Don’t miss these great writing/editing tips! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
by Writer in Wedges
So you have written your short story and cannot wait to release it into the world. But before doing that, it is important to take some extra time to make sure your story is properly edited, despite the fact that editing is nowhere near as fun as writing.
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AUTHORS: Don’t miss this! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have your book selected by a book club?
Well, yeah.
The main thing that makes a book “book club ready” is the presence of questions that invite discussion. For each of my books, I have 10 questions that I compiled specifically around the themes, characters, and reader experience of the book.
Book club questions (also called Discussion Guides) are common in many academic books and are often located at the ends of chapters or in the back matter. When it comes to general fiction, placing your book club questions in the back matter is the best way to get them noticed, but not the only way. You can also direct readers to your website where a separate page or pretty pdf is linked to your book’s info.
At the end of this post is a list of potential book club questions that you can customize…
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Stephen King’s On Writing is one of the best books out there on the craft of writing. If you are a writer and don’t own it, it is well worth the investment. Written by Millionaire’s D…
Source: 36 KILLER WRITING TIPS FROM STEPHEN KING (10 min read)
Midnight—my fabulous furry feline—inspired me to write BLACK CAT, a Halloween haiku (Haiku: a Japanese-inspired three-line: 5-7-5 syllable poetry form) and design a poster to go with the poem. Kids love illustrating their poetry.
What’s inspiring you this Halloween?
Brainstorm your list and get writing.
Have fun—don’t forget to get the kids writing too!
Here are some writer’s tricks (literary devices found in every writer’s toolbox) I used to create BLACK CAT. These tools can set a mood— they make writing and reading memorable and fun. Check them out and see if you can discover where I used them in my poem.
Read on to find out more about these literary devices.
Black cat waits, watches…
Stalking tricksters in their web.
Spiders are her treats!
Assonance
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in nearby words.
Consonance
Another literary device used by writers and poets is consonance. It is the repetition of the final consonant sounds, usually in the more important words or in the accented syllables.
Alliteration
You put your alliteration tool to work when words that start with the same sound are used close together in a phrase or sentence. The sound is usually a consonant and the words don’t have to always be right next to one another.
Finding “just the right words”
Abundant resources are available in print as well as through online searches. Listed below are the two resources I had readily available in the classroom for my students (Grades 4-8). Paperbacks are inexpensive enough to have multiple copies available, and in my opinion, they are indispensable.
Happy Writing and Reading Haiku
& Happy Halloween!
~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator
Why not! I thought it would be fun to share a limerick this week and invite you to write one too. Mine is about me and a spider.
When teaching (grades 4-8), I found that starting a new school year by writing poems and sharing them was an exciting way get students hooked on writing. I must admit it—limericks are so much fun! In the classroom we learn about using some of the tools in our writer’s tool box—tools like assonance (repeating vowel sounds) and consonance (repeating consonant sounds) to create a musical message. And of course, we had Scholastic rhyming dictionaries and thesauruses close at hand. It’s always exciting to discover alternative words (synonyms) that have just the right sounds and syllables to perfect our poems.
Whether you’re a teacher, a parent or simply want to share the love of reading and writing, get the kids together and give it a try. Read on to discover what inspired me to write my spider limerick and have lots of fun writing and reading with the kids!
Click the link to find out all about it How to Write a Limerick http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/lessons/how-to-write-a-limerick/
Before I wrote this limerick, I had been watching several spiders weave their webs on the outside screens of our back porch all during the spring and summer. Spiders are fascinating creatures to watch from a safe distance. But, up close and personal they frighten me. The photo for the limerick was taken by me (safely inside the screen). Nature and my own human nature inspired me to write this one:
There once was a tall timid writer
Who spotted an intrepid spider
She jumped up and screamed
Then she suddenly beamed
“Why, I’ll write a fine book about spiders!”
~ Bette A. Stevens
HAPPY WRITING & READING… I just love this quote by William Wordsworth and the beautiful poster created by Natalie Scarberry. ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Grateful… ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
#EncourageAYoungWriterDay every day! ~ Bette Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
It has been said, that on every April 10th, we celebrate National Encourage a Young Writer Day, funny thing is, I’ve been unable to track down the origins of this auspicious day. Oh sure I found celebrations dating back to 2013, 2014 and 2015, yet nothing to indicate who started this tradition So guess what? This gives us the opportunity to initiate a tradition of our own right here and now!
It IS up to us to encourage young writers and not just for a day but each and every day. Young writers have an illustrious history of contributing to our literary world. After all, Anne Frank was a mere 13 years old when she penned her poignant diary, giving us a glimpse into a world many of us, thank goodness, would never experience. And Stephen King, it is reported, sold his first story for the…
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Keep writing! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author/illustrator http://www.4writersandreaders.com
Writers & Readers: COME JOIN US
Find out why membership is a no-brainer… #RaveReviewsBookClub ROCKS! ~ Bette A. Stevens [Explore Bette’s Blog]
There are over 400 members of RRBC and most of them are independent writers and/or publishers. The book catalog has far more than 400 titles in it, from all fiction genres (including Erotica, subject to Club Policy) YA (new Adult), and non-fiction. What I can’t give you is the link to our main catalog page – only members have access rights to this, so it’s literally an exclusive library for us RRBC people to discover, fresh, exciting new authors and titles. Prospective members can however view our genre pages for a taster! 😀
CLICK HERE for RRBC to join now!
Because the RRBC site is a blog, there’s plenty of little nooks around for you to interact with your fellow members, such as – Book Chat; Peer Support; Social Media…
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Come join us!
**Image of tulips found on Pixabay; text box via Pinterest
Bette A. Stevens, Maine Author 
Written
on 01/21/2017