The Writers Network News, Hallothanksmas, December 2021
The Writers Network News, Hallothanksmas, December 2021
In This Issue
One: From the Editor's Desk: Hallothanksmas
Two: Ask the Book Doctor—Dangling Participles, Dangling Modifiers, and Missing Modifiers
Three: Subjects of Interest to Writers
Four: Contests, Agents, and Markets
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The Writers Network News
No Rules; Just Write!
Editor: Bobbie Christmas
Contents copyright 2021, Bobbie Christmas
No portion of this newsletter can be used without permission; however, you may forward the newsletter in its entirety to fellow writers.
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https://www.zebraeditor.com/
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Some links in this newsletter are shortened with help from www.tinyurl.com, a service that converts long links into short ones.
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Writer's Quote of the Month
“Poetry is life distilled.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks, poet
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If your address changes and our email to you bounces, our system automatically unsubscribes you. If you plan to change your email address, subscribe again with your new address. We cannot add you or change your address, because of our double-opt-in, no-spam policy. Please go to https://www.zebraeditor.com/ and sign up with your new address, and do it before you stop using your old address.
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One: From the Editor's Desk: Hallothanksmas
Dear Fellow Writers:
’Tis the season indeed. Happy Hallothanksmas, everyone. The stores once again run the holidays together in a mish-mosh of attempts to make us waste time and spend money.
I hope you are immune.
The holidays do, however, give writers some great opportunities. Although you must start far ahead of the holiday season, many publications love to receive warm holiday stories and articles, so if anything good happens during these holidays, be sure to write about it and send it in for potential publication starting around August 2022, depending on each publication’s deadline for holiday stories. Perhaps you have a nostalgic story of a yesteryear Christmas; those stories are always welcome too.
On a personal note I’ve had great success with stories about a Christmas I experienced circa 1948, when Santa failed to put anything in my family’s stockings. Because the story is true, I’ve been able to write various versions of it and sell it several times.
Some of us become so overwhelmed with all the obligations of the holidays that we have no time to write, so now is a good time to schedule—yes, actually schedule—time specifically set aside for writing, from now through December.
For most of my life I shopped and gift wrapped and gave gifts to friends and family members. About ten years ago, with all of us grown, I said, “No more gifts! Not for you and not for me.” It took a while for my sister to come on board with the idea, but she finally caught on too. My expenses went way down, and I had more time to enjoy the holidays. For more than twenty years I gave a Christmas Day party for family and friends, complete with a huge buffet, much of which I cooked. Preparation took many days and included much shopping, rearranging furniture, and cooking. Cooking alone took three days and left me exhausted. I threw in the towel in 2019 and said, “No more!” Since then Christmas has been a quiet time for me, which seems more appropriate anyway.
Is there a chore you can eliminate that will give you more time to write? Do you have suggestions for fellow writers about how to handle the holidays? Share them, please, and I hope your holidays are relaxed and enjoyable.
Yours in writing,
Bobbie Christmas Bobbie@zebraeditor.com or bzebra@aol.com
Author of two editions of WRITE IN STYLE, owner of Zebra Communications, director of The Writers Network, coordinator of the Florida Writers Association Editors Helping Writers service, and senior editor of Enjoy Cherokee Magazine
If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, please sign up to get your own subscription. Simply go to https://www.zebraeditor.com/ to subscribe to The Writers Network News. My promise: I never share your address or send out spam.
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Two: Ask the Book Doctor: About Dangling Participles, Dangling Modifiers, and Missing Modifiers
By Bobbie Christmas
Q: What does my editor mean when she says my manuscript has danglers?
A: She means that some sentences are missing important words. Without seeing the manuscript I don’t know whether the sentences have dangling participles, dangling modifiers, or missing modifiers, but let me explain.
All dangling (or missing) modifiers can make readers misinterpret a sentence. A dangling modifier is missing a subject and is usually a participle.
A dangling participle is always a dangling modifier, but not all that dangles is a participle.
Participles are words formed from verbs (such as the word “sitting,” formed from the verb “to sit” or the word “opening” from the verb “to open”) that are used as adjectives (for example “working mother” or “burned building”) or a noun (“stylish dancing”).
Most, but not all, participles end with “ing,” which can help writers identify them more easily.
All this information sounds confusing. Let me give some examples from manuscripts I’ve edited. I’ve removed any character names to protect the authors who made these mistakes.
Example: Having a top speed of more than two hundred miles an hour, he’d reach town before ten o’clock. [As written the dangling participle (having) makes the sentence say that instead of the bullet train, the man had a speed of two hundred miles an hour. To correct the error, I would recast perhaps this way: The bullet train had a top speed of more than two hundred miles an hour, which meant he would reach town before ten o’clock.]
Example: The empty building he’d scouted walking back from the bar had the best potential. [As written this sentence says a building was walking. I’d recast this way: While he was walking back from the bar, he had scouted an empty building that had the best potential.]
Example: Having just turned seventy-five, some would have figured he’d be slowing down. [As written this sentence says that something other than the man had just turned seventy-five. To correct the errors, I would recast this way: Because he had just turned seventy-five, some people would have figured he’d be slowing down.]
Example: Sitting on his discolored mattress, his crummy little room felt claustrophobic. [As written this sentence says that his crummy room sat on his mattress, not to mention that his room had feelings instead of him. To correct the errors, I would suggest a recast such as this one: He felt claustrophobic when he sat on his discolored mattress in his crummy little room.]
Example: He had the salesperson gift wrap his purchase before rushing out of the shop. [As written this sentence says that the salesperson rushed out of the shop. How would you recast the sentence for clarity?]
Example: Turning the truck sharply out of the sand ruts to face the breakers, his eyes darted left and right. [What’s wrong here? How would you recast the sentence?]
Example: After a few bites to the back of my leg, I found a long stick, and I wasn’t bitten again. [What is missing? How would you recast the sentence?]
In all these examples, a word or words are missing. The dangling (or missing) modifiers make the sentence say something the writer did not intend. Many writers are too close to their work to spot such errors, but a good editor will point them out.
If my explanations or examples left you in any doubt, shoot me an email (bzebra@aol.com), and I’ll gladly explain further. As always, if you ever have a question about creative writing, I’m here for you.
Bobbie Christmas is a book editor, author of Write In Style: Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing, and owner of Zebra Communications. She will answer your questions too. Send them to Bobbie@ZebraEditor.com or BZebra@aol.com. Read Bobbie’s Zebra Communications blog at ZebraEditor.com/blog/.
For much more information on these subjects and hundreds of others of vital importance to writers, order PURGE YOUR PROSE OF PROBLEMS, a Book Doctor’s Desk Reference Book at http://tinyurl.com/4ptjnr.
Bobbie Christmas’s award-winning second edition of WRITE IN STYLE: How to Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing is available from Amazon at https://tinyurl.com/y7ppcdkd or buy it directly at https://tinyurl.com/y7p9xkbb.
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Three: Subjects of interest to writers
MEMBERS WRITE
Sandy Beckwith wrote, “Aw, Bobbie, I'm so sorry to hear about your skin cancer. I hope your operation put an end to it. And thank you for reminding me to make a dermatology appointment.”
Yes, folks, the surgery went fine, the margins were clear, and the facial scar is healing. Thank you all for your concern.
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Award-winning writer Jill Jennings wrote, “I was shocked to hear that skin cancer can masquerade as keratoses. In the past years I have found many keratoses and have had some frozen off. Each time, the doctor said they would just keep coming back. I just left many alone. I thought they were no big deal and did not even show the doctor the ones hidden away from sight. Thanks for sharing this with me. I think I'll keep my next dermatologist appointment and have her look everywhere this time.”
For clarity, while not all keratoses turn into skin cancer, some doctors consider them pre-cancerous.
Jill added the following and would like to get feedback from our readers:
“I find that I am having a lot of trouble coming out of the lockdown/see nobody/get vaccinated/wear a mask syndrome all of us have been subjected to these last two years. As a result I find I have gone from being a prolific writer to not wanting to write anything new, edit what I have written, or send work out for publication. I have to force myself to send out poems, even to publications that have requested them from me. This is not writer’s block; I think it is some kind of dysphoria, maybe linked to depression. I'm not really enjoying writing anymore. Does anyone else feel this way? I would like to know.”
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Kate Newton asked which of the samples I gave in the last newsletter were purple prose and which were literary. “Are you going to tell us? I actually liked a few,” she added.
I responded that opinions differ, but in my opinion all the examples were purple prose, even the short ones, because the ideas were far-fetched and hard to visualize.
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Creative Writing Tip: Dialogue: Laughing
Characters cannot laugh, smile, gasp, accuse, argue, encourage, or agree dialogue. (Incorrect: “I saw you blink,” he laughed.) Use words for speaking, such as said, recalled, mumbled, growled, remarked, asked, begged, and answered, for example. (“I saw you blink,” he said with a laugh.) Don’t be afraid to use “said.” Readers don’t even notice it, but they do notice when an author has struggled to avoid using it and created odd or blaring attribution. Best is to use the action as the attribution. (“I saw you blink.” He laughed.)
(Excerpt from PURGE YOUR PROSE OF PROBLEMS, a book doctor’s desk reference, available only at ZebraEditor.com.)
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Advice from the Folks at CMOS
A summary of things that will come up again and again, in almost any document, plus some copyeditor-approved tips for finding and fixing them. See https://tinyurl.com/5c6bwmbs.
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Easy Access to Bobbie’s Blogs
Read creative writing tips as well as some of my personal experiences. Access the Write In Style blog here: https://www.zebraeditor.com/blog/
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National Book Awards
The National Book Foundation awarded the following prizes: HELL OF A BOOK by Jason Mott for fiction; ALL THAT SHE CARRIED: THE JOURNEY OF ASHLEY’S SACK, A BLACK FAMILY KEEPSAKE by Tiya Miles for nonfiction; and AAND FLOATERS by Martín Espada for poetry. The young people’s literature prize went to Malinda Lo for LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB.
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Please Be My Friend on Facebook
Follow my adventures, opinions, and observations: http://www.facebook.com/bobbie.christmas
Follow Zebra Communications on Facebook for news for writers, writing-related cartoons, immediate updates, and other good stuff. https://tinyurl.com/ydyn3pcu.
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CMOS ONLINE Q&A
This month someone posed the following question to The Chicago Manual of Style Online:
Q. A lot of people, including me, are confused about the different types of editors. Especially the difference between a copyeditor and a line editor. Is there a list anywhere that defines these terms?
To get the answer to this question and many more based on Chicago style, go to http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/latest.html.
THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE sets the standard in book publishing for issues such as punctuation, capitalization, and much more. If you write fiction or nonfiction books, you will want to know about Chicago style or be sure to use a professional book editor intimately familiar with Chicago style.
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Sadistic Writing App
This comes from WIRED:
“DON'T STOP. If you stop typing for more than five seconds, all progress will be lost."
Those are the directions for The Most Dangerous Writing App, a brutal new web tool designed to help you get over your writer's block. The app is the work of Manuel Ebert, who describes himself on Twitter as an "ex-neuroscientist, data wrangler, designer, and engineer." Ebert made The Most Dangerous Writing App on his own time and released it for free.
There are many tricks for overcoming writer's block. One of the most commonly prescribed bits of advice is perhaps the most obvious: just write. It could mean banging out a rough draft in one fell swoop, or it could mean pretending like you're writing in a diary, letting out a stream of consciousness. Or as editors love to say, "Pretend you're at a bar, having a beer, and talking to your friend."
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Profit From Your Writing Talent
Useful information from Carolina Wren Press: https://tinyurl.com/3anaf6a4
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WRITE IN STYLE: How to Use Your Computer to Improve Your Writing
We’ve been told to write tight, but how can we know when we’ve overwritten? In my five-time-award-winning book WRITE IN STYLE, you’ll learn how to use your computer to find and delete or rewrite words, sentences, and phrases that weaken your writing.
Five-time-award-winning WRITE IN STYLE leaves grammar to the grammarians. Instead it uses humor and expertise to show writers how to tighten and strengthen their writing style and create a fresh voice. Available as an e-book or printed.
Have you removed all the superfluous words in your manuscript? This book tells you what to look for and change or delete. Watch all your writing improve with tips from this brilliant book on creative writing.
Order your copy today at https://tinyurl.com/y8fp5nym.
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Contributing Writers Now Get Film Screen Credit
“The Hollywood Reporter” reports that members of the Writers Guild of America East and West have voted to institute an “Additional Literary Material” credit for feature films.
The credit will offer recognition to writers previously unable to receive feature film screen credits who are working under a Guild contract, have been employed in helping to craft the script or sold or licensed work for it and have submitted “literary material” to a script, though they cannot claim authorship of the script. https://tinyurl.com/3wwmrye6
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Four: Contests, Agents, and Markets
St. Martin’s/ Minotaur Books Novel Competition worth $10,000
The competition is open to any writer, regardless of nationality, aged 18 or older, who has never been the author of any published novel (in any genre), as defined by the guidelines, (except that authors of self-published works only may enter, as long as the manuscript submitted is not the self-published work) and is not under contract with a publisher for publication of a novel.
Only one manuscript entry is permitted per writer. Please read all of the rules and guidelines before submitting your entry. https://mysterywriters.org/about-mwa/st-martins/
You must complete an online entry form and upload an electronic file of your manuscript. The entry form will allow you to upload one electronic file. Only electronic submissions, uploaded through the online entry form, will be considered.
For the 2022 competition, all submissions must be received by 11:59 p.m. EST on December 17, 2021.
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Harper’s Magazine
666 Broadway, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10012
https://harpers.org/submissions/
Harper’s accepts fiction and nonfiction submissions, but with strict guidelines. Writers wishing to submit nonfiction to Harper’s Magazine are invited to send queries to the address above, accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. The magazine will neither consider nor return unsolicited nonfiction manuscripts.
Harper’s will consider unsolicited fiction without the need to query first. Unsolicited poetry will not be considered or returned.
Ideas for the Readings section are welcomed at readings@harpers.org. Volume precludes individual acknowledgment.
Although the website doesn’t specify payments, reports suggest the payment is between 25 cents and a dollar a word.
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Changeling Press
Changeling Press publishes Contemporary, Sci-Fi Futuristic, and Paranormal Romance in digital format.
We're currently accepting submissions for women's erotic romance, contemporary and futuristic short fiction, single title, series, and serials in the following genres and themes:
Genres: Sci-Fi/Futuristic Romance, Dark and Urban Fantasy Romance, Paranormal Romance, Action-Adventure Romance, and Guilty Pleasures (Adult Contemporary Romance).
Themes: MC Romance, Rock Star Romance, Alien Encounters Romance, Men and Women in Uniform Romance, New Adult Romance, Single Parent/Pregnancy Romance, 2nd Chance Romance, Interracial Romance, Gay, Bisexual and More Romance, Multiple Partner Romance, Shapeshifter Romance, Vampire Romance, Werewolf Romance, Zombie Romance, and Tentacle Monster Romance.
Submission guidelines: https://www.changelingpress.com/submissions.php
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Do YOU have news for The Writers Network News? Send it in the body of an email to Bobbie@zebraeditor.com or bzebra@aol.com. Deadline: 18th of each month.
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Send a copy of this newsletter to all your writing friends. Tell them to join The Writers Network F-R-E-E by visiting https://www.zebraeditor.com/ and signing up for The Writers Network News.
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With the exception of Zebra Communications, information in this newsletter is not to be construed as an endorsement. Research all information and study every stipulation before you enter a competition, pitch or accept an assignment, spend money, or sell your work.
The Writers Network News: a newsletter for writers everywhere. No Rules; Just Write!
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