ravenwriterstips

[ravenwriterstips]

Six-year-olds? I think you’ll find that this is heaven for all of us. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

[ravenwriterstips]

Transition Words For Your Essays

Transition Signals:

Transitions are words and phrases that connect ideas and show how they are related.

To repeat and ideas just stated:

In other words,

That is,

To repeat,

Again,

To illustrate an idea:

For example,

For instance,

In particular,

To illustrate,

In this manner,

Thus,

To announce a contrast, a change in direction:

Yet,

However,

Still,

Nevertheless,

On the other hand,

In contrast,

Instead of,

On the contrary,

Conversely,

Notwithstanding,

In spite of this,

Time:

At once,

In the interim,

At length,

Immediately,

At last,

Meanwhile,

In the meantime,

Presently,

At the same time,

Shortly,

In the end,

Temporarily,

Thereafter,

To restate an idea more precisely:

To be exact,

To be specific,

To be precise,

More specifically,

More precisely,

To mark a new idea as an addition to what has been said:

Similarly,

Also,

Too,

Besides,

Furthermore,

Further,

Moreover,

In addition,

To show cause and effect:

As a result,

For this reason,

Thereafter,

Hence,

Consequently,

Accordingly,

Conclusion:

In short,

To conclude,

In brief,

On the whole,

In summary,

To sum up,

[ravenwriterstips]

When you check your email and that editor/agent hasn’t sent you a rejection yet!

[ravenwriterstips]

*re-reads my own story*: Damn this is some good shit

*gets to the part where I stopped writing*: WTF WHERE'S THE REST OF IT HOW DO I GET MORE

Brain: You're the author, if you want more you have to write it

Me: *flips tables*

[ravenwriterstips]

I've been trying out photo editing. Thoughts?? Raven

[ravenwriterstips]

Happy writing,

Raven

250 ways to say “went”

[ravenwriterstips]

Happy writing,

Raven

[ravenwriterstips]

Keep writing, Raven ❤️📝

[ravenwriterstips]

The first was particularly clever.

Happy writing,

Raven

Two examples of why punctuation matters.

[ravenwriterstips]

Oh, my God, this is the truest thing I have read in a long while.

[ravenwriterstips]

This book was beautiful. Just what I expected from an author so well renowned as John Green. It was so wonderful in fact, that I devoured it within the day. 

I would like to begin by saying how well this book was written - as I told my friend; as I told my friend ‘A beautifully harrowing novel portraying the truth of death and illness.’ Green writes so simply, yet it is so effective. It is perfect for young adults and I can’t believe I have waited so long to read it. 

It is sad yes, but it is also humorous and witty and insightful. Once again (especially after watching paper towns yesterday) I am struck by how phenomenal John Green truly is. I will most definitely hunt down more of his books and read them in one sitting.

Originality 9/10

Written Quality 9.5/10

Overall judgement 9/10  

Let me know about any suggestions you may have,

Happy reading,

Raven 

[ravenwriterstips]

This week I am reading 'a fault in our stars' by John Green. I know a lot of you have probably already read it or seen the film, but so far I have done neither. I thought it a good time to read after watching 'paper towns' in the cinema last night. John Green, it seems, has some original ideas and beautiful morals. As for the writing, I'll let you know once I have finished. Happy reading, Raven 📚❤️

[ravenwriterstips]

So I finished this book. I think I'll start by saying it was beautifully written, the way things were said and points were made really connected you to Darrow. Although perhaps it was a bit too 'wordy'. There was a lot of description and the speech was long, however this may have been intentional to show power. The plot was phenomenal! So original and detailed in how politics and society works. I cannot argue with any of it, nor find any negatives. Overall, although it may have a been a struggle to get through in parts, this book is remarkably thought out and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the hunger games or other futuristic novels 7/10 for written quality 9/10 for originality 7/10 for overall impression Happy reading, Raven 📚❤️

[ravenwriterstips]

I know its long but it helps

Happy writing,

Raven

Some words to use when writing things:

winking

clenching

pulsing

fluttering

contracting

twitching

sucking

quivering

pulsating

throbbing

beating

thumping

thudding

pounding

humming

palpitate

vibrate

grinding

crushing

hammering

lashing

knocking

driving

thrusting

pushing

force

injecting

filling

dilate

stretching

lingering

expanding

bouncing

reaming

elongate

enlarge

unfolding

yielding

sternly

firmly

tightly 

harshly

thoroughly

consistently

precision

accuracy

carefully

demanding

strictly

restriction

meticulously

scrupulously

rigorously

rim

edge

lip

circle

band

encircling

enclosing

surrounding

piercing

curl

lock

twist

coil

spiral

whorl

dip

wet

soak

madly

wildly

noisily

rowdily

rambunctiously

decadent

degenerate

immoral

indulgent

accept

take

invite

nook

indentation

niche

depression

indent

depress

delay

tossing

writhing

flailing

squirming

rolling

wriggling

wiggling

thrashing

struggling

grappling

striving

straining

[ravenwriterstips]

When submitting manuscripts to agents make sure you have checked the word count and have matched it to your specific genre. Of course every genre has its rule breakers but you are far more likely to succeed if you have done your research and have the expected word count.

Here are some examples,

Crime fiction; 90,000 - 100,000

Mysteries, thrillers, suspense; 70,000 - 90,000

Romance; 40,000 - 100,000 (Very wide range)

Fantasy; 90,000 - 100,000 (Though based on your level of description and how much world building you have to do, this could be far more.)

If you have any other questions or your genre isn’t listed here, let me know and I can find out.

Happy writing,

Raven.

[ravenwriterstips]

Three Things a Writer Should Always Remember...

1. What the Story is About — This should go without saying, but occasionally writers do forget what kind of story they started out with and write an ending that belongs to a different genre. It’s an incredibly dissatisfying experience for a reader. For example, the critically praised movie The Dark of the Sun begins as a very interesting adventure story about a mercenary racing Congo rebels for a treasure in diamonds. However, the end of the movie forgets the plotline and concentrates exclusively on the main character’s internal journey. The ending forgets to answer critical questions (such as, did the rebels catch up with him? did he get away with the diamonds? did he make the deadline set by his employers?). The questions setup by the Inciting Incident at the beginning must be answered by the ending Climax. 2. Who Needs to Change — This is subtler than the first item on the list, but just as vital to reader satisfaction. The problem doesn’t even look like a problem for probably half the story, but it comes into glaring relief at the end. For example, suppose the story focuses on how the main character can’t let go of the past, and how her inability to let go of the past creates problems between her and her children. Her children tell her to move on with her life, other characters tell her to let go… naturally, readers assume character growth for her will be her letting go of the past and moving on with her life. That’s the happy ending readers expect, it’s what they focus their emotions on and root for to happen. But, no! The writer forgets who needs to change. At the end, the children suddenly change and everybody lives happily ever after. Because this is not the ending anticipated, readers experience an emotional disconnect from the resolution. If a story makes a big deal about a certain character flaw in the protagonist, that needs to be the area of change at the end. 3. Actions Have Consequences — If events don’t have consequences, then they don’t belong in the story. Protecting the chain of cause-and-effect logic is what saves readers from confusion. For example, suppose the main character is a superspy who goes on a mission to recover important computer data. There’s a big, exciting scene where she gets the data—lots of conflict, lots of nail-biting suspense. When she gets back, it turns out the data is worthless. This is a simple goal-defeated-by-obstacle moment, but without a consequence (such as, her partner is injured and can’t join her next mission) it could be removed from the story without being missed. The same could be said of a character-driven story where the heroine discusses her plight with friends, then goes home and discusses it with her family, then goes on vacation and discusses it with the hotel staff. Unless each dialogue scene has a unique consequence, it’s just so much stuffing and not enough turkey.

[ravenwriterstips]

- Serena Guen for Clinique #faceforward