• Grammatical Gray Areas: Subject-Complement Agreement

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    Celebrating National Grammar Day and National Proofreading Day March is a month that calls for grammar nerds—like us—to celebrate. After all, March 4 is National Grammar Day, and March 8 is National Proofreading Day. On days like these, authors, editors, and proofreaders finally get the respect we deserve! (Oddly enough, I’m still waiting for my Grammar and Proofreading Day gifts to come flooding in. . .) In all seriousness, we editors at Xulon Press have a passion for proper grammar usage. To celebrate grammar rules and style, we’d like to discuss a not-so-rare gray area that comes up frequently in…

  • Writing Strong Female Characters

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    In an age of Women’s Marches and calls for equal pay for women, the question of femininity and what makes a strong woman is in the spotlight. Art reflects life, and the presence of strong female characters in fiction is in high demand, as girls and women alike look for characters to read about and emulate, from Elizabeth Bennet to Laura Ingalls Wilder to Hermione Granger. So how can you ensure that your work includes strong female characters? For that matter, what is a strong female character? Strong female characters are not perfect. Strong characters, regardless of gender, have character flaws…

  • Creating Steady Flow in Dialogue

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    People like to talk, and if you listen to some everyday conversations you will hear some common patterns: lots of “like” and “um”, pointless repetition, interjections of completely unrelated topics, and unfinished or incomplete sentences. This is all fine in real life but would never work in your writing—and this is the core of why capturing dialogue that feels authentic but completes its purpose is so difficult. Whether you are writing your memoir or a fictional novel, these tips will help your dialogue flow and feel more finished. 1. Cut Out the Day-to-Day All dialogue must move the story forward,…

  • 8 Writing Tips from a Literary Master

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    The Chronicles of Narnia; The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity: C.S. Lewis is recognized as one of the most influential writers and Christian apologists of the twentieth century. His insight into writing is impeccable and real, which one American girl learned in 1959 when she asked the revered, British author advice on how to write. What he sent were eight rules he probably utilized himself while creating his literary masterpieces. In the spirit of C.S. Lewis, we have included those tips he provide and our personal commentary on how we can use this nearly sixty-year-old advice for today’s generation of authors. 1) Turn…