The Zing is a curated weekly newsletter for sophisticated writers navigating the self-publishing journey. Get bite-sized essays, swoon-worthy strategies, and practical how-to guidance from an author and writing publication coach. Whether you're dreaming of writing a book or have already drafted yours, join a circle of high-caliber authors who deserve encouragement, guidance, and kindness on the path to publication. Bonus: Goofy jokes occasionally included.
revealing the book writing process
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To get a monthly summary of these letters instead of weekly, please click this link. Hello there, That's normal! To navigate around that, we used my Clarify-Storify-Amplify process. Clarify Her story was rooted in her family’s history as part of the Indian diaspora in South Africa. Working collaboratively, we turned threads of ideas into a compelling historical novel. Through regular conversations, visual mapping, and character development exercises, Arvashni found her voice and her story’s structure. Once she had that clarity, the words could flow. “At the time I met you, the biggest challenge I had was translating a whole lot of ideas in my head into a story on paper,” she said. Storify Deborah helped her shift the project from a short story collection to a full-length novel by focusing on character evolution. “You asked me how I wanted the characters to evolve…That was particularly helpful in framing out the characters,” said Arvashni. The collaborative process was key. “Every time we got together, we advanced the novel so significantly,” she said. “You held my hand every step of the way.” Amplify Arvashni finished writing her book, and Deborah edited it. The Story I Told Myself was published, and Arvashni promoted her book through events in South Africa and New York. Warmly, PS: When you’re ready:
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The Zing with Deborah Ager
The Zing is a curated weekly newsletter for sophisticated writers navigating the self-publishing journey. Get bite-sized essays, swoon-worthy strategies, and practical how-to guidance from an author and writing publication coach. Whether you're dreaming of writing a book or have already drafted yours, join a circle of high-caliber authors who deserve encouragement, guidance, and kindness on the path to publication. Bonus: Goofy jokes occasionally included.
To get a monthly summary of these letters instead of weekly, please click this link and your wish will be honored. Last week, my husband and I caught an advanced showing of the documentary “LORNE, which is about the creator of Saturday Night Live (a comedy show in the United States). Initially, I was skeptical of this documentary about Lorne Michaels. Yet, I ended up surprised that I absorbed useful lessons from his work life. A lot of these lessons apply to both writing and life in general....
In the Paris Review, the writer Emmanuel Carrère talked about how he drafted a book that wasn’t working out. (That's pretty normal, by the way.) To say goodbye to his project and honor the effort he put into it, he wrote a letter to himself about what he had tried to do with the book. The process of writing about his ideas led him to a breakthrough, and he was able to finish. So, why did this work? My theory is that something called our "reticular activating system" (RAS) played a role. The...
If you're thinking about using AI to help write your book, please hang on a sec. AI promises speed, yet there's a hidden cost authors discover. Editing becomes harder after using AI. So, why is that? Well, AI text usually doesn't have a consistent voice. On the surface, it's wording can sound polished while lacking the specificity that creates a voice. To top it off, you're fighting against a style that isn't yours when you edit. This means you can spend hours rewriting paragraphs that read...