Category Archives: Writing Advice

Rewrite Your Novel as a Short Story

by Tim Kane I’ll admit, I’m stealing this idea from io9. But, it’s a damn cool idea that I plan to try out. First, backtrack. Say you have a finished draft of a novel. In my case, it’s after the … Continue reading

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Set the Scene

by Tim Kane Whether you’re writing with abandon or carefully plotting each moment of your novel, setting is crucial to the unfolding action. Your characters can’t simply act out their drama in a white room. Here are some tips to … Continue reading

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Nail Your Pacing by Manipulating Time

by Tim Kane I never understood pacing until I had to teach it to students. For me it was always something I recognized in its absence. When the pacing is bad on a novel, it puts you to sleep. But … Continue reading

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Read Like a Reader, Write Like a Writer

by Tim Kane I recently needed to read through my entire manuscript one last time, yet I needed to see the text as a reader, not a writing. It seems weird to say, but there is a difference. When I … Continue reading

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Pesky Pronouns

by Tim Kane Recently, I set to work editing down the pronouns in my manuscript. No short order. In the process of weeding them out, I sliced away 4000 words. Yet even then, I wasn’t done. Passing the book onto … Continue reading

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