Category: Staff Articles

Writing advice and insights from the staff of Indies Unlimited.

There is no one write true way….

Author Valerie Douglas
Author Valerie Douglas

Yes, I spelled that correctly, just to make a point. Lately I’ve seen a few posts on LinkedIn and Facebook where one writer purports to tell other writers just how to write. Even worse, at least two of them  stated that Stephen King (yeah, THAT Stephen King, the one that sells bajillions of books.) was doing it wrong.

Outside of the obvious hubris and ridiculousness of that remark (see I can  be nice, I used ridiculous instead of the word I wanted to use) given his output and success, was the relative unsuccess of two of the writers. Even for me, the Queen of snark, it was a little absurd. Continue reading “There is no one write true way….”

The IU Crew

A classy posseWho is in your crew? Who’s in your corner? I’m about to share with you one of the most important things I have ever learned about writing. You need a gang. You need a crew. You need people you can bounce ideas off of. You need people you can vent to. You need to have a group of people who’ve got your six. Why? There are lots of reasons, but the biggest one is that riffing with creative people makes you more creative.

Continue reading “The IU Crew”

Tuesday Tutorial: SEO Plug-Ins

Google Search for Evil Mastermind
Be Evil, and Be Seen!

You don’t have to be an Evil Mastermind to take advantage of Search Engine Optimization tools (SEO) for your blog. In fact, you don’t have to be a mastermind at all.

While this tutorial targets WordPress blogs, the same philosophies apply to tagging and SEO for all blogs. How do I know this, you ask? As much as I hate to admit it, it’s because back in my previous life, I worked as Director of Operations for a Search Engine Positioning company in Boston. Continue reading “Tuesday Tutorial: SEO Plug-Ins”

On Murdering Your Darlings

Editing process underway?

We writers are known for killing off characters in creative ways. Wood chippers are a favorite method. (Oh, I’m the only one who does that? Uh…never mind. I’ll just…move that thing back into the garage.) Yet the writing adage “murder your darlings” did not originally refer to killing characters but cutting out unnecessary words. While William Faulkner and Elmore Leonard have been credited with it, the original quote is attributed to Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, who wrote:

“Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press. Murder your darlings.”
Continue reading “On Murdering Your Darlings”