I love the Internet. Today while researching "street teams", I ran across a blog post by Angela Ackerman that nailed the basics. You can read it here. I immediately connected with her and was intrigued by her writing books, and in the course of our conversation, I invited her to visit the Blood-Red Pencil. Turns out, we've already written about her with this post from September 23, 2012. Well, it's worth a second read, and happily, we'll get to visit with Angela again. Very soon. Hooray! ~ Dani/Chief Red Pencil I have not read or purchased a new grammar or reference book recently, but rely on my old favorites, The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, Self-Editing for fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King and the Flip Dictionary (better than a thesaurus sometimes).  But I’m always preaching “feelings” to my students and editing clients. What is he feeling here? What is her reaction to this? How does sad (happy, angry, frustrated) feel? I sometimes have ...

To deepen your characters, enrich your story, and engage your readers more deeply, be sure to show your characters’ internal and external reactions to everything that’s happening to them and around them. Start with their visceral reaction. That’s the involuntary physical reaction we have no control over, that just happens despite all our best efforts to suppress it or hide it. These reactions occur immediately, before any thought processes or deliberate actions, so it’s important to show your character’s visceral reaction first, to mirror reality and put your readers inside the character’s skin, feeling the fear or embarrassment or shock or anger right along with them. Next, show an immediate thought-reaction, like Ow, or Oh no, or Damn, or Omigod, or That can’t be. Note that these sudden, short thought-reactions are usually italicized, both for emphasis and immediacy, and to indicate a direct thought. See my related blog post here on BRP, “Expressing Thought-Reactions in Fiction...