MENTOR MONDAY

A WRITER'S ALPHABET OF ADVICE

Act out your character's gestures.

You'll see just how silly most of them are.
Bury your back story and dig it up a little at a time.
Characters are bigger than plot.

Great characters make a bad plot good and a good plot great.
Description and dialogue make setting and characters real.
Explanations are not story. Cut them out.
Find a good critique group. It will take years off your journey.
Give your characters problems. Conflict is everything.
Heroes should be heroic. Let them solve their own problems.
Ideas are everywhere. Snatch them up.
Juggle a few manuscripts at once.

If you get stuck on one, you have another to turn to.
Kill off a character and win a Newbery
Listen to those who know more than you do.
Mentor someone on their way up.
Nonfiction will generally get you published faster than fiction.
Outlines are not for everybody. Write your book your way.
Punctuation is your friend. Use it.
Quitting is the only way you can fail.
Keep at it and, sooner or later, you will publish.
Read, read, and read some more.
Submit.
Tension keeps readers reading.
Underwear is a funny word. If you write humor, use it.
Villains create tension. Create a great villain.
Writers write. Rewriters publish.
Xpect to succeed and you will.
Yacking about writing gets you nowhere. Sit down and write.
Zwieback cookies in the hands of a toddler

will buy you a good hour of writing time.
Cleaning up afterwards may be a problem.