Lara Zielinsky

Why Hire an Editor

Here are five bottom-line reasons you should hire a human editor and not rely on a grammar checker, especially one with AI. Fiction writing is not AI’s strong suit. AI loves patterns and it will find repetitions of ideas, and words or phrases perfectly acceptable. Yes, you can program an AI grammar checker to letContinueContinue reading “Why Hire an Editor”

A Discussion of POV

Presentation alert: January 17, at 2:00 pm Eastern I will be speaking to the members of OPUS Literary Alliance. OPUS members will receive the link to the Zoom meeting. It also will be recorded for OPUS members to view online later. OPUS’s mission is to enhance the visibility and preserve the legacy of lesbian, womenContinueContinue reading “A Discussion of POV”

Setting is a matter of point of view

One of the top reasons for why someone reads, according to most reader surveys is, to escape. Escapism is not only found in the fantastical, the things that wouldn’t happen in the reader’s every day life. Escapism is also found in the places stories take their readers. I’ve talked before about “talking heads” dialogue, notContinueContinue reading “Setting is a matter of point of view”

When showing becomes too much

Yes, you really can go too far with “show, don’t tell.” When the narrative is too dense, readers will stop reading. Mostly because too much show causes reader overwhelm and they often lose the plot or point of what you are trying to show. Too much showing Hyperdetailing: Excessive descriptions that don’t advance the plotContinueContinue reading “When showing becomes too much”

Writing through noise

It’s noisy out there. I don’t mean noise in the literal sense. Though there is a lot of that, too. The noise I’m referring to is our own brains spiraling thoughts of concern about our world, natural and man-made disasters, injustice and so much else. As a creative, you’re probably very sensitive to the thingsContinueContinue reading “Writing through noise”

Adding Layers

“Ogres have layers.” ~ Shrek Story characters should have layers. Some details are revealed only in gut-wrenching moments with another character as they let their walls down, and others are never revealed to other characters, but drive motivation throughout the story. You will probably not get all layers into your first/zero draft. Here’s how toContinueContinue reading “Adding Layers”

Self-Editing Part 2

Last month, I began to discuss how you can approach editing your own story with four tasks. Today’s discuss will pick up where that left off. You addressed what you saw as issues with the story’s structure. You now have to start turning your manuscript into something that readers expect when they read in thisContinueContinue reading “Self-Editing Part 2”

4 Self-Editing Tasks

You have completed the first draft of your story. If you’re working toward publication, you probably know this was just step 1. (My post on From Draft to Done can help you understand the process.) Today’s topic comes to you courtesy of writer-me, who finished the first draft of her novel last week during writingContinueContinue reading “4 Self-Editing Tasks”