This is a good article about “folding” – compacting your stories down by making every element do more work and connect more closely with the other elements. Rather than have two colourless minor characters, combine them into one more interesting one.

There’s a caveat to this, as to all writing advice. Pushed too far, you can end up with unlikely coincidences about who knows each other, and the reader can get the feeling – as I did from Dracula – that the population of Great Britain is approximately 12 people, given how many coincidental connections there are between them.

I once read a book in which Arthur Conan Doyle strapped his service revolver – which, at that period, would have been about a foot long and weighed several pounds – to his ankle using a necktie, and concealed it under his trouser leg.

I’ve also read multiple books in which revolvers become automatics or vice versa, and likewise with rifles and shotguns (which are often used for the wrong targets).

Originally shared by Karen Conlin

Carolyn Haley, over on Rich Adin’s blog, writes about action scenes.

This is a good list. Especially note number one; I see it often.

Originally shared by Karen Conlin

A list of troubles beginning writers often have, all of which can be helped by solid copy editing.

My mantra when I was a copy editor was “always check everything, even the things you think are right”.

Originally shared by Karen Conlin

There’s “true,” there’s “factual,” and there’s “real.” The best fiction blends these all into a seamless whole.