Michelle Witte
Read. Write. Edit.Seeing the “Good” in Goodreads
Some Necessary Context In recent years there have been a number of brouhahas involving book bloggers and amateur (in the sense of not being professional) book reviewers. You can see a post I wrote about three years ago that addresses several of these kerfuffles. Note:...
5 Simple Things that Will Instantly Improve Your Manuscript
Really. I’m totally serious here. If you do these five simple things right now, the flow and readability of your manuscript will improve immediately and exponentially. Guaranteed. 1. Excise all that “just,” “so,” “really,” “very,” “well” fluff. Well, for one...
It Takes Time
The other day Shannon Hale (who I adore and who is one of the most giving authors I know) wrote up a post called I Am Not Accessible about how she just doesn't have time to respond to emails from readers. There are so so so many things I would like to do that I simply...
Factors in Deciding Which Book to Publish
There’s so much more that goes into the decision to represent or acquire a book than simply whether it’s a good story that’s well written. I and probably most others in publishing wish it weren’t, but it’s an inescapable fact that not every book we like or even love...
Going Beta Fishing
The followed stemmed from a conversation I had with one of my super-amazing authors, Betsy Schow, over pie shakes* during a writers conference last year. Without further ado, I give you Betsy in her infinite wisdom. ***** Allow me to teach you the simple trick of...
Michelle’s “Rules” for Writers
Yeah, yeah. I know what you're thinking. "But haven't you told us before that there aren't rules when it comes to writing, and that there are always exceptions?" Okay, well, you got me there. But these rules are so simple and so, like, perfect that if you don't follow...
Focus on the Story
Writers are an interesting lot. We’re so full of—and surrounded by—dichotomies, it’s a wonder we don’t second-guess ourselves every moment we spend in front of the computer tip tap typing away. Focus on the story. Well, okay. Maybe we don’t spend every moment...
Openings that Don’t Get Me Excited
Let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. Or not. Thing is, how your novel opens is vital to telling the rest of your story. Start in the wrong place, and you might never catch a reader's attention enough to get them to more than just skim...
Big Isn’t Always Better
Publishing is in flux. Anyone who pays attention to the industry knows that. But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. With change comes opportunity, and some of the smaller independent publishers out there are in a prime position to innovate and try different...
Writers Don’t Have to Blog
I was reminded again recently of a discussion I started a year ago about writers blogging about writing. The original tweet that started the discussion: I wish more writers would blog/tweet about things OTHER THAN WRITING. When you've READ as many as I have, they all...
