The Wrong Idea about Story Ideas by Alice Orr @AliceOrrBooks #MFRWauthor #AmEditing

The major misconception about story ideas has to do with what they can and cannot accomplish. Let me illustrate with a cocktail party – or family barbecue or writers' event – scenario. The Author, maybe you or me, stands at edge of the crowd to maximize observation potential. We're eavesdroppers and surveillance experts after all. We know, as Nora Ephron said, that everything is copy, so we're always on the lookout for glimpses of story fodder.

Story Fodder

Since we are also savvy Authors, our glasses contain sparkling water, diet cola, tonic with lime or something equally nonalcoholic. We know that keeping the head clear is essential to keeping the perception sharp and the memory intact for later notetaking. We are further aware that every foray into the world holds the possibility for sighting a publishing pro, and we must be ever ready to do some sober impressing. Like I said, we're savvy.

Meanwhile, a fellow partier sidles over to you, but is unfortunately anything but a publishing professional. In fact, this guy or gal is a civilian, as in not a publishing person at all, and especially not an Author. Soon he or she discovers that you however are the real thing, an actual bona fide Author in the flesh. At which point, your new-found companion from the non-pub world suggests some variation on the following.

"I've got a terrific idea for a novel. Bestseller for sure. How's about I tell you my idea, you write the story, then we split the take fifty-fifty?"

More than one misconception is in play here. First off, this non-practitioner of the writing arts completely underestimates the writing process. Legendary sportswriter Red Smith once famously said, "There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at the typewriter and open a vein." Of course, your sidekick with the bestseller idea, who has now glommed onto you like an overboard sailor in search of port in a storm, knows nothing about the bloodletting aspect of a writer's work. Worse yet, he does not understand that an idea is not a story.

An idea is only a kernel. That kernel may possess the potential to grow into the next Nora King Mary Higgins Grisham opus, or it may not. Either way, tons of nurture, strain, frustration, doubt and, ah yes, bloodletting must be applied between the planting of that seed kernel and its sometimes quite long-distant future harvest. A clever idea may be a jumping off place, but, without the sweat equity required, the storyteller is in for a hard fall and a lean crop.

Let me make very clear that not only non-writers are susceptible here. I have myself experienced the exhilaration of a Technicolor idea strike. Here's how that phenomenon generally goes. A story concept, or maybe just the flash of a scene, appears unexpectedly out of the blue, like lightning in the mind. And, in that instant, I am immediately certain something entirely new and previously unimagined has been revealed.

"This is it," I cry out in creative ecstasy between heart palpitations. "This is the story I have to write."

The problem is that I don't really have a story. I only have an idea, and an idea is only a beginning. A story, particularly in the commercial publishing arena where so many of us practice our craft, requires a plot with a beginning, a middle and an end. At best, my dazzling epiphany of inspiration will get me through the opening scene, maybe even the first chapter. Sadly, on the other hand, without a lot more work, the story tumbles downhill from there.

Any editor worth her blue pencil will see straight through the Technicolor bit to the lackluster follow-up. Even if she is impressed by the story's start, she'll have figured out the truth long before the probably nonexistent finish. Which did, in fact, happen to me with the proposal for a suspense novel tentatively titled Live Burial. I must admit I was as blindingly dazzled by that title inspiration as I had been by the initial idea strike. Until my then-agent leveled her critique straight at me.

"Sorry, Alice," she said, and she actually did look sorrowful. "You've got no second act."

My own twenty-twenty hindsight eventually leveled its critique as well. I had no subsequent acts at all, only a wham-bam opening scene. What had been buried alive, by me, was my story, along with my chances of making that all-important boffo first-read impression on my agent. The object lesson here is this. Follow my advice, not my example. Tell your partytime buddy, "Thanks, but no thanks," and never let The Wrong Idea about Ideas enter your storyteller's mind ever again.

For more insights into writing and publishing, visit my blog at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Alice Orr is author of 16 novels, 3 novellas, a memoir and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. A former book editor and literary agent, Alice now writes full-time. Her latest novel is A Time of Fear and Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5. Find all of Alice Orr's books at amazon.com and other online retailers. Alice has two grown children and two perfect grandchildren and lives with her beloved husband Jonathan in New York City.
Author Website www.aliceorrbooks.com
Author Blog www.aliceorrbooks.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
Twitter https://twitter.com/aliceorrbooks
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Orr/e/B000APC22E

It's All About Her Humanity – How to Create the Perfect Heroine for Your Story by Alice Orr @AliceOrrBooks #AmEditing #MFRWauthor

Mike Nichols was a master storyteller, one of the best that ever lived, in my opinion. I saw him in an interview once where he was asked to name the most important element in a story. His answer was this. "All we care about is the humanity."

How to Create the Perfect Heroine for Your Story

He was saying we must put the core of what makes us all human into the characters in our stories. Their dreams and hopes. Their disappointments and losses. Especially how they FEEL about their dreams, hopes, disappointments and losses. All portrayed in well-written scenes.

In Nichols' film Heartburn, from the novel and screenplay by another great storyteller, the fabulous Nora Ephron, humanity is at the burning heart. Rachel Samstat spends the entire story trying to get into, get through and eventually get out of the marriage of her hopes and dreams. She is toppled into disappointment, one she creates for herself by an error in judgment.

Her blunder sets her up for what feels at the moment like the most devastating loss of her life, the discovery that her husband Mark Forman has been unfaithful. Let me emphasize that Rachel FEELS like his infidelity is the greatest loss of her life and this is what matters. How the situation FEELS to the character. How what happens to her impacts her humanity.

We may know she is better off without this lying, philandering so-and-so, but she doesn't FEEL that truth. She triumphs, so to speak, in the end because she comes to grips with that truth, and we FEEL that triumph with her. We also FEEL her heartache. We FEEL her humanity.

The entire story really belongs to Rachel Samstat. It could have been titled The Adventures (or Misadventures) of Rachel Samstat. Similarly, each of our own stories could be titled The Adventures of ________ (fill in the name of your story heroine). Or more accurately The Emotional Adventures of ________.

It's All About Her Humanity

In the romance genre in particular, our audience, our readership, cares most about the humanity of our heroine, and how that humanity acts itself out in our story. How her humanity comes to life on the page in the way she behaves and talks and most of all FEELS. In other words, what our readers care about most is our heroine's Emotional Truth.

Emotional truth is what's really going on in your story. The real, underlying truth of what is happening to your heroine, and all of your characters. What your characters allow us to see and hear on their surfaces can conceal what they are truly feeling. Great stories are all about TRUE FEELINGS REVEALED.

This is exactly like real life, and real life is the mother lode from which you mine your own emotional truth and refine it into storytelling treasure. The precious coins of that treasure are the deeply felt emotions at the beating heart of your story, the deeply felt emotions that make your reader feel deeply too. Like we feel for Rachel Samstat, because we recognize her heartburn and her heartbreak, because at one time or another it has most likely been our own.

I write romantic suspense novels. Scary things happen in my stories. In my latest novel, A Time of Fear and Loving, my heroine, Amanda Miller Bryce, is terrorized by a brute. That same thing happened to me once. Fortunately, Amanda and I both survived. In the meantime, as I wrote the story, she and I both benefited from my emotional truth of that awful experience.

We shared the powerlessness we felt while the awfulness was happening. We shared the shock and numbness we felt after it was over. We also shared our awareness of the way others reacted around us. I didn't need to take notes. All of that was branded on my own, very personal humanity in indelible emotional ink. Now it is branded on my heroine's humanity.

We have all had emotionally indelible experiences. We have been changed by them, traumatized by them, sometimes stopped in our tracks by them. As writers, we get to pass those experiences on to our heroines. We get to convert our own emotional landscapes into the very raw material of very intense, very dramatic, very powerful storytelling.

You know what these stories are for you. Pass them on to your heroine. Write those stories the way your heart FEELS them to be true. Don't worry about whether or not these stories may differ from factual truth. Facts are verifiable. Feelings are not. Someone else's emotional truth may vary from yours, but that doesn't make your truth any less valid. Besides, you are creating fiction, which can be anything you, as creator, want it to be.

Emotional Truth is individual, for you and for your heroine. Her truths are what she honestly FEELS. That honesty gives your story authenticity and makes your heroine come to life on the page. That authenticity gives your heroine her humanity. It is what makes your story really matter, to you as you write it, and to your readers as they read it.

Dig Deep

So, dig down and dig deep. You will know when you hit the humanity mother lode because it will zing straight to your heart, just before you zing it straight onto the page, where you will create the perfect heroine for your story.

For more insights into writing and publishing, visit my blog at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

Alice Orr is author of 16 novels, 3 novellas, a memoir and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. A former book editor and literary agent, Alice now writes full-time. Her latest novel is A Time of Fear and Loving – Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series Book 5. Find all of Alice Orr's books at amazon.com and other online retailers. Alice has two grown children and two perfect grandchildren and lives with her beloved husband Jonathan in New York City.

Author Website www.aliceorrbooks.com

Author Blog www.aliceorrbooks.com

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter

Twitter https://twitter.com/aliceorrbooks

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Orr/e/B000APC22E

Building a Hero with Stature and What Not to Do by Alice Orr #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Thriller author and former editor Alice Orr shares tips for writing heroes.

Building a Hero with Stature – What Not to Do

If your storytelling goal is wide audience appeal, build an admirable hero. A hero the reader will look up to, and remember that when I use the term hero, I'm referring to main characters of all genders.

I base my admirable hero assertion on two things. First, the bestseller lists. Most fiction titles you find there tell stories of admirable protagonists confronting great obstacles in admirable ways. Second, my experience as editor and literary agent, which too often illustrated what an admirable hero is not. Here are some examples, with names changed for discretion's sake.

Caroline is the hero of a Regency romance set in early nineteenth century England. We're told she's a woman of spotless character, which would be an appropriate portrayal. Most readers of this genre prefer their heroines intelligent, wise and, above all, dignified. An author seeking wide reader appeal would be wise herself to honor these preferences.

Unfortunately, Caroline is not the highly principled woman we are told she is. Instead, she shows herself to be of low moral character. Specifically, she joins a traveling theatrical company where her performance specialty is as a procurer or, in more forthright terms, a pimp. 

To make matters worse, Caroline lacks acceptable motivation for her choices. She's an unhappily married woman to be sure, but she is also from the landed gentry with ample financial means. She doesn't need to disgrace herself and her family to escape her husband, nor allow herself to be degraded as she does in this author's story.

A Regency era main character may find herself in dire straits. She may act to overcome her trials in many ways, but not at the expense of dignity and self-respect. Otherwise, she becomes too tawdry to qualify as a hero of this genre, and maybe as an admirable hero of any genre, at least for a non-established author. Bestsellers can afford to take chances, sometimes.

As for Sebastian, I wonder if even his author liked him very much. Sebastian is cold, distant and uncaring. His lack of compassion must be counteracted by noble qualities to make him an admirable hero. He could be written as remote on the surface with endearing depths beneath, but, in this portrayal, under his craggy surface beats a heart of unappealing stone.

Kendra has heroic qualities but is never called upon to use them. Her story is meant to be suspenseful. She should be in danger, real danger that, to maximize appeal, threatens her life. She is strong, resourceful and brave. We're eager to see those qualities tested by extreme circumstance. When no truly thrilling challenges arise, our reader expectations are dashed.

Kendra's author could have made stronger storytelling choices. A perilous situation, which Kendra only narrowly escapes. Better still, another character, vulnerable, like a child, faces serious threat, and Kendra risks her life to defy that threat. These scenarios would reveal her heroism in action and intensify the suspense. Instead, Kendra is a heroine waiting to happen, and the author squanders the dramatic potential of her story.

Shattered reader expectations, heartless main characters, dramatic potential squandered. Avoid these like the storytelling plagues they are, unless you're a bestselling author with maybe some room for risk. Build instead a hero with stature we can admire.

For more insights into writing and publishing – Visit my blog at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

About Alice Orr

Alice Orr is the author of 16 novels, 3 novellas, a memoir and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. A former book editor and literary agent, Alice now lives her dream as a full-time writer. Her latest novel is A Time of Fear and Loving: Riverton Road Romantic Suspense - Book 5. Alice has two grown children and two perfect grandchildren and resides with her husband Jonathan in New York City. 

Author Website www.aliceorrbooks.com
Author Blog www.aliceorrbooks.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
Twitter https://twitter.com/aliceorrbooks
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Orr/e/B000APC22E

 

Building a Hero with Stature and What Not to Do by Alice Orr @AliceOrrBooks #MFRWauthor #amwriting

Building a Hero with Stature – What Not to Do

If your storytelling goal is wide audience appeal, build an admirable hero. A hero the reader will look up to, and remember that when I use the term hero, I'm referring to main characters of all genders.

I base my admirable hero assertion on two things. First, the bestseller lists. Most fiction titles you find there tell stories of admirable protagonists confronting great obstacles in admirable ways. Second, my experience as editor and literary agent, which too often illustrated what an admirable hero is not. Here are some examples, with names changed for discretion's sake.

Caroline is the hero of a Regency romance set in early nineteenth century England. We're told she's a woman of spotless character, which would be an appropriate portrayal. Most readers of this genre prefer their heroines intelligent, wise and, above all, dignified. An author seeking wide reader appeal would be wise herself to honor these preferences.

Unfortunately, Caroline is not the highly principled woman we are told she is. Instead, she shows herself to be of low moral character. Specifically, she joins a traveling theatrical company where her performance specialty is as a procurer or, in more forthright terms, a pimp. 

To make matters worse, Caroline lacks acceptable motivation for her choices. She's an unhappily married woman to be sure, but she is also from the landed gentry with ample financial means. She doesn't need to disgrace herself and her family to escape her husband, nor allow herself to be degraded as she does in this author's story.

A Regency era main character may find herself in dire straits. She may act to overcome her trials in many ways, but not at the expense of dignity and self-respect. Otherwise, she becomes too tawdry to qualify as a hero of this genre, and maybe as an admirable hero of any genre, at least for a non-established author. Bestsellers can afford to take chances, sometimes.

As for Sebastian, I wonder if even his author liked him very much. Sebastian is cold, distant and uncaring. His lack of compassion must be counteracted by noble qualities to make him an admirable hero. He could be written as remote on the surface with endearing depths beneath, but, in this portrayal, under his craggy surface beats a heart of unappealing stone.

Kendra has heroic qualities but is never called upon to use them. Her story is meant to be suspenseful. She should be in danger, real danger that, to maximize appeal, threatens her life. She is strong, resourceful and brave. We're eager to see those qualities tested by extreme circumstance. When no truly thrilling challenges arise, our reader expectations are dashed.

Kendra's author could have made stronger storytelling choices. A perilous situation, which Kendra only narrowly escapes. Better still, another character, vulnerable, like a child, faces serious threat, and Kendra risks her life to defy that threat. These scenarios would reveal her heroism in action and intensify the suspense. Instead, Kendra is a heroine waiting to happen, and the author squanders the dramatic potential of her story.

Shattered reader expectations, heartless main characters, dramatic potential squandered. Avoid these like the storytelling plagues they are, unless you're a bestselling author with maybe some room for risk. Build instead a hero with stature we can admire.

For more insights into writing and publishing – Visit my blog at www.aliceorrbooks.com.

About Alice Orr

Alice Orr is the author of 16 novels, 3 novellas, a memoir and No More Rejections: 50 Secrets to Writing a Manuscript that Sells. A former book editor and literary agent, Alice now lives her dream as a full-time writer. Her latest novel is A Time of Fear and Loving: Riverton Road Romantic Suspense - Book 5. Alice has two grown children and two perfect grandchildren and resides with her husband Jonathan in New York City.
Author Website www.aliceorrbooks.com
Author Blog www.aliceorrbooks.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aliceorrwriter
Twitter https://twitter.com/aliceorrbooks
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Orr/e/B000APC22E

Is it More About Writing, or About Being a Writer? #MFRWauthor

This will be a shorter than usual blog, since I'm borrowing from another blogger. Not to mention running late.
I ran across this blog from Screencraft, a site to advise screenwriters. The post resonated with me and I think will have the same effect on other writers Beware the Writing Zombies Check it out while I get more coffee.
Do you recognize anyone you know? All I had to do was look in a mirror, and also remember the time I spent researching to avoid actually writing. Whether it was to start a new book or continue on with a current project. And I would hate to admit how many times I've delayed starting so I could use the new project for a course.
Maybe I should title this 'Games Writers Play.' Or maybe I should just get back to edits?
Happy writing!

I need a photo here. I think I'll go with a New Mexico sunset, sharing the beauty of where I'm living.

Monica Stoner w/a Mona Karel
Website/Blog 
Mona's Amazon Page
Twitter


We retired to the high plains of New Mexico, where I finally put all those seminars and critique sessions to work, not to mention pulled together my courage to offer a story I'd beaten into submission. I am honored to help Marketing for Romance Writers with list moderation, and wherever else my skill set is of value

The Editing Process - Track Changes

I know, I know, I should have loaded this earlier, but it’s still the 28^th right? I was having a hard time on how to conclude this…

*

Okay so you’ve just got your book back from the editor. Your heart beats hard in your chest as you download it into your computer and hope they like it. You open it up and start to look through it.

I have a couple of tips to make your life easier as you work your way through the edits.

Do you have the same program as your publisher? Can you see the track changes? Can you see the comments the editor made? Questions they might have asked? I bring this up because most publishers use MS Word and if you don’t have that program you might not be able to see the comments they could make.

Do you know how to use track changes? In MS Word if you look up at the top of the screen you’ll see a line of words – file, home, insert, page layout, reference, mailings, review, and view.  If you click on the word review you’ll see the bar below it change. About half way across in that lower bar is track changes. If it is on the background it sits on turns yellow. When it’s off it is white. I found out when I get my ms’s back from my editor and I turn it off I can still accept and reject their changes. The great thing is that if I find something I need to fix that the editor didn’t mark I can make my changes without having to approve everything I alter.

 I also like the using the accept and reject section in the toolbar when I have a few of those pesky track changes I can’t seem to find. That shows it to me every time. Normally, I just right click on the underlined section and a box will appear that allows me to do the same thing the tool bar does.

Really early versions of Word put the comments in the body of the documents but as they kept upgrading the program it moved to the side of the document – the one nice thing is they are easy to delete when you have completed the comment or to add to it if you need to. Just right click to delete if you don’t want to use the tool bar up top.

I still haven’t figured out how to end this particular blog. I hope this info helps you and I’ll be continuing with the editing process next month.

Barb:)

Bio:
Barbara Donlon Bradley wears many hats. She’s a mother, wife, care-giver, author, and editor. She’s a senior editor for Melange Books, and writes for Phaze and Melange books/Satin Romances with over twenty titles under her belt.

Author Sites:

Website: http://www.barbaradonlonbradley.com/

Publisher: http://www.phaze.com/author.php?author=21

Blog: http://barbaradonlonbradley.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Donlon-Bradley/118673448173249

Twitter: https://twitter.com/barbbradley

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/barbaradbradley/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7773192-barbara-bradley

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0072OTZJE

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Barbara-donlon-bradley

ARe:http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Barbara+Donlon+Bradley

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Search?Query=Barbara%20Donlon%20Bradley

Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/search/books?Keywords=barbara%20donlon%20bradley

the image I used came from my pinterest account - and from writer-write-creative-blog.posthaven.com

The Writing Process: Self Publishing #mfrworg

So this month we’ll talk about self publishing...something I haven’t done so don’t know much about, but I’ll do my best.

There are a lot of places where you can publish your own work. I googled it and found a slew of places. A few I recognized were Lulu, Createspace, IUniverse, Xlibris and of course Amazon, but there are a ton more out there. I found out there is even a Readers Digest book on self publishing companies. Each has their good and bad points and you need to find the one that works best for you.

After you’ve done your research you should reach out to other authors who have self published. Find out why they went that route and what worked and didn’t work for them. Which publishers they have tried and which ones they ended up using.

You’ll also need to find a cover artist and editor. Most of these publishers will offer a package deal that cover most, if not all, of what you want. Others seem to do things ala cart. You can also find companies that make covers, have editors – they do everything but publish your book. I did search but couldn’t6 find what I was looking for so those of you who know companies like this please chime in...

I asked some of my self published friends out there what an author should do and Kayelle Allen gave me these five suggestions:

1. Create a company name for your publishing endeavor (she uses Romance Lives Forever Books).

2. Set up accounts well ahead of your first book. You'll want to be on Amazon KDP, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, etc.

3. Create a PayPal account you can use for your books, especially if you want to sell them yourself from your site or at conventions.

4. Find a good cover artist and a good editor. Don't skimp on either one.

5. Make a marketing plan for your books that goes from pre-release through to the next book.

Next month – more on editing...

Barb:)

Bio:
Barbara Donlon Bradley wears many hats. She’s a mother, wife, care-giver, author, and editor. She’s a senior editor for Melange Books, and writes for Phaze and Melange books/Satin Romances with over twenty titles under her belt.

Author Sites:

Website: http://www.barbaradonlonbradley.com/

Publisher: http://www.phaze.com/author.php?author=21

Blog: http://barbaradonlonbradley.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Donlon-Bradley/118673448173249

Twitter: https://twitter.com/barbbradley

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/barbaradbradley/

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7773192-barbara-bradley

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0072OTZJE

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Barbara-donlon-bradley

ARe:http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Barbara+Donlon+Bradley

Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Search?Query=Barbara%20Donlon%20Bradley

Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/search/books?Keywords=barbara%20donlon%20bradley

Monique DeVere's Secret to a Polished Manuscript #Novel #MFRWauthor #MFRWorg #EditTip

Last month I shared my secret to writing great dialogue. This month, I'm going to share my secret to a polished manuscript. This is my prized resource for catching mistakes, plot holes, story flow/pacing, clarity, and the dozen other errors we as authors miss because we're so close to our work.

I'm sure it comes as no surprise when I tell you that every author would be prudent to find a way to HEAR her/his story read aloud. You've heard this advice a thousand times before, right? So have I, and I've heard other authors say they print out their MS and read it aloud so they can hear it. Or they read it aloud while recording their voice so they can replay it. I don't know about you, but that seems so last century to me.

I can't imagine sitting around reading my MS for hours on end hoping to hear mistakes. Surely, it's almost impossible to read and listen so carefully as to pick out errors at the same time. Personally, I don't believe we can effectively catch mistakes this way since we're still too close to what we've written. Then we encounter the problem of wasted hours of reading aloud that we'll never get back.

My solution? My biggest helper--outside of my CP--is my beautiful Kindle Keyboard. I love that baby. All I need to do is email my word doc to my Kindle, turn on Text-to-Speech and I can easily listen while I do the school run or clean the house. When I hear something I wish to change, I pause the Kindle, bookmark the page and make a note of what I need to change. If this happens while I'm driving, I'll make a mental note and write it down as soon as I reach my destination. On occasion, I've been known to pull over to the side of the road and make notes. But I'm sure you guys do that too. :)

I've found that using Kindle to read my story while I listen is the best option for me. I've tried using read aloud in PDF but the voice is far too tinny and computer generated for my taste. It distracts and irritate me, and I end up missing mistakes. Plus I lose the on-the-go editing option that I love so much.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is fool proof. I'm simply saying it's another wonderful editing resource to add to our creative arsenal. For instance, you won't notice homophones, but you'll certainly notice flow and pacing. You'll notice tone and characterization, plot problems or whether you spend too much time in your characters' heads, whether your dialogue sounds natural, and a host of other niggles you might've otherwise overlooked.

The Kindle Keyboard isn't the only Kindle that has the Text-to-Speech function. According to the Text-to-Speech: Enabled link in the Product details section of my books on Amazon, Text-to-Speech is available for Kindle Fire HDX, Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, Kindle (2nd generation), and Kindle DX. That's a huge choice of read aloud choices I never knew existed until lately. I haven't researched it, so I can't say if the other devices also have a read aloud function. If you know of any other reader besides the ones I listed, please tell us about it in the comments section below.

What do you use to help you polish your MS? Do you listen to your WIP via your reading device? Have you any special, trusted and adored methods for polishing your MS? If so, please share, I'd love to hear your secrets. 

Do leave a comment in the comment section below. Even if you just want to say "Hi!", I'd be thrilled to know you stopped by.

Until next time, write with clarity and style!


Monique x 

Author/Screenwriter Monique DeVere currently resides in the UK with her amazing hero husband, four beautiful grown-up children, and three incredible granddaughters. 

Monique writes Romantic Comedy stories some call Smexy—Smart & Sexy—and others call fluff. Monique makes no apologies for writing fun, emotional feel-good romance! She also writes Christian Suspense with a more serious edge. 

Monique loves to hear from her readers. You can contact her by visiting her HERE to learn more about her and check out her other books.