Thanks for joining me again! Last week, you started from the beginning, re-writing through the opening act of your first draft. You set a weekly and daily goal for yourself, you pumped up the tension in your opening, you laid the ground-work for the average work-a-day world of your protagonist, and you explored the primary question underlying the inciting incident: “Why is today unlike every other day?” This week, we look at the Counter-Argument.

Rewriting the Counter-Argument

The Counter-Argument is the opposite side of your story question coin, the resistance against which your heroine struggles through the rest of the story. This counter-argument should be presented to the reader roughly 2/3rds of the way through your opening act.

(I’m assuming a classic Three-Act Structure here: Beginning, Middle, and End. With other act structures, your mileage may vary, but the principle is the same; the Counter-Argument is introduced about 15%…

I’ve read some terrific posts about the fun and importance of Stumbling.

If you missed them do yourself a favor and go to the links below and read.

However, some people have had problems adding the StumbleUpon share button to their blog. So I decided to help with one of my videos.

Pixabay.com

Hope it helps.

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Keep Reading: 

3 Ways StumbleUpon Can Get YOU Noticed January 10, 2017Dan Alatorre AUTHOR

StumbleUpon Follow-Up: The Results Look Like This Posted onJanuary 23, 2017 Eva Blaskovic

Leave a comment and let me know how this worked for you!

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This is a guest post by Sierra Delarosa. Sierra is a freelance writer, musician and content writer for Global English Editing.

11 Science-Backed Ways Writing Improves Your Mind, Body, and Spirit

For many of us, writing is a practical tool. We use it to communicate our thoughts, ideas, and experiences with other people, usually through email and social media. However, considerable scientific research is showing that writing has exciting health and wellness benefits too.

When you write you let go of pent up stress and sorrow, which is a positive way to release these emotions.

When you write expressively and honestly about your experiences and how you feel, you can also notice patterns of how certain emotional conflicts arise, giving you insight into the source and nature of your malfunctions.

Among the many benefits of writing, you become a better communicator, your immune system is boosted, blood pressure is reduced…

by Tonya R. Moore

There’s all this hubbub floating around out there lately, conflicting theories of all the DOs and DON’Ts of what it takes to be or become a successful author.

Some time ago, I saw some Perpetual Writing Advice Giver actually tweet that if you’re a writer promoting your work and you don’t have this many (double digit) thousand followers on Twitter, you’re simply not trying hard enough. To add insult to offense, said party didn’t even have a half of that “strongly suggested” following.

Originally posted as the Dun Writin’—Now Whut? series on this blog, EDITING 101 is a weekly refresher series for some of you and brand new for others.

Courtesy of Adirondack Editing

Dashes

Many authors have trouble with dashes. It’s hard to know which one to use and when to use it. There are several different kinds, and they all have different usages.

Qualification: Since I deal with mostly United States fiction, my style guide is The Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS). Other style manuals have different rules for dashes, especially if you live in another area of the world, such as the UK or Australia. This international blog is actually based in the UK, so feel free to ask questions in the comments (letting me know where you’re located) and I’d be happy to give you individualized answers. The following information is taken from the sixteenth edition of CMOS…

As the months pass, I still feel satisfied with the publication of The Tales of Draco: Rise of the Dragon. This was a big step for me. However, like every author, there are some aspects in the novel that I wish I could change. The biggest frustration I have with the book is how many misprints I find now and again. To tell you the truth, misprints in books are more common than you think. I see them in even the most popular of books, but it seems there are more errors than there should be in Rise of the Dragon, and there are a few reasons why. Just to be clear, I am not pointing my finger at anybody or criticizing whatsoever. Accidents happen and the best thing we can do is learn from them.

The biggest cause of misprints is because the book is self-published. Being in school…

by Jordan Jolley

If you devote time for the quality of your story, then your book’s potential can go far.

There are two very common questions people ask me: “How long did it take you to write your first book?” and “Are you done with your second book?”