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So pleased to announce that I was recently interviewed by super talented @gilliancourtneypoetry about my poetry and writing experiences and will be featured this week, along with poetry, at @theporchswingpoetry on Instagram!
Check out the first part of our interview today and return later this week for poems by yours truly. 😊
Read more work at this amazing new poetry venue and return often for inspiring poems, interviews, and posts by many talented poets. 🍁
Ever wondered how to find an editor to assist on your writing project? Thrilled to have a craft article I wrote featured at Beverley A. Baird’s awesome blog today. Stop by to get advice on finding a best-fit editor for your manuscript.
An excerpt: “It can be invaluable to get an impartial view on our writing with the in-depth, personalized feedback a freelance editor provides. Editors catch inconsistencies, scope for grammar and structural problems, note unintended repetition and filler words, red-flag plot holes, mark underdeveloped dialogue or characterization, and much more.
Where do you find a freelance editor anyway?
· Ask a librarian. Many libraries host readings or writing groups as part of their community outreach. Plus, librarians dig a good information search and have a wide network…
· Check your favorite indie author’s website. A sizable portion of authors take on editing projects.
· Check the Acknowledgments section of your favorite recently published books.”
Read the whole article with oodles more tips at: clickety-click!
Super excited that my article, “Hop on Your Horse and Gallop Back in Time: 4 Strengths of Historical and Time-Travel Stories,” was published today at Women on Writing.
Image courtesy of unsplash.com and Kayla Koss
Care to learn more and explore this fun subject as you create your own stories? Ta-da! My latest online class, Leaping Worlds, begins on Friday, September 30th and is is open for sign-ups now.
Read on for my article:
”Hop on Your Horse and Gallop Back In Time: 4 Strengths of Historical and Time-Travel Stories”
By: Melanie Faith
Creating characters whose lives take place in another time can be one of the most enlivening and meaningful writing experiences an author can have. Let’s take a look at four assets writing these stories can bring into the lives of writers and readers alike.
Historical fiction offers maximum flexibility in developing the protagonist. There is no one cookie-cutter image for who the protagonist of your story might be. There are historical fiction main characters of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities. Protagonists can live in literally any place and time (or multiple places and times, should you choose a time-travel tale) that you can imagine and recreate. You even have the flexibility to braid the stories of multiple protagonists within this genre.
Historical fiction protagonists in all types of narratives must have a purpose for being in the story, and that purpose is to inspire change through their actions; to be changed by events, people, or the place(s) where they live; or (ideally) both. All you need to get started is a setting, a time, and a protagonist with a big obstacle to push up against that’ll impact them and the wider world for days, years, or perhaps even decades to come!
This genre also offers great flexibility of era. Have you always had a passion for the Roaring ‘20s or an interest in ancient Rome? What about a predilection for the early days of TV? Or even (gulp!) the early days of the internet? All include history well worth exploring. Whether a story is set two thousand years ago or twenty-five years ago, the past is at the core and the story is literally limited only by any era or eras that suit your fancy. A great deal of the fun in preparing to write, drafting, and editing within this genre is researching music, clothes, expressions and idioms, and more from the epoch you’ve chosen.
Photo courtesy of Pixabay at Pexels.com
Historical fiction is not a one-trick pony when it comes to styles and formats. Variety, thy name is this genre! Whether you want to pen a magnum opus novel or a flash fiction of a mere 45 words, there’s a style and a format to fit every writer and every project. Great historical fiction time-travel stories, for instance, can be told within a chapbook of stories connected by character or by place or by era, in a novella of a few thousand words (I had a fun time a few years ago writing a Regency novella, Her Humble Admirer, which in the tradition of many historical romance writers, I pen named), or equally well in linked historical-fiction poems (I wrote a collection of thematic poems set in 1918 a few years ago called This Passing Fever ). Historical fiction and time-travel stories also lend themselves well to creating a series. Want to write books about three cousins during the American Revolutionary War: one a Loyalist, one a Patriot, and one a pacifist? A series is born; go for it. Historical fiction allows for great versatility in how stories can be connected, divided, and crafted for maximum reader (and writer) interest.
At its best, historical fiction sheds a light not only on another time but also on our modern lives. These stories can make us reflect on how far our lives have come and on how far we might go. They can remind us of our own struggles and hopes and setbacks, and they have the power to entertain us as well. That’s a lot of reading happiness in one literary package!
Try this prompt: Pick a place, a time, and a protagonist. Your protagonist can be a real historical person or a completely fictional person. You don’t need to know everything—or even a lot—about your main character at this point: a name and an initial detail or two will do, even if you end up changing these details later. What does the protagonist, place, or era need the most that it doesn’t have yet? Who or what is blocking positive change? What most excites you to write about this era? Write for twenty minutes. Go!
Fabulous cover by Jessica Bell at Jessica Bell Design.
The ever-talented Jessie Carty , Instructional Designer and Content Developer and fellow writer, has been working her magic on developing an initial idea sparked from Writing It Real: Creating an Online Course for Fun and Profit into an interactive educational activity for writers, teachers, and readers to explore and learn about giving quality writing feedback.
Excited to offer a sneak peek of “Have You Seen These Characters? Taking the Scary Out of Giving Writing Feedback.”
I highly recommend Jessie for taking a concept and developing it into an imaginative and meaningful project that combines her fabulous tech skills with content in an engaging and fun way. Whether you’re in writing, education, or both, if you’re interested in developing an idea in a new direction for online media, Jessie Carty has got so much to offer to make your project shine! Contact her via LinkedIn or Facebook.
More details about the book:
Ever wanted to write a nonfiction reference book? Curious about how to organize and develop your topic into an inviting, easy-to-use manuscript? Look no further!
Packed with tips, this book will walk you through insights into planning, writing, editing, pre-publication, and marketing your reference book, from pre-writing to post-publication.
--From my latest book, Writing It Real: Creating an Online Course for Fun and Profit @vine_leaves_press .
Available at Amazon; signed copies available at my Etsy store: WritePathProductions.
