Twilight Times Books logo

 

 

Magic for Your Writing
cover artwork by Darrell Osborn.

 

 

This book is for the wheel spinners and those whose books have languished.

 

 

Book Excerpt

 

Magic for Your Writing

writing advice

Gerald W. Mills

 

 

A partial list of contents.

The Road to Magic
Removing Yourself from Your Writing
Smoothing Bumps in the Road
Mastering Point of View and Voice
Mastering Scenes
Entrances and Exits
Magic for Your Dialogue
Character Development
Wrapping It All Up


 



 

The Road to Magic

 

Magic is that essence of imagination projecting us into the world of fantasy, be it while reading a novel, enjoying a stage play or watching a movie. It’s the proverbial magic carpet, the genie’s lamp, but redefined for those of us who have retained our ability to wonder.

In order for it to work, our “child” must still be alive and vibrant within. No child; no magic. It’s that simple.

There are unfortunates among us, die-hard adults for whom life seems like a series of frowns. The childlike openness and ability to imagine that was theirs as a birthright has withered, never to return. Cry for them! The rest of us are luckier. We are simply older versions of the children we once were, perhaps with lines in our faces, or gray hair, or a long string of bills to pay, or worries that mask our true natures, but our child is in there somewhere, ready to appear if we let it. It’s poised to help us laugh, marvel at rainbows, see faces in clouds, pretend, act out roles, play jokes. It’s also the prime stimulant for creativity in our makeup, for imagination has to do with what isn’t rather than with what is. We learn that as children.

The problem is that we must put away childhood things when we function as adults. Reality lurks in the shadows in case we might be tempted to sneak back to our halcyon, childlike selves, sometimes allowing us no more than a brief glimpse before we are yanked back. Take heart. The fact that we can glimpse the fantasy world at all shows that our child still exists. As readers, we need an ally to help set reality aside for as long as possible. Magic is such an ally. When we become writers, our task is to add our own brand of Magic wherever we can.

A number of novel-length manuscripts have come across my desk for evaluation and editing in the past decade, most from aspiring writers yearning to have their works readied for submission to publishers. Some of the applicants were “already published”, but their books had languished. Others were obviously from novices, and some I never reviewed at all. Their brief query letters were rife with misspellings, terrible grammar and unbelievably poor letter etiquette. Why bother going further?

Still others were good at writing, but had been spinning their wheels when it came to achieving their dream.

This book is for the wheel spinners and those whose books have languished.

 

 

bar

 

About the author

Gerry pursued electrical engineering (electricity had just been invented) and set out to improve the world. When nothing of the sort happened, he turned to writing novels, reinventing all the mistakes anyone can make in that field before discovering and correcting his errors. The shocking results are in: engineers can write if properly fed and burped.

TTB titles:

Non-Fiction
Magic for Your Writing
Sailing Uphill

Fiction

James Foster Adventures series
No Place for Gods  book 1.
The Mudslinger Sanction  book 2.
Fire Owl  book 3.
The Eden Prophecy  book 4.

The Focus Factor with Darrell Bain

Visit Gerry's web page.

 

###

 

Magic for Your Writing Copyright © 2011. Gerald W. Mills. All rights reserved by the authors. Please do not copy without permission.

 

  Author News

Author chats

 

 
 




 


 

bar

 

Back to the Featured books

Back to Twilight Times Books main page 

 

 

bar

 

  A special note to TTB readers. All contents of this web site are copyright by the writers, artists or web site designer. If you discover any artwork or writing published here elsewhere on the internet, or in print magazines, please let us know immediately. The staff of Twilight Times Books feels very strongly about protecting the copyrighted work of our authors and artists.

 

Web site copyright © 1999, 2000 - 2011. Lida Quillen. All rights reserved.

This page last updated 11-07-10.

Twilight Times Books logo design by Joni.

cover artwork 2011 Darrell Osborn

windy