Afterword: The NovelEasy Blog

Writing During a Pandemic

Posted April 20, 2020 7:45 pm

Undoubtedly our world is filled with an abundance of sadness and uncertainty at the moment. If you’re among those who are not battling more urgent concerns and you’re just trying to figure out how to beat the monotony, this is the perfect time to write. As most of us are at home these days I can’t think of a better […]

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Using Active and Passive Voice

Posted November 29, 2018 7:10 pm

Let’s talk about voice. There are two types of voice: active and passive. The difference lies in what you want to focus on, the subject or the direct object. Most sentences you’ll see are in the active voice and are usually diagrammed as subject + verb + direct object. In academic writing, we’re taught to always use the active voice […]

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Last-Minute Tips for National Writing Month

Posted October 29, 2018 6:52 pm

The most wonderful time of year is almost here! No, I don’t mean the holidays although they can be fun too. It’s almost time for National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo. You’d be hard-pressed to roam through online writing communities without hearing about. For those that don’t know, however, NaNoWriMo is the annual event where writers challenge themselves to write […]

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Punctuation Matters

Posted October 10, 2018 1:24 pm

Congratulations! You’ve finished your first draft and are ready to edit. Pop a bottle of champagne and enjoy the moment because you’re about to tackle the part you’ve been dreading: proper punctuation. You’ve likely included some punctuation in your first draft, but now it’s time to tighten it up. What precisely do I mean by punctuation? Every mark you make in […]

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How to Spark Your Creativity

Posted August 28, 2018 4:30 pm

Just like getting off the couch and exercising is the best way to sculpt your body, the best way to improve your mind is to be creative. Easy for me to say “be creative” but what about all those times you’ve tried and tried only to come up empty-handed? Start with an idea. If you can’t think of one, try […]

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Three Approaches to Starting a Novel

Posted August 23, 2018 1:57 pm

One of the most commonly asked questions by new writers is, “How do I start?” It can be paralyzing to stand before the daunting task of filling hundreds of pages, and many don’t want to start down the wrong path right off the bat. The worst thing you can do is be so intimidated that you end up not writing […]

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Who Gives a #$&%* about an Oxford Comma? You Should!

Posted August 18, 2018 7:07 pm

There is a long-standing debate whether to use an Oxford comma when writing. The short answer: USE IT. What is an Oxford comma, you ask? The best explanation I have seen for this comes from Strunk and White’s enduring writing guide, The Elements of Style: In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma […]

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Excuses Are Like Plot Holes

Posted August 17, 2018 4:53 pm

So you’ve got a fantastic idea for a story. You’re sure that if people saw it in its finished form, on bookstore shelves, they’d scoop this thing up in bunches. They’d recommend it to their friends, who would devour it, drive it up the New York Times Best Sellers list, and you’d sit back watching all your delighted new fans […]

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