CREATING A FANTASY LANGUAGE? TRY THIS TIP
Besides my English-tutoring student I mentioned last week, I've also been tutoring world history and conversational French. My students...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Aug 13, 20202 min read
AVOIDING EYE-COLOR SWITCHES AND OTHER DIFFICULTIES
Have you ever read a piece in which the author dropped in an unfamiliar acronym without explaining what it stood for? Or have you ever...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Jul 20, 20203 min read
A SURPRISING USE FOR A GPS
On Saturday, I ran out of a certain color of yarn for my latest crochet project. That color was no longer available at most stores, but...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Jul 6, 20202 min read
THINKING ABOUT USING SMASHWORDS? HERE'S WHAT I'VE LEARNED
I've seen many self-publishing authors post questions on social media that go something like this: "How do I pick a self-publishing...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Jun 19, 20202 min read
A WRITER'S SECRET WEAPON
Do you ever feel . . . like a plastic bag? 🎵 Kidding. 😁 But seriously, do you ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Jun 2, 20202 min read
ANOTHER WAY TO USE THE PEOPLE CODE
In yesterday's email, we talked about using the test in The People Code to get to know our main characters better. I've also found that...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
May 8, 20203 min read
NO SCREEN? NO PROBLEM!
As writers, we do a lot of work on computers. Even if we start by writing things out by hand, we end up using Microsoft Word, Scrivener,...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
May 6, 20202 min read
AUTOCRIT
Last night, I was looking over this ratings list of self-publishing services, which is curated by the Alliance of Independent Authors. I...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 29, 20202 min read
THE WEIRD THINGS YOU HAVE TO GOOGLE
I live in the basement of my house. For the last few nights, I've been hearing some weird noises: scratching, rustling, small thumps,...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 28, 20202 min read
"MAWWIAGE!" (AND OTHER VERBAL DIFFICULTIES)
My professional hero Blake Snyder gave me a rule that I've been having trouble implementing in my work: "In a good...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 27, 20202 min read
"YOU KEEP USING THAT WORD. . . ."
Yesterday, someone asked me how I differentiate between some of the services I offer. (You know who you are—thanks!) I've updated my...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 24, 20206 min read
HOW DOES TRADITIONAL PUBLISHING WORK, ANYWAY?
After yesterday's post, it occurred to me that a lot of new authors probably don't know what happens to a manuscript once they send it to...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 20, 20202 min read
WHAT'S THE WORD?
Has this kind of thing ever happened to you? https://www.pinterest.com/pin/483433341224769205/ Embarrassing, right? Besides the misused...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 15, 20203 min read
ARE YOU WRITING FOR AN EIGHTH GRADER?
In my editing capstone class in college, I learned about something called popularization. Essentially, it means taking a highly technical...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 9, 20203 min read
THE THINGS WE FEEL COMPELLED TO SAY
I recently joined a Facebook group that was formed in response to an invitation from my church's president to fast on Good Friday for...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Apr 3, 20203 min read
THE MUSIC OF THE . . . WRITE
One interesting effect of quarantine has been that I haven't been listening to music nearly as much lately. Most of my listening usually...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Mar 31, 20202 min read
START YOUR AUTHOR LIBRARY WITH THESE BOOKS
Lately, I've been checking out some of the Facebook author groups I belong to, to see whom I can help. As I've been commenting on...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Mar 24, 20203 min read
HOW TO FIND THE SHARD OF GLASS
In yesterday's email, we talked about the shard of glass and why it's important to a character's development. For some characters, this...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Mar 13, 20204 min read
AN OFFBEAT WRITING TOOL
Remember how we discussed roleplaying games (RPGs) in the last post? Most of them, if you recall, require dice rolls to see whether...
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Candice Bellows, The Story Engineer
Feb 28, 20203 min read
HONORING LEAP DAY EARLY
I had a hard time getting up this morning. Yesterday was particularly rough, I woke up in the middle of a nightmare that left my heart...
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