TCK Publishing Videos

The teen years can be tough, but the unique challenges of teenagers make great fodder for novelists. If your book’s main characters are teenagers, you’ll be glad to know that there are editors who specialize in this popular genre. If you have written a YA book and are looking for a freelance editor to help you get your book ready to submit to literary agents or publishers , then this list is for you! Young Adult and Teen Editors Although YA characters generally range from about age 12 to 19, the genre itself can be interesting for people of all ages, which can widen your audience considerably. Here are some freelance editors with experience who can help you perfect your young adult and teen fiction.  If you’re not sure how to work with an editor, what questions to ask them, or how to choose the best editor for your project, check out our guide on how to find an editor. 1. Anna Bowles Website: www.annabowles.co.uk Email: anna@annabowles.co.uk Edited books: The Ice Monst...

Much of the challenge of fiction writing comes down to the inherent difficulty of rendering situations realistically using only words. And while it can be difficult enough to conjure real-world scenarios in a believable fashion, the task can get exponentially harder when you add more fantastical elements into the mix. Genres like science fiction and fantasy can create colorful, imaginative worlds, but extra effort is required to make some of their crazier components click in the minds of readers. Even far-flung cosmic adventures like Star Wars or noble-minded magical quests like The Lord of the Rings have some sort of internal logic that keeps them consistent, if not terribly realistic. And usually, that’s the name of the game— consistency . We’ve talked in the past about the importance of maintaining consistency in your fiction : regular tone, characterization, naming conventions… the list goes on. But what do you do in situations that demand inconsistency? How do you apply...

Whether you’re a novice writer or a published author, crafting a story can be as hard as solving a math problem that you’ve never encountered before. (And if you’re as bad at math as I am, that’s hard.) But you’re not alone. Even famous writers struggle to write their stories. Tom Wolfe, the National Book Award–winning author of The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities , told the Paris Review “I now know what writer’s block is. It’s the fear you cannot do what you’ve announced to someone else you can do, or else the fear that it isn’t worth doing.” Somehow, despite his fears, he became one of the twentieth century’s great authors. I can’t promise to turn you into Tom Wolfe, but I can give you some tips that can help you write your next story. 1. Start with a good protagonist. Every story revolves around a central character—the protagonist. As Stephen Koch wrote in The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop : “The protagonist is the character whose fate matters most to the story.” Bo...

Watch on YouTube here: How to Create an Index for Your Book in Microsoft Word Via https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZImr64sN4bR4BB_JA82vg/videos

If you’ve had any exposure to crime fiction—or the work of director M. Night Shyamalan—you probably have at least a passing familiarity with twists in fiction. A plot twist is a literary device that introduces some new element into a work of fiction that either radically changes the expected direction or outcome of the story, or sheds new and startling light on prior events in the plot. Twists are executed via a variety of techniques, including foreshadowing, which prepares readers to accept the twist, or by deliberately withholding information, making the eventual reveal all the more wrenching. But no matter how they’re put to use, readers love a juicy plot twist . Plot twists turn books and movies into water-cooler obsessions, and make literary agents spill coffee down themselves trying to sign five-book deals. There’s even an entire internet subculture entirely devoted to preventing people from ruining plot twists for uninitiated audiences. That’s why people read “spoiler-free...

Blond or blonde: which one should you use? The short answer: they’re both correct. You Can’t Go Wrong with Blond or Blonde Both forms of blond can act as both nouns and adjectives. A “blond” (or “blonde”) is a person with hair that is yellow-ish in color. “Blond” and “blonde” can also be used as adjectives to describe this color, and can refer to hair, wood, beer, fabric, or other items. Blond and Blonde as Nouns There are plenty of examples of both blond and blonde being used as nouns. “It was a blonde. A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained-glass window.” —Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely   “It’s great to be a blonde. With low expectations, it’s very easy to surprise people. —Pamela Anderson   “And for those sisters in denial: Back away from the word ‘blond.’ Your hair is not ‘dark blond’ or ‘dirty blond.’ It is light brown. Sorry, it is.” —Samantha Bonar, Los Angeles Times   “It’s official — Daniel Craig is first blond Bond.” —Associat...

Speaking as an author, what’s the number one question people ask you about your writing? For me, that question is, “What is your book about?”—and it’s often a puzzlingly difficult question to answer with any sort of brevity. It sounds nutty, doesn’t it? I wrote the darn thing, after all, so I should be the one best suited to summarize it. But the truth is, books change and evolve over the writing process . You might start out with a concise concept, but as you add to and deepen your story, as its themes and characters grow more complex and fluid, your original “elevator pitch” can get swallowed up by the complicated creature your book ultimately becomes. This leaves you with a dangerous dilemma: Outlining all the thematic heft and complexity of your novel might make for a ponderous summary, but omitting these elements from your summary betrays the strengths and spirit of your book. The Importance of a Strong Summary Nevertheless, being able to accurately and engagingly summari...

Pronouns help us avoid the cumbersome repetition of words. They stand in for nouns that we’ve introduced. Imagine if we didn’t have the pronouns “you” and “me.” Instead of asking your friend Tom if he wants to go to the movies with you, you’d say: “Tom, does Tom want to go to the movies with Sue?” Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? To avoid this, we use pronouns to take the place of nouns that we’ve already identified. Tom, would you like to go to the movies with me? The teacher told Bob he’d received the highest grade in the class. My parents said they were going out to dinner. We do the same thing with the relative pronouns “which” and “that.” They are used to represent nouns that have already been identified, just as we did in the examples above. This being English grammar, of course, there are rules that govern their use. The most important of these is to determine whether they are part of a restrictive or nonrestrictive clause. (Note: Both words have other funct...

The Blair Trucking Warehouse and Distribution Center was in the industrial section of the city with train tracks on the south side and truck loading docks on the north side. Located on Mechanic Boulevard, I drove by twice before I backed into the driveway of an adjacent construction company that provided a good vantage point for observation. A large structure about the size of a football field, it had truck loading bays every forty feet and security cameras mounted at the corners, but I couldn’t do much about that. I focused on the girl: twenty-four, five foot eight, blonde hair that fell to the middle of her back. She was being held for ransom, and it was my job to find her and bring her home. It was midnight, the night warm and quiet, and after an hour of no activity and no security patrol, I drove to the warehouse and parked my car between two large trash bins in the rear of the building. I made my way to the side door on the narrow west side. It was unlocked, just as the note ins...

We’ve all been there. You’re all set up for a day of writing: you’ve got your comfy pants on, your favorite drink at your side, and your chillest writing playlist is pumping. Then you open up a fresh Word document and—BAM! You hit a brick wall. And no matter what you do, the words just won’t come to you. Writer’s block has struck again. What To Do When Writer’s Block Hits We’ve talked about writer’s block in the past— about its causes, and about how to conquer it . Writer’s block is usually triggered by fear, perfectionism, or a combination of the two, and it can take considerable effort to crack it. Countless articles have been written on the subject of subverting, circumventing, or outright crushing writer’s block, and the suggestions you hear are usually the same: Take a walk. Read a book. Eliminate all distractions—or shake up your writing environment. But while all of these are worthy strategies, I’m always puzzled that timed writing doesn’t make it into many block-break...

With all the drama and bustle that comes with modern living, proper organization has never been more important to maintaining both your career and your sanity. And though it’s most often associated with students, accurate and diligent notetaking can be a valuable tool in many professional fields as well—for ordering your work and your life. Maybe you’re taking the minutes at a business meeting… or jotting down the important points from an industry lecture at a convention… or recording an interview for your next nonfiction book or freelance article. Your future success depends on the strength and accuracy of the information you write down: if you miss an important point or can’t understand what you’ve written later, you’re in big trouble Luckily, taking notes is a skill like any other , meaning that practice and proper techniques will make you better at it over time. And since better notes mean better organization, you owe it to yourself to ensure that all records of your meeting...