Exposition: A Literary Term Defined

Put your hand up if you are one of the many writers out there who hears one of the many terms that industry professionals throw out at you and you blink. "What exactly does that mean?" Let's not forget how stupid we feel for not knowing. However, there are so many well-known writers who are just as much in the dark about some of these terms as the rest of us.

In a recent post, I defined the term purple prose. Today, I want to talk about another term that tripped me up when I first started (and trips up so many new writers, understandably so): Exposition.

Basically, exposition is a comprehensive description of an idea. That is the dictionary definition, but what does this mean for writing?

Everyday Carry for the Spook: Guest Blog Post

Those who work with the intelligence agencies or special forces are often known as Spooks or Ghosts. Well, it turns out that a few of Real Spooks found out about our Assassins, Spies & SAS blog series and decided to lend a helping hand. They love how we just want writers to portray this special breed of characters correctly in a story. They want us to get inside the inner workings of their minds. (Although, some of their inner thoughts might be a little too scary even for me.)

Today's post really was written by a person who works in the intelligence industry. As a thriller writer, Judy L Mohr (the Black Wolf Editor herself) has amassed some creepy contacts. Don't ask. Just accept. And no, you can't ask us for their contact details. Go find your own creepy contacts.

Everyday carry (EDC) is a collection of things you carry with you on a daily basis when you are outside your house. There can, and will, be some variation. However, there will be some items you always carry.

My everyday carry consists of:

My wallet - do I need to explain this one?
My cell phone
A battery pack for my cell phone
A firearm
A knife
$100 in cash (small bills, i.e., $20's)
A multi tool
A signal blocking bag
A flashlight

Now that I have explained what I carry, please allow me to explain some of the items.

Purple Prose: A Literary Term Defined

There are many different terms that are commonly used within the publishing industry that many new writers look at those terms with one simple response: "Huh?" Even a few experienced writers will look at those terms and be completely baffled.

Over the past few weeks, I've been compiling a list of these terms. The list is actually quite extensive, and much bigger than I first thought. I've decided that it's time to help new and experienced writers to learn what some of these terms mean, so if you ever encounter them in an editorial report, you're not completely confused by what the editor is saying.

Let's start with one that tripped me up when I first started as a writer: Purple Prose.

To put it simply, purple prose is any passage that is excessively descriptive.

Play with Screen Brightness and Color Schemes.

You’ve come to the end of a really long day and you would like to do some writing, but you just can’t face that monitor. Time to play around with those monitor settings.

Eye strain is something that plagues many of us in this day and age. We spend so much time on our computers or electronic devices that our eyes just aren’t coping. Many will read their eBooks off of a tablet or smartphone, and that laptop seems to be attached to our limbs. Or we’ll watch the latest movie on that LCD TV mounted on the wall. Between our day jobs and the computer requirements there, and our home lives, no wonder so many of us suffer from eye strain headaches every day.

However, there are some tricks that we can play to keep the eye strain away.Read More→

Knowledge, Self-Doubt and Support

Every writer goes through moments of self doubt. None of us are immune. It’s a natural part of the process. These feelings come in waves, often striking hardest when we’ve taken a step outside of our comfort zone — sometimes triggered by a setback.

If you scour the internet, you’ll find many inspirational stories where one has pushed through the self doubt and has gone on to bigger and better things. However, none of these stories give you insights into how one might actually push through the self doubt.

In truth, there is only one way: the support of those around you, but not family and friends.

Don’t blame Facebook for sharing data that you already share.

Facebook and Zuckerberg have found the news again, but this time it's about sharing data with the Chinese. This is not exactly a surprise, especially after what was revealed earlier this year. Lawmakers and government officials have the right to be up in arms about this, because sharing of data was independent of any privacy settings that you might have had on your accounts. However, do we really have the right to complain about Facebook sharing data that we already share publicly?

Don't get me wrong, I think this breach of privacy and security is a serious issue. Earlier this year, I posted about how to access some of the hidden Facebook features that were associated with synced contact details from smartphones. However, there is another whole range of security and privacy settings that most people either can't be bothered with or don't know about. Yet, many are complaining about data being shared when they themselves are the ones publicly sharing the data.

To Review or Not To Review?

The topic of reviews has come across my feeds a lot over the past few weeks, and I find myself feeling like a broken record, giving the same advice over and over.

First, there was a discussion on Facebook where a writer taking part in a book review cooperative felt bound by the rules of the cooperative: if you can’t leave a 3-star review or higher, then you’re out of the cooperative. Let’s ignore that this is unethical and deliberately misleading. If you feel a book is only worth 1 star, then you should feel comfortable giving that book 1 star. (Not that I would, but I will come to that later.)

Then, I encountered a fellow editor who was suffering a review dilemma, where she felt that a book in question possessed glaring editorial flaws, yet she knew others who adored the book. To complicate matters, she knew the author personally. She was asking a group of editors how she should handle the book review, worried about the negative impact on her editorial business if she promoted a book that was poorly edited.

This was closely followed by discussions about Amazon’s glitch in their reviews system that was impacting ALL products on their sites: non-verified reviews were being restricted.

I’ve heard others recount their own experiences regarding reviews, and discuss tactics for Advance Reader Copies (ARCs). Meanwhile, the same advice keeps pouring out of my fingers and onto the feeds.

NEVER review a book on Amazon, Goodreads or similar sites. Instead, recommend.

Let me explain why.

Using an Editorial Synopsis to Find a Story Split

So you've gotten into writing this story idea, and the word counts are steadily climbing. You're not even a third of the way through your intended plot, and already you've hit the industry accepted word count for your genre. Before you rush off to turn your manuscript into a trilogy, think this through.

As I've discussed before in the post Length matters, but story matters more, agents and editors use word counts as a first-level indication of the maturity of the writing. Going dramatically over what is considered to be an acceptable word count length could be a sign of over writing — writing that is filled with too much backstory or unnecessary description. Yet, coming under the word count could be a sign that not enough attention was given to the details — that a story is all tell and no show.

But let's say that you are the most gifted writer on the planet, and that every word in your manuscript has its purpose. (We'll ignore the fact that a professional editor will have different ideas, but we'll carry on.) There is no way that you can do your story proper justice in a single book. Or maybe you set out from the beginning to actually write a series.

The place where a novel finishes is NOT when you hit 100,000 words, but rather when a story plot arc comes to a conclusion. This is where the dreaded synopsis can help in a big way.

Writers who are heading down the traditional publication path are likely about to scream at me. Synopses are scary things — whittling that 80,000+ words into only 500. But that's a submission synopsis. What I'm talking about is an editorial synopsis.

Privacy is World-Wide: The Impact of GDPR

If I was say “GDPR is here,” would you know what I was talking about? Be honest. There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you don’t.

Now for the next question: if you have heard of the GDPR, have you bothered to take the steps necessary to protect yourself? Or are you one of those who believes that because you don’t live in the EU that it doesn’t concern you? Again, be honest. It’s perfectly okay to think that.

However, believe it or not, if you are a public figure of any kind (e.g., writer, podcaster, musician, artist), then the GDPR could have huge consequences if you don’t take the steps now to protect yourself. Because of the way the internet works, there is a whole level of complexity added to the privacy of information issue that most people don’t realize or understand.

It’s time to get the picture straight.

Everyday Carry: Advice from a Ghost

NEVER review a book on Amazon, Goodreads or similar sites. Instead, recommend.