Wilhelmina-vanRoyen

I will be doing an excerpt of the day every day if I can. Excerpts are just bits I really like from my book, and they do not contain any spoilers! Pale light sliced through the gap in the middle of the curtains and slanted over her face. She would have put a pillow over her face but her leaden arms were incapable of the task so she turned her head to the wall. She didn't think she would ever be able to sleep, but the doctor dripped something into her water that made her drowsy after a few sips. He told her she was in shock, the bump on her head was a bad bruise, and the cut in her side didn't even need stitches. He told her she fared better

Misuse and abuse of adverbs is THE NUMBER ONE MISTAKE I see people making. Jeff Chapman has outlined the major problems faced when using adverbs here: http://jeffchapmanwriter.blogspot.ca/2010/04/why-no-adverbs.html in a blog post, but I'll paste it below in case you're someone who doesn't want to follow external links. Jeff Chapman: THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010 Why No Adverbs? I recently came across some warnings for fiction writers against using adverbs, those -ly words that modify adjectives and verbs. (I even used one in the previous sentence: recently.) I understand that overuse of adverbs could make your writing look silly and that ove

I know that every person everywhere has heard that you need to show, not tell, when you write. Of course we all listen to it, and we try to implement it. For me, it finally clicked when I was working on a scene from my next story. The rough cold of the naked hardwood floor pressed into her cheek and numbed the tip of her nose. Empty boots and crumpled blankets obscured the sleeping body of her traveling companion. He didn't snore, but he insisted on taking the only bedroll and most of their blankets. Boxes piled around the room softened some of the chill seeping in from outside, but they were still sleeping in a broom closet. Ciardha kicked