I got an email this morning from one of my students who just received a pile of notes on her work-in-progress and was feeling overwhelmed and unsure on how to proceed. Typically, I had some …
Book Editing
Learn How to Polishing Your Manuscript by Mastering the Art of Book Editing
Banishing Redundancies
Redundancy is not only a sign of lazy writing; it can also pull us out of the story by interrupting the narrative flow. There are many types of redundancies in writing, from rehashing story …
Conflating Characters
Sometimes we’ve written characters that don’t belong in our story because their function is redundant. Conflict might arise that don’t add anything new to the story. In fact, the conflict might …
Own Your Work
Just because you might be a first-time novelist, it doesn’t mean you’re not the authority over your work. No agent, publisher, or film producer knows more about the inner workings of your story than …
The Rewrite
The first draft is about diving into the unknown, invoking the muse, and writing from our right brains. The next step, the rewrite, is about switching gears. Basically, it is about becoming …
Most popular posts
Getting Notes – Ten Things to Consider
I got an email this morning from one of my students who just received a pile of notes on her work-in-progress and was feeling overwhelmed and unsure on how to proceed. Typically, I had some thoughts. Here they are below. Getting notes on your work is a necessary aspect of the process for virtually every …
Read More
The Rewrite
The first draft is about diving into the unknown, invoking the muse, and writing from our right brains. The next step, the rewrite, is about switching gears. Basically, it is about becoming still, listening more deeply so that we can get even more specific. What follows are some thoughts that I hope may shed …
Read More
Banishing Redundancies
Redundancy is not only a sign of lazy writing; it can also pull us out of the story by interrupting the narrative flow. There are many types of redundancies in writing, from rehashing story information, to repeating themes unnecessarily, to using the same word or phrase within close proximity. Some words are like suntan lotion: …
Read MoreThe Rewrite Master Class
The Rewrite Master Class is a Live-on-Zoom workshop with Alan Watt for novelists and memoirists seeking to complete their work for publication.
Recent Posts
Getting Notes – Ten Things to Consider
I got an email this morning from one of my students who just received a pile of notes on her work-in-progress and was feeling overwhelmed and unsure on how to proceed. Typically, I had some thoughts. Here they are below. Getting notes on your work is a necessary aspect of the process for virtually every …
Read More Banishing Redundancies
Redundancy is not only a sign of lazy writing; it can also pull us out of the story by interrupting the narrative flow. There are many types of redundancies in writing, from rehashing story information, to repeating themes unnecessarily, to using the same word or phrase within close proximity. Some words are like suntan lotion: …
Read More
Conflating Characters
Sometimes we’ve written characters that don’t belong in our story because their function is redundant. Conflict might arise that don’t add anything new to the story. In fact, the conflict might distract the reader from what we’re trying to express. If we find ourselves wondering why a character is in our story, and we’re unclear …
Read More
Own Your Work
Just because you might be a first-time novelist, it doesn’t mean you’re not the authority over your work. No agent, publisher, or film producer knows more about the inner workings of your story than you. They may have notes, and they may have some great ideas. None of those notes will help, however, if you …
Read More The Rewrite
The first draft is about diving into the unknown, invoking the muse, and writing from our right brains. The next step, the rewrite, is about switching gears. Basically, it is about becoming still, listening more deeply so that we can get even more specific. What follows are some thoughts that I hope may shed …
Read More