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Cheryl Burman
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Category: Writing tips

Multiple POVs – good idea or not?

November 9, 2022 cheryl 2 Comments

What are POVs? Point of view (POV) characters are those through whose eyes the story of our novel is told.…

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Posted in: self publishing, Writing tips Filed under: characters, editing, multiple POVs, novel draft, points of view

Six plot devices explained

October 7, 2022 cheryl
sign warning of cliff edge

I admit I only had a hazy knowledge of what a plot device is when I decided to write this…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: Checkov's gun, flashback, foreshadowing, narrative technique, plot devices, plot twists, red herrings

Plotter or Pantser?

September 9, 2022 cheryl
cartoon sharacters

Different writers approach their new work-in-progress in (many) different ways. Approaches tend, however, to fall along a spectrum. At one…

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Posted in: self publishing, Writing tips Filed under: novel outlining, novel writing approaches, pantsers, plotters, writing

Is your novel too short?

June 6, 2022 cheryl
banner

I asked some members of the #writingcommunity what they’d like me to research for this month’s Writer’s Corner, and this…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: backstory, characters, conflict in novels, dialogue, editing, novel beginnings, novel draft, novel endings, plot structure, secondary characters

Resist the urge to explain: four ‘explanations’

May 4, 2022 cheryl

‘Resist the urge to explain’ is a mantra drummed into us writers. Okay, another rule – but what does it…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: backstory, character emotions, characterisation in novels, editing, imformation dumps in writing, show not tell, story endings

Characters readers love to spend time with

April 2, 2022 cheryl
holding hands

This post first appeared in April 2022 newsletter writer’s corner and updated September 22. For ongoing writing tips, sign up…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: authors, character depth, character emotions, editing, writing characters

Make verbs work harder to strengthen your writing

March 5, 2022 cheryl 2 Comments

How can we make verbs work harder for us? Writers are often told: ‘get rid of was’, and ‘ban -ing…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: active voice, adverbs, passive voice, past tense, verbs, words ending in -ly

Six Do’s and Four Don’ts in writing book blurbs

February 10, 2022 cheryl
open book

Writing book blurbs is hard. Ask any author pitching to agents on the traditional publishing route, and 99% will tell…

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Posted in: Marketing, self publishing, Writing tips Filed under: back cover blurbs, book blurbs, book description

Character backstory – the what, when and how

December 8, 2021 cheryl

Character backstory is critical to a reader’s understanding of our characters. But there are ways to do it without bogging…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: character backstory, characters, editing, writing characters

Six scene essentials

November 10, 2021 cheryl
books on shelf

The WHY, WHO, WHERE, WHEN, WHAT and HOW of scenes In editing my current WIP, I found I had snippets…

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Posted in: Writing tips Filed under: change in scenes, character change, editing, Keepers, newsletter, point of view, scene beginnings, scene endings, scenes

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  • About the author
  • News
  • Cheryl Burman’s Books
  • Meet Cheryl here
  • Writing tips
  • Blog posts for readers & writers
  • Bits of writing
  • Reviews of what I’m reading
  • Editing services
  • Author guest spots
  • Sammy’s Walks
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