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Featuring everything new and experienced authors need to develop creative and technical skills. Check out writing development articles, our Word of the Day, writing prompts, anthology opportunities and more!

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Writing Tips

Writing Tip: Writing Groups - Some Pros And Cons

We wouldn't be able to produce and provide all of the wonderful content here at the GA News Blog without so many great contributors. Libby Drew gives us a great tip for authors on Writing Groups. Enjoy!       Writing Groups: Some Pros and Cons   A writing group can do wonders for our motivation and keep us accountable for our production. Members cheer us on, understand how even the smallest recognition can mean the world, and know not to say things like, “Oh, you’re a writer? Do yo
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Writing Tip: Story Needs Direction

We have had so many wonderful contributors to the GA News Blog. One such contributor is Libby Drew who has sent us countless articles centered around ways to improve your writing. She has had a ton of very helpful tips and today is no different. Story Needs Direction   Wait a minute, lady. My story has a quest. How much more direction could I possibly have?   Direction is not always movement. Movement does not ensure direction. Direction implies there is a question that needs to be
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Writing Tip: The Indefinite Article

The Indefinite Article       By       andy021278       A daft question: Do I use “A” or “An”?   Well it does seem like a daft question doesn’t it, but it’s amazing how many people still struggle with this; especially when confronted by the more obscure grammatical areas such as acronyms and abbreviations?   I’ve seen wrong uses in stories posted on line, in published works in print, in newspaper articles and even in professional publications.   The bas
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Writing Tip: Less Is More

Libby Drew has been great in providing us with content for the GA News Blog and continues to bring us some wonderful articles on the art of writing. I hope you all enjoy this lesson that she took the time to put together for us. Less is More   That thing I say all the time, how less is more? It applies to your characters too.   Less detail makes for more believable characters.   Carlton entered the room. Six feet tall, broad-shouldered, he wore a finely tailored three-piece pinstri
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Writing Tip: Character Interviews

We're always looking for stuff for our Wacky Wednesday and this time, Cia came through with this piece on Character Interviews. Enjoy!! Character Interviews by Cia   I recently answered a tip request with some information regarding character interviews and I thought I’d take it site wide, so to speak. When you write a story, especially anything approaching novel length, you need to make it as vivid as possible for readers to keep them interested. One way to hook readers is throug
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Writing Tip: Don't Leave Your Readers Deaf And Blind

I always love it when we get a feature from Libby Drew - having someone who has been there, able relate writing tips from experience, is a valuable experience. Here she talks about using the characters various senses in your writing. Enjoy!   Don’t Leave Your Readers Deaf and Blind by Libby Drew   “Stop! You’re scaring me,” Megan said   “I’m not trying to scare you,” Steve soothed. “We need to talk.”   “Don’t come any closer!” Megan cried.   “Don’t be afraid, Megan,” Stev
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Writing Tip: "write What You Know" Doesn't Mean Show Off

For those that celebrated it, I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday. And for those that don't celebrate it, I hope you still got a good haul.   Now on to Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Post-Festivus winter sales, and the ever important Pre-New Year's Eve creative writing exercises ("This year, I *WILL* stop gagging everytime I see the neighbor's newborn", "This year, I promise to exercise... starting next week - or, by the end of the month... well, maybe...").   And to help you with your wri
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Writing Tip: No Warm-Ups Required

A big "Thank You" to Libby Drew for this weeks Wednesday blog! No Warm-ups Required: Why Opening Matters   Warming up before you exercise makes good sense. You need to increase your body temperature. Stimulate blood flow to your ligaments. Mentally prepare yourself for what’s to come. Warming up for a workout is all about starting slow and building momentum.   Fiction is not exercise. Never start a story with a warm-up.   In other words, don’t open your masterpiece with an in depth
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Writing Tip: The Infinitive - To Split Or Not To Split

Happy 12/12/12 to everyone - and to celebrate, here is a writing tip piece by Andy021278 that we hope you find useful. Enjoy!       The Infinitive: To Split or Not to Split by Andy021278   We’ve all seen it. We’ve probably all hurled expletives over it. And more than one of us has probably fretted over it at some time or another. It’s that annoying grammar check in MS Word, and other similar word processing programs, which tells you that you’ve split an infinitive. Well
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Writing Tip: The Writer's Yellow Brick Road

We're always grateful to our contributors, and especially to Libby Drew for this great article on traveling with Dorothy from a first to a second draft. Enjoy!       The Writer’s Yellow Brick Road: Journey from First to Second Draft by Libby Drew       First drafts are often wordy. We make them that way because at the divine moment we’re crafting a scene, adding words is the only way to get the details across. Soliloquies abound. Descriptions clutter. Characters chatt
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Writing Tip: Participial Phrases 101

Participial Phrases 101, Or The First Thing Your Editor Is Going To Yell At You About       By       Libby Drew   That’s not true, by the way. All editors are angels.   So… a participial phrase. What is it? According to grammaruntied.com, it’s a word group consisting of a present participle (also known as an -ing form) or past participle (also known as an -en form), plus any modifiers, objects, and complements.   If you find the English class gibberish definition c
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Writing Tip: Feedback

Here at the blog we've talked about leaving feedback for Authors. With that in mind, I asked Hosted Author: C James if he would be willing to write something up for the blog to tell everyone why he thinks feedback is important. I hope you enjoy what he had to say and keep it in mind the next time you read a story here at GA! Feedback: Why Authors Need You   Authors differ, but most need feedback. I mean ‘need’ quite literally.   It’s not an ego thing, it is a need. The reasons vary f
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Writing Tip: Happy Nanowrimo!

It's November - so you know what that means! Yes, it's National Beard Month!   Well, ok, but it IS National Beard month too - as many of my co-workers annually remind me (I have never nor will never take that plunge but many of them do).   But it is also National Novel Writing Month, or as it is so more familiarly known, NaNoWriMo. Started just over thirteen years ago, if you've never heard about it, check out their website or the wiki page on them. - I'm still amazed at the rapid growth of
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Tip Thursday: Constructive Criticism

We love getting News blog articles and tips from members - and CassieQ has been a wonderful contributor. Here she writes her thoughts on Constructive Criticism - a very detailed article that shows a lot of thought. I hope you enjoy and let us know your thoughts as well! Also, if YOU have an article you think would be great for this blog, let Renee Stevens, Andy021278 or myself know. Thanks!       Constructive Criticism by CassieQ   I'll try to make this as painless as p
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Writing Tip: Keeping It Legal

No - this has nothing to do with pharmaceuticals or jailbait - it is a much more serious tip on how to avoid legal issues when publishing your writings. We thank KingdombytheSea for this great and very timely tip, as more and more authors are looking to take the plunge into being published. Enjoy!       Keeping it Legal by KingdombytheSea   The Copyright Police do exist, and if you’re an author planning on publishing, it’s a good idea to keep that in mind.   When I wr
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Writing Tip: Using Description

First, Happy National Coming Out Day (NCOD)! First started in 1988, with the date picked as the anniversary of the 1987 March on Washington, the simple theme is to come out - to those you love, those you know, as people's opinions of LGBT persons and rights is better if they know someone who is LGBT.   Now on to our tip, generously contributed by CassieQ, on Using Descriptions in writings. Enjoy!   Using Description by CassieQ   I like to use description to help set a m
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Writing Tip: The Mystery Story

The Mystery Story - Crafting a Tale of Suspense by Comicfan       The mystery is one of those things that just can’t be jumped into. You really need to plan out a mystery before pen hits the paper, or in most cases before fingers hit the keys. There is a lot that happens in a mystery and it is important for you follow some basic ideas before you embark on such task.   First up is the mystery itself. Did someone have something stolen? Was there a murder? Is it something tha
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Writing Tip: Author Feedback

For today's toss-up, Renee Stevens gives some good thoughts and important questions on author feedback. We hope you enjoy...   Author Feedback by Renee Stevens   Today, as our Toss-Up Tuesday, we'd like to focus on reviews, both negative and positive. It's no secret that many author's on site thrive for feedback. For myself, I absolutely love to get reviews, I'm sure my eyes light up when I see that little notification that I have a review waiting for my perusal.   I don't mi
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Writing Tip: Working With Your Beta Reader

Today we're bringing you another piece that has been written by Dark about how to work with your beta reader. He was even kind enough to share some of the suggestions made by his beta readers and his fixes or his reasoning. Enjoy! Working with your Beta Reader by Dark   When I first came to GA, I had no beta. After getting to know some of the folks here, advertising, and doing some snooping around, I started working with some folks as betas. So, now that I have a beta, what
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Writing Tip: Why A Beta?

We have a great tip below, written by our own Dark on "Why a Beta?". But before we launch into this tip, Podiumdavis recently approached Renee and I on another of his wonderful compilations. For this one, instead of privately gathering interviews and/or questions and pulling them together, the thought is to put out the inquiry and invite anyone interested to submit their responses privately to Podiumdavis. Then in a short bit, we'll post the best ones (and as usual, if there is enough and the an
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Writing Tip: Keeping Your Writing Life In Sync (And Backed Up)

So many of us write from multiple computers and I know from personal experience that it can be a pain to try and transfer files back and forth between laptops/desktops/etc. Today, Myr is telling us about a great way to make our life easier when switching between computers!       Keeping Your Writing Life in Sync (and backed up)   In this day and age, many of us have multiple computers or devices that we use in our daily lives. For those of us that write, we could be writing i
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Writing Tip: How To Be Critical, Not Cutting

It's a fine line between being critical in an effort to help a writer, and going too far and just being very cutting in what you say. In a text medium, it's usually hard to hear the "voice" that the criticism is being given. I mean sometimes, the voice comes through loud and clear, like when your friend comes up to you in a new outfit and you're all "Oh no you didn't - girl, you is a hot mess!" (did everyone else hear that in Layfayette voice from True Blood?)   Anyways - Cia as always has som
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Writing Tip: Breaking Through (Part 2)

Here is the second part of the feature on Breaking Through that we started last Thursday. Great thanks to Radiant Renee Stevens for her compilation of this, as well as to podiumdavis for giving us the idea to do this kind of format in the first place. Enjoy!       Breaking Through: Part 2 compiled by Renee Stevens   So, after the success of the tip suggested by podiumdavis, I decided to take another question to the authors on the site! We had a great response and once a
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Writing Tip: Breaking Through (Part 1)

We've got another fantastic two part tip, with part two coming next Thursday. We hope you enjoy, and thanks to all of the authors who participated, but special thanks to the Radiant Renee Stevens, for compiling this!       Breaking Through: Part 1 compiled by Renee Stevens   So, after the success of the tip suggested by podiumdavis, I decided to take another question to the authors on the site! We had a great response and once again I have to break the responses up into
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Writing Tip: Pen Name

Thank you once again to K.C. for once again providing us with a tip for our Tip Thursday! Hope you enjoy KC's thoughts on Pen Names! Pen Name by K.C.   Pen name or not to pen name…that is the question.   Do you have a pen name or pseudonym that you write under? If not do you really need one?   First, you need to think about where your stories will be posted. Are you posting only in an online forum or are you submitting to publishers, magazines or even entering writing
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