Ink Deep Editing | Blog

Not a Moment Too Soon: When is the best time for a developmental edit?

A developmental edit is an edit that focuses on story-level concerns such as plot, pacing, character development, and point of view....

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen: Why you shouldn’t overload your novel with characters

Writers frequently ask how many characters they should have in their novel. Unfortunately, that’s one of those questions that doesn’t...

Truly, Madly, Deeply: Considering the use of adverbs

Stephen King once said, “I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs.” And while this might be a titch hyperbolic, he does have a...

Author Interview: Renee Lovins

This week I am interviewing author Renee Lovins, author of Ink Deep: Fairy Modern: Beauty & the Beast and the newly released Glass...

Must-Read Writing Blogs for Fiction Writers

Hello! I hope you are enjoying the holiday season with your friends and family. I have been missing from the blog scene over the last few...

Call Me Ishmael: Common naming issues in fiction

Call me Ishmael. Well, actually, call me Erica. Because, you know, that’s my name, and as Dale Carnegie said, “A person’s name is to that...

Fifty Shades of Gray: Why your good guy shouldn’t be all good

Have you ever met someone who was always happy, always looked perfectly put together, never seemed to get ruffled, and never made any bad...

Lightning Bolts and Dinner Dates: Creating realistic conflict

Writers hear a lot about character motivation: you have to know what your characters want and why they want it, and you have to make sure...

I Am Author, Hear Me Roar: Why you should stop calling yourself an aspiring author

I follow a lot of authors on Twitter, and many of them describe themselves as “aspiring authors.” Now, perhaps these people are sitting...

Are You Talking to Me?: Giving your dialogue that extra oomph

Good dialogue is vital to an engaging story. Done well, it allows you to build character, propel your plot forward, and provide vital...

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Write On: How to Keep the Words and Ideas Flowing

Seeing the Forest for the Trees: How to Approach an Editorial Letter

Back to the ... Present: The potential pitfalls of using flashbacks

It's Not (Only) about You: Writing a memoir that unites the universal and the particular

Inside Out: Using internal and external conflict to create a compelling story

Write What You Know: You Don't Need to Be An Alien to Write Science Fiction

A Hot Mess: Why you shouldn’t expect your first draft to be a work of art

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da: Writing Lessons from Songwriting

Perfection versus Excellence: Why there might still be errors in your book after an edit

Information Overload: Where to look for (and remove) info dumping in your novel

Erica Ellis