Learning from the Masters: Voice

I’ve written about voice in YA contemporary (twice), I’ve written about voice in YA historical, and today I’m going to talk about the voice of a writer who’s not YA at all. Because while it’s absolutely crucial as a writer to read within our genres, there is a tremendous amount to be learned from other genres, […]

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MK’s Book Reviews: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

I’m back after a long, amazing weekend at Lake Sacandaga in upstate New York. I missed a few days due to no wifi at all (which can be quite nice) but now I’m back and it’s Tuesday which means it’s time for a book review. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one […]

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Learning from the Masters: Voice

So last week I said I wanted to talk about something super-important in novel-writing: voice. This week I’m talking about the same thing, and showing an example of a completely different kind of voice. In YA, you can sometimes read several books in a row all with similar voices. That’s why I love The Spectacular Now–the […]

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MK’s Book Reviews: I’ll Give You The Sun

Today I’m going to be talking about Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun. You have to read this book. Why?

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Improve Your Writing: Avoiding Passive Voice

I almost didn’t write this post, because the writing tip is quite an obvious one. But regardless of how many times we hear it, I still see the passive voice cropping up in otherwise well-written manuscripts–including my own. So let’s go over this!

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Friday Things

Happy Friday!

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Learning from the Masters: Voice

So I’ve written a lot about what we can learn from the masterful writers who’ve come before us, focusing mainly on the first 250 words of the manuscript. Today I want to focus on something else: voice.

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MK’s Book Reviews: Before I Fall

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a book review! Today: Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver

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On Editing: A Quick Trick

Editing: an essential part of the writing process. From what I can tell, some people love it, and others love to hate it. I personally love editing my own work, taking that raw material and polishing it to a gleaming shine. But like any part of the writing process, editing comes with countless frustrations. There’s […]

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Friday Things

Happy Friday! It’s been a crazy week for me, in the way I really think that weeks in July should not be. But here are three things (in addition to the image above) that helped get me through it:

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