Twitter Tuesday is a new feature on my blog. The first Tuesday of the month, I include all of the past month’s writing and editing tweets from the “field.” Read Twitter Tuesday 1 here.
Be sure to check out my new Query Workshops!
I was pretty active on Twitter in May, so I’m posting Twitter Tuesday #3 in two installments. Here are the tweets & retweets from May 16th–June 2nd.
May
Describe what’s happening rather than telling us that it’s happening. #ShowDontTell #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) May 17, 2014
If you want active, engaging prose, fix expletive sentences—those starting with “There was/are/is” or “It was/is" #writingtips
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) May 17, 2014
#writingtip of the day: Highlight just your dialog & read it like a script. Does it make sense? Does it sound natural? Revise. #amediting
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) May 29, 2014
My avg #editing price/wd: $0.015 MS critique, $0.04 line edit. SPECIALS: $40 for 10 pg, $160 for 10K wds http://t.co/HaKOKRAmBg #amediting
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) May 29, 2014
First impressions are everything! Get a query critique before landing in the slush pile. For free or $35. Details: http://t.co/Q4HWNYd2yn
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) June 1, 2014
An MFA in #writing isn't for everyone. As a literary writing major, I appreciate this. I love guilty pleasure reads! http://t.co/n6Jhw1iH3j
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) June 2, 2014
A query shows you can write engaging prose. A synopsis shows you can write a plot. Query=voice. Synopsis=plot points. #writingtips #querytip
— Lara Willard (@larathelark) June 3, 2014
Retweets
Always mystify, torture, mislead, and surprise the audience as much as possible.
DON ROFF #amwriting #writing #writingtips— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) May 16, 2014
I used to think if I wrote carefully enough, I’d never have to revise. Reality: writing is the warmup. Drafts become books during revisions.
— Caryn Caldwell (@CarynCaldwell) May 16, 2014
"Write through and past the awkward stages in which your words clunk and your characters embarrass you…”http://t.co/ZecW9qj4QC#writing
— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) May 16, 2014
The final test of a work of #art is not whether it has beauty, but whether it has power.
JOHN HERSEY#literature #writing— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) May 19, 2014
This is probably the best thing I've read on questions to ask yourself about self pubbing versus not-self pubbing: http://t.co/nZ3GipE7LZ
— Janet Reid (@Janet_Reid) May 20, 2014
The only way to write about sex is not to write much. Let the reader bring his own sexuality into the text.
TONI MORRISON#writing— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) May 21, 2014
Tell a story! Don’t try to impress your reader with style or vocabulary or neatly turned phrases. Tell the story first.
ANNE McCAFFREY— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) May 23, 2014
Commit yourself to the process, NOT the project. Don’t be afraid to write badly, everyone does. FRANK CONROY#amwriting #writing
— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) May 24, 2014
My word count preferences:
MG: 35 to 60K
YA: 60 to 85K
Contemporary Romance: 80 to 95K
Cozies: 60 to 75K
Nothing over 100K— Melissa Jeglinski (@MJeglinski) May 27, 2014
I don't care what your character's internal monologue is, if it's just saying stuff that we should be seeing instead
— Cameron Stewart (@cameronMstewart) May 28, 2014
“Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”- Andy Rooney
— Better Novel Project (@BetterNovelProj) May 29, 2014
Getting a lot of "where do you find the time?” comments lately… http://t.co/S0bbmu9RS9 pic.twitter.com/63yFUFF5eE
— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) May 29, 2014
To Tell Your Story, Take a Page from Kurt Vonnegut: http://t.co/LKXKSWGt9w via @HarvardBiz pic.twitter.com/XACM7G4amL
— Better Novel Project (@BetterNovelProj) May 31, 2014
Talked to YA editors about spec fic & SF/F and how stories in another world have to illuminate us on what's wrong w/ our world #BEA14
— Carly Watters (@carlywatters) May 31, 2014
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.
PABLO PICASSO#art #literature #writing pic.twitter.com/e6WXasr2yJ— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) June 1, 2014
No editor will read a manuscript that doesn't look professional.
MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY#amwriting #publishing #writing #writingtips— Jon Winokur (@AdviceToWriters) June 2, 2014
Lara Willard 
Such a good idea! I’m jealous of your intelligent tweets. I can never think a good tweet when I need to:P
Thank you! I think being an editor helps…I tend to rewrite my tweets several times before posting 🙂