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Farley’s Friday: A Wheaten Eats Bananas?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Farley here,

I’m a carnivore. Let me be more specific. I like beef. I also like to chew sticks. Now the end of an unpeeled banana feels a bit like a  reed, which if you are honest, could be mistaken for a stick. I try a little, but Kristina won’t let me chew it.

Farley is Banana

Then–

She gives me a piece of beef and I gobble it.

Her hand is out to me a second time. I take the food without looking at it, without smelling it. A bit of a failure as a dog, I guess. I just assume it’s beef. But no! My mouth fills with something soft that tastes horrible. I spit it out and it lands on the floor in front of me.

I sniff the glob and it smells suspiciously like the banana I tried to chew. What kind of crazy owner tries to feed their dog banana? I’m going to be more careful in the future.

Woof Woof

Before You Submit: Tighten Your Sentences

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about Sentence Tightening.

The sentence I’d written in my manuscript was:

A dense wooded area lined both sides of the ski run.

The editor changed the sentence to:

Dense woods lined both sides of the ski run.

The meaning is the same, but of course, uses fewer words. This type of change must be done carefully. In Before You Submit: Sentence Length I wrote about varying sentence lengths. Your change has to be made in context with the sentences around it. You want to ensure your writing still flows.

Just to illustrate at little more, the second sentence to be changed was:

The roar of the avalanche swallowed a scream that escaped from his lips.

The editor suggested the following:

The roar of the avalanche swallowed his scream.

Of course it’s his scream, and where would it come from but his lips? The first sentence didn’t even make sense, and now it uses fewer words.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Before You Submit: Sentence Length

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about Sentence Length.

My editor wrote: Simple declarative sentences are powerful but tend to lose power if repeated too often.  If all your sentences are the same length, the writing can come across as dull, and I’m going to guess none of us want to create a dull novel.

There are software programs that provide a graph of your sentence lengths. Autocrit and ProWritingAid are two of them. I haven’t reviewed either product fully, so this is not a product plug. If you don’t want to use another software program, you can take a section of your text, hit return after each sentence and “see” the sentence lengths on the page. This will give you an idea if you vary your sentence lengths.

If the text is shaped like a rectangle, your sentence lengths are too similar.

If all your sentences are short, try joining two sentences with a conjunction making a longer sentence. You can leave in or take our the subject if the subject is the same in both original sentences. This is a subjective choice. Just make sure you get the comma right.

If all your sentences are long, try breaking a sentence into two or even three sentences.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

Thanks for reading . . .

Before You Submit: Dialogue Tags

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Do you have a draft of your novel or short story and are thinking of submitting to an agent, publisher or writing contest? My series called Before You Submit might help. This series contains hints and tips I’ve received from professionals in the publishing industry. Each week I’ll share a new tip.

This week I’ll write about dialogue tags.

Are you using too many dialogue tags? Does he said/she said sound repetitive? Here’s a tip on how to reduce the number of tags you are using.

Try using a character’s action to indicate who’s speaking. The following sentence uses a dialogue tag: Kendra said.

“You dropped this,” Kendra said. She held a crumpled piece of paper in her outstretched hand.

The editor recommended I rewrite the sentence as follows:

Kendra held a crumpled piece of paper in her outstretched hand. “You dropped this.” 

By  moving the character action to the beginning of the sentence, it’s clear Kendra is speaking. There is no need for the dialogue tag. When you remove a dialogue tag, you must update the punctuation. Don’t forget to change the comma to a period inside the dialogue quotes.

I hope this helps improve your writing.

See Before You Submit:Likeable Characters for the first blog in this series and an introduction the benefits of submitting even if you get a rejection letter.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: Puppy Love

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley here,

The doorbell rings. I blast out my doggie bed, slide across the newly stained hardwood floor and hustle down the stairs.

I push my human, Matt, out of the way. It’s very Important I get to the door first. There could be danger on the other side. There could be a friend. You just never know. I choose friend and wag and wiggle as best I can.

I can’t open the door by myself. I bark at Matt, wiggle some more. Doesn’t he get the urgency. “Come on, buddy,” I bark.

I then I hear it. A voice I’ll never forget. It’s Joe. I’m sure it’s Joe. I haven’t seen him since I was one. That’s five years.

I jump up, trying to get Matt to hurry. He laughs and opens the door. I explode through.

We bound, we rough-house, we run around in circles. The humans stand back and watch.

My muscles are sore, I’m panting hard. I think It’s time for a break. I invite Joe in to share my bed. We used to snuggle together all the time, but something has changed.

This is us 5 years ago.

Joe and Farley then

This is us now.

Farley And Joe Age 6 an 8

I think the bed got smaller, but I still love Joe.

Woof Woof.

Farley’s Friday: A Wheaten Loves Leaves and Cold Weather

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 12 Comments

Farley here,

I’m a dog who has lived on a boat in the Bahamas since I was 9 month old. All of a sudden, my humans decide enough of the sea life, it’s off to the mountains we go. British Columbia to be exact.

At first, I thought they were crazy. But now, I’m rethinking this situation.

Did you know leaves fall off trees in the fall? No one told me that.

Did you know a dog has more energy in cold temperatures? I didn’t either.

Did you know sticks are free in the forest? I’m kinda figuring this one out on my own.

Farley in Leaves

Rolling in leaves while chewing on a stick is the best. I miss boat life, but wilderness living is cool too.

Woof Woof.

Today’s the day! Release day for FIRE IN THE WOODS!

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Jennifer Eaton is a fellow blogger who I’ve been sharing writing tips with over the past few years. She’s been generous in sharing her adventure of getting published, and her debut novel is now available. Fire in the Woods looks like a thrill ride and next on my list to read. Congrats to Jennifer !

Jennifer M Eaton's avatarJennifer M Eaton

Fire in the Woods Revised Cover

I’m super excited to announce that my debut young adult novel FIRE IN THE WOODS is officially available in ebook format. What a great feeling!

A little elf told me that the paperbacks will be available in about a month. Double excitement!

Here’s a few quotes from early reviews from the blog tour:

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“Hot alien, quirky heroine & exciting plot… what’s not to like?” HERBOOK THOUGHTSREADS

“Teens will read it for the constant action, snappy dialogue and authentic characters. Adults will ponder the deeper thematic messages for days after closing the book on the final chapter.” Sharon Hughson

“Def can’t put this down” Lainey’s Reviews

swish swivel squiggle 2

It’s great to know that my story is now officially out in the world. I hope Jess and David can help make a few people smile.

Blurb:

Fire in the Woods Revised CoverWhen a plane crashes in the woods near Jess’s home, the boy of her dreams falls…

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Writing in the Mountains

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Does your location help you write?

I’ve recently moved from living on the ocean to living in the mountains. I’ve gone from warmth all year round, to 0 degrees Celsius in September.

The crisp air, the endless hiking, the deer – luckily no other wildlife – the scenery all make me feel uplifted.

Mountains

Inspiring? Yup, I think so. I’ve spend many hours writing in the last few days, many of those spent on my back porch listing to the forest tell me its secrets. Maybe those secrets will make their way into my novels. I’ll  let you know.

 

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: A Working Wheaten

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 9 Comments

Farley here,

If you’ve been reading, my life as a dog has changed recently. I’m a mountain dog. I used to be a boat dog. Mountains dogs are touch, rugged creatures who protect their humans from all kinds of dangers. Yup, that’s me. Tough guy. The only drawback . . . I get put to work.

September has arrived along with cold temperatures. I love the cold. On the boat, I was usually too hot. Now I hang out outside and enjoy the cool temps.

But just so you don’t get the wrong impression, I’m a working dog.

My human, Matt, collects wood – this is hard work involving axes and saws and other tools I’ve never seen before.

Then he chops the wood. I think he uses a splitter.

Chopping Wood

My job is also hard work. I get  the kindling ready.

Farley with Kindling

The next steps boggles my mind. Look what they do with the wood.

End result

These humans are crazy. It’s fab being cold and what do they do? They heat up the house, so I head outside and enjoy my deck.

Woof Woof.