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    Fiction Tips
    Fiction Tips
    Fiction Tips
    Ebook36 pages25 minutes

    Fiction Tips

    By Ellen Behrens

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    About this ebook

    Fourteen brief articles covering topics from characterization to the importance of smooth transitions between scenes, all from award-winning novelist Ellen Behrens. She draws on her many years of writing and editing experience to focus on common issues facing beginning fiction writers. Skipping much of what can be found in most how-to books, Behrens chose her topics based on problems she noticed in debut novels, issues raised in online forums, and questions she's been asked over the years.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEllen Behrens
    Release dateJul 17, 2018
    ISBN9780463525340
    Fiction Tips
    Author

    Ellen Behrens

    Ellen Behrens is a novelist, short story author, and nonfiction writer. Her newest novel, "Yuma Baby," is the second Rollin RV Mystery. "Pea Body" started this series featuring full-time RVers Walt and Betty Rollin. Behrens has been called RVers' favorite writer. Both books are available in print and e-book format for all major readers. Behrens' first novel, "None But the Dead and Dying," came out in 1996 from Baskerville Publishers. In 2010 she self-published a short story collection based on experiences she and her husband have had as full-time RVers. Her stories and articles have appeared in numerous periodicals. Former Fiction Editor for Mid-American Review, she received an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in 1993.

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      Book preview

      Fiction Tips - Ellen Behrens

      FICTION TIPS

      from

      Ellen Behrens

      Copyright 2018 Ellen Behrens

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Introduction

      Getting Started

      Choose Wisely, Grasshopper!

      Follow the Yellow Brick – Process?!?

      Great Expectations

      Five Myths About Short Stories

      Short Story... Or Anecdote?

      A Formula for Fiction

      A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You

      Showing AND Telling

      Finding Your Voice

      Getting Settled

      Characters: It’s Elementary, My Dear!

      Like a Long, Long Walk

      Getting From Point A to Point B

      About the Author

      More Books by Ellen Behrens

      First Two Chapters of Pea Body

      First Two Chapters of Yuma Baby

      <<<<>>>>

      INTRODUCTION

      A few things will always be true of writing: it’s a lonely process, and you never fully master the craft, no matter how long you’ve been at it or how successful you’ve been. Sure, there are best-selling megawatt authors who seem in complete command of their work, but they’re often quoted in interviews remarking about how each book is different, each requiring them to re-think the process, their tools, their approach to language and story telling.

      I’m no bestselling novelist, but I have been at it awhile and have learned a few things along the way. Back in 2015 I was asked if I would write a regular column for a quarterly newsletter for writers who share a love of traveling in their recreational vehicles (RVs). The only constraint was a five hundred word limit for each article.

      Easy-peasy, I thought. I can write this stuff in my sleep.

      Yeah, well, I found out that compressing advice about characterization or

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