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2 Minute Tips

2 Minute Tip for Aspiring Authors: Manuscript Format

If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, then make sure your manuscript is formatted properly. In today's tip, I talk about the proper format for fiction manuscripts. 

I can't emphasize enough how important this step is. Sending a manuscript to a publisher that is single-spaced or written in a funky font will quickly result in its return. You only have one chance to make a first impression. Your manuscript format is the way to put your best foot forward.

Good luck with your project! If you have a question you'd like me to answer, leave me a comment here, on my Facebook page, on Pinterest, on my YouTube channel, or on Goodreads.

2 Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers: The Head Hopping Dilemma

Jumping from one character's point of view to the other is--in my opinion--not only sloppy writing, but it can become exhausting for your reader. But if you don't "head-hop," then how do you show what the other characters' reactions are to the scene?

I give you the secret in today's 2-Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers.

Do you have a writing question? You can leave it here on my blog, or on my Facebook page, my Pinterest page, my YouTube channel or on Goodreads. Then two weeks from today, I'll choose one and answer it in my next edition of *Two Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers.* See you then!

2 Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers: Description Made Easy

Description does not come easy to me. Dialogue--I could write that all the day long. But description is a challenge.

One of the things that has helped me tremendously is what Dwight Swain refers to as the "Significant Detail." Just watch ...

Do you have a writing question? You can leave it here on my blog, or on my Facebook page, my Pinterest page, my YouTube channel or on Goodreads. Then two weeks from today, I'll choose one and answer it in my next edition of *Two Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers.*

And what about you? Does description come easily to you or do you have to work at it like I do?

2 Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers: Show, Don't Tell

One of the main jobs of any writer is to evoke emotion from their readers. You want them to laugh, to cry. To gasp in suprise, to moan in frustration, to bite their nails. And at the very end, you want them to sigh over a story well told.

 One of the best ways to accomplish this is to *show* a story instead of *tell* a story. In this week's Two Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers, I give you examples of how to do this.

Do you have a writing question? You can leave it here on my blog, or on my Facebook page, my Pinterest page, my YouTube channel or on Goodreads. Then two weeks from today, I'll choose one and answer it in my next edition of *Two Minute Tips for Aspiring Writers.* See you then!