the knee with his foot?
  • Where is the workbench? It can’t be in front of Mr Thomas, as then the lieutenant would be able to see Johnny. It can’t be behind Mr Thomas, as that would mean making an awkward movement that would be sure to attract the lieutenant’s attention.

I don’t know. Again, an editor would have asked these questions so the author could either revise or delete the sentence.

That’s a lot of errors for four sentences on the first page of a novel. My conclusion: if you’re writing a novel, Grammarly is no substitute for a competent human editor.

If you don’t know show from tell, find someone who does.

If you don’t know first person from third person point of view, find someone who does.

If you don’t know right from wrong (or write from right from Wright), find someone who does.

Because you can’t rely on even the best online grammar checker.

Does Amazon allow Reviewing Circles or Pyramids?

Book Reviews | Does Amazon allow Reviewing Circles or Pyramids?

It seems that someone asks this question every month or so on one or other of the writing groups I’m in on Facebook:

Are Reviewing Circles allowed under Amazon’s Reviewing Guidelines?

First, let’s define a reviewing circle (which I have also recently seen described as a reviewing pyramid). A reviewing circle is an attempt to get around Amazon’s “guidelines” prohibiting review swaps, where two authors agree to give each other a five-star review. Amazon says:

The following are types of reviews that we don’t allow and will removed:

  • A positive review from an artist on a peer’s album in exchange for receiving a positive review from them.
  • Amazon also prohibit giving a negative review on a competitor’s product, which leaves authors no way out: they can’t swap positive reviews, and one can’t leave a negative review to prevent them swapping positive reviews. Basically, if you’ve reviewed a book by another author, they shouldn’t review your books (and vice versa).
  • Over the years, many authors have tried a variety of shady tactics to boost their five-star reviews.
  • Over the years, Amazon have tightened their rules to forbid most of these tactics.
  • Reviewing circles and pyramids are one of these shady tactics.

The basic principle of a reviewing circle is that authors are not swapping reviews. Instead, they are each reviewing a book by a different member of the circle:

  • Author A reviews a book by Author B
  • Author B reviews a book by Author C
  • Author C reviews a book by Author D
  • Author D reviews a book by Author A

In the first round of reviews, the authors are not swapping reviews no author is reviewing a title by the author reviewing their book. The problem arises in the subsequent rounds of reviewing, especially if the reviewing circle is only a small group of authors: it doesn’t take long before the authors will be reviewing a title by an author who has already reviewed their title … which means it’s turned into a review swap.

To avoid this, the circle needs to continually attract more authors. This could be where the pyramid comes in: instead of working in a circle, authors could be asked to review the top book in a list, then take the top book off the list, add their own book to the list, then recruit X more authors to join the pyramid.

As with any pyramid scheme, the people at the top of the list get the most benefit, because the pyramid eventually runs out of people who could join (which is one reason why pyramid selling schemes are illegal).

But there are other reasons why a reviewing circle (or pyramid) is a bad idea:

Promotional Reviews

Amazon forbids what they call “promotional reviews”, which is basically any book review that’s intended to boost the book rather than provide an honest response from a reader:

We don’t allow anyone to write reviews as a form of promotion.

If the purpose of the reviewing circle is to get reviews to make your book seem better or more popular, then those reviews are promotional.

Reviewing Circles are Unethical

Some authors try to justify participating in a reviewing circle in that it’s not specifically against Amazon’s rules. Just because something is permitted (or isn’t prohibited … which I disagree with), doesn’t mean it’s right.

As an author, you might intend to be honest in your reviewing circle reviews: read the book from beginning to end, then write and publish an honest review with an honest star rating (even if that’s not five stars).

(Dis)honest Reviews

Reviewing circles can encourage dishonest reviews, and it’s not hard to see how this can happen. Take this example: you join a reviewing circle and get the first book you’re supposed to review. And it’s awful. It’s bad enough that the story isn’t a genre you read and that you don’t like the main character. But the author doesn’t seem to know how to spell or punctuate.

What do you do?

If you write an honest review, the author might take offence and give your book a negative review. The alternative is to not write an honest review.

Reviewing Circles Can Affect Also-Boughts

At the bottom of every sales page, Amazon lists the “also-boughts”, products that people who bought this product also bought. It’s a clever way to try and sell more: if you like Book A, then you might also like Books B and C, because lots of people who buy Book A also buy B and C.

Generally, the also-boughts are books by the same author or books in the same genre. This works in your favour, especially if your books are displayed as an also-bought for more popular books in your genre.

But it’s possible to “poison” your also-boughts e.g. by publishing in more than one genre, or by encouraging friends and family who don’t read your genre to buy your book. If you write sweet contemporary romance and the first three people to buy your book are people in your reviewing circle who usually read  erotica and horror, what’s going to show on your also-boughts? Erotica and horror. That’s going to put off future sweet contemporary romance readers.

I’m no expert on also-boughts. If you want to find out more, I recommend this excellent series of blog posts from author David Gaughran.

Reviewing Circles Lead to AMS Targeting Issues

I’m also no expert on advertising, least of all Amazon advertising. But I am advised this behaviour will mess with the data Amazon uses to target advertisements, and make it harder (and therefore more expensive) to sell books through Amazon advertising.

Reviewing Circles Could Get You Banned

Anyone who has been watching the Amazon reviewing and selling ecosystem for any length of time has seen authors get banned for bad behaviour. Sometimes it’s done with a fanfare, and sometimes it’s done quietly.

Either way, it means the affected author is no longer allowed to sell from Amazon.

Reviewing Circles are Unnecessary

Yes, Amazon reviews are important.

Yes, we want to support our fellow authors.

But there are better ways to support an author than swapping reviews on Amazon. For example:

  • Review their book on Goodreads.
  • Review and recommend their book on BookBub (which may have the added advantage of helping them get a BookBub Featured Deal).
  • Feature their book on your blog/website. this could be a book review, an author interview, or some other promotional content. It’s your website, so you can promote all you want.
  • Promote their book on social media e.g. book quotes on Twitter, a #bookstagram post on Instagram, a mention or review on your podcast or BookTube channel, a #BookTok post on TikTok … the list goes on.
  • Review or mention their book in your email newsletter.

… the list goes on.

You can do whatever you like on a website you own. You can promote your fellow authors as much as you want.

Just don’t do it on Amazon.

How to Write a Book Description

How to Write a Book Description

It is a truth universally acknowledged that writing a 90,000-word novel is easier than writing 150 words for the back cover. So here are my tips for writing a good book description.

First, let’s clear up some terminology. Authors use several different terms to refer to the back cover copy, and some of these are not technically correct:

Book Blurb

Some authors use “book blurb” to refer to the back cover copy. But publishers often use this term to refer to endorsements: “Will you blurb my book?” So if an author asks you to write them a blurb, make sure you understand which blurb they are looking for.

Synopsis

A synopsis is a summary of the whole book, including the ending. The synopsis is usually one to four pages (so up to 1,000 words), although that will depend on who is asking for it and why (e.g. a contest or a publisher or an agent).

Some people write a one-paragraph version of the synopsis, which is short enough to go on the back of the book (and this may be where the confusion comes from). But a one-paragraph synopsis is still a synopsis in that it summarises the whole story. As such, it’s different from the book description.

Book Description

This is the back cover copy. It’s a sales pitch, second in importance only to the cover.

The potential buyer/reader sees your book on the shelf and is attracted by something about the cover – the title, the cover image or design, or by the author’s name. What do they do next? They usually flip the book and read the back cover. If they’re online, that back cover copy is right next to the cover image.

The purpose of the book description is to hook the reader so they’re interested enough to open the book and check out the writing. If they’re browsing online, they will see the first page (which is why a great opening is so important). If they’re browsing in a physical bookstore, they might check out the opening, but they might also open the book to a random page (which is why the writing needs to be consistently good, with tension on every page).

So the purpose of the back cover copy is to help sell the book. No pressure … which is probably why it’s so hard to write.

How much of the plot should the book description cover?

Ideally, the book description shouldn’t give away too much of the plot. It needs to give away enough to intrigue the target reader, but not so much that the reader is halfway through the book before anything new happens. If the book description references a specific event that kick-starts the action (e.g. a death, a wedding, a new person in town), then those events should occur in the first couple of chapters. Otherwise, readers  are likely to skim until they get to the key event which caught their attention.

Writing Your Book Description

Start with Your Logline

A logline is a single sentence that sums up the essences of your plot:

  • Introduces the main character and the antagonist.
  • Introduces the setting (either specifically e.g. New York, or generally e.g. small-town Ohio).
  • Introduces the main character’s story goal.
  • Introduces the central conflict.
  • May introduce the stakes.

A good logline is 20-30 words (aim for 25).

Yes, writing a logline is hard. But once you’ve got all that information in one sentence, it’s not so hard to expand it to 150 words for your book description.

Let’s try:

  1. Write one sentence that introduces the main character and their problem or goal, and why they want that (i.e. their motivation).
  2. If the novel is a romance, write one sentence that introduces the love interest and their problem or goal and their motivation.
  3. Write one sentence that introduces the antagonist and their goal (and it should be immediately obvious how this is going to cause conflict for the main character and/or the love interest). you may not need this sentence if your novel is purely romance, as the love interest may also be the antagonist.
  4. Write one sentence about the world this story is set in, and how the setting (in time or place) impacts on the goal or the conflict.
  5. Write one sentence showing what’s at stake if the main character doesn’t achieve their goal.

You might be able to finish your book description there, or you might need one final sentence to bring the plot together and finish on a bang that convinces the reader to buy.

Just don’t reveal the ending.

Now, edit. Edit, edit, edit. Your book description needs to show your writing to the best possible advantage, so get feedback from author and reader friends.

Here ‘s a checklist for  good book description:

  • Have you introduced the main character/s?
  • Is the genre clear?
  • Is the book description written in the same style or voice as the novel? (Although a novel written in first person may use third person for the book description.)
  • Does the book description hook the reader (e.g. setting or stakes)?
  • Does the book description give away the whole plot? If so, rewrite so it doesn’t.
  • Will your target reader want to read the book based on this description?

Finally, proofread and get someone else (or several someones) to check it for you.

You don’t want readers not buying your book because there’s a typo in the book description.