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Good tips Harry! Makes me want to go back to the novel and try again!

Exclamation points for dialogue right?

Unless you're writing a time travel with two POVs and two different eras going at the same time. Not so simple.

Thanks

Brilliant

So easy... unless you have multiple POV characters. I have three. Getting that in 800 words will be interesting!

Thank you--good advice, very helpful.

Whay a dumb thing to do. 500 words. Why? That is utterly useless. I dont care what the protocal or tradition is.

2:22 The description advice is great. Sometimes people imitate the descriptions of old novels, but when those were written people didn't have computers, tvs. Textual descriptions were the only source of info for what China looked like, what the jungle and desert looked like, to people of yesteryear. Modern audiences don't want to read a description of something they've seen unless it is meaningful in some way.

Traditional journalists like Stephen King were trained to write leanly to save space in newspapers. Contemporary journalists are the opposite. They pad out online articles as much as possible, putting the info the reader came for at the end in order to increase their time on the webpage to generate more ad revenue and improve search engine optimization. It's honestly killing the art form.

Well I've spent half a day trying to get this to work-and I'm strugglin - does that mean my story is no good or too complicated

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I skimmed this while eating (there is a book calling to me that needs to be read.) But mistake 9 it/it's and mistake 19 random capitalization, are both things I struggle with. So I wanted to give some insight into why it happens for me. With the its/it's I thought I was misspelling a singular word that always had the apostrophe and I thought that way for long enough that it got into my muscle memory so while I’m typing I always reach for that key whenever I come across these words. With the random capitalization I’ve found that it’s actually a rhythm thing. You’re supposed to press space bar after every word but sentences can be different lengths. That doesn't work if you’re in the rhythm and after so many words I just feel the need to hold down shift for the start of a word. Having to use capitalization for names throws me off too. Good thing these are very easy to fix while editing (you just have to have a good eye)

'Don't be bossed around by Agatha Christie' this gives me the confidence to move forward with my first novel 😅

A very insightful video, I have the seeds of a crime thriller series I am writing.

Now I can't get the image of cloaked horses out of my head. >_<

Can I make notes from a book without violating copyright?

Really great and simple advice

"Exclamation points don't really feel like fiction the way it is written today". "One in a 100,000 words is ok." Definitely your personal opinion peeking through there. Also the crying thing. You acknowledged it has been 50 years and your charachters cried 3 times in the whole book and a lot of sad stuff happens but you felt the need to change it because your (one) editor said it was a lot of crying? MAn. I really have to sift the wheat from the chaf with this video. Thanks for sharing. Quite a bit of wheat here still.

This is great advice

I know it's an old vid but great info here. Underrated channel. I've always heard the advice to avoid editing as you draft but my mind doesn't work that way. I always start each writing session but rereading my last chapter and touching it up.

These videos are so helpful thank you!

Thank you. 😎👍

6:40 - It's = it is, yea we all get that, BUT isn't "it's" also possessive? If you're talking about the manuscript's chances (see how I used -'s- there?). The "it" is the manuscript. So "it's" works in that regard.

Totally brilliant synopsis advice with a helpful structure to work with. Thanks Harry!

It's a puzzle to me. If you haven't the skill to write a pertinant, informative, and intelligent query letter, which from the first sentence informs, intrigues and impresses that literary agent so that he wants to see more....Why on earth would you think yourself capable of writing a novel that people would buy?

"If you give yourself an hour for the query letter, an hour for the synopsis, you can produce two excellent, excellent documents that'll make the agent turn with real interest to the work." Meanwhile me, three weeks of hair-pulling later... "I HAVE A MESS AND EVERYONE ON REDDIT THINKS IT'S BAD!"

With regards to the 'weeping overload'' - what if you're writing a tragedy? A sad tale of neglect and abuse? Children cry, women cry, even men cry. Just curious.................

great video! I'm on draft nr 2 of first novel - happy to say I've shaved off 20%. I'm still reading through it and although some passages merit a re-write, I'm very much aware of desired length. Thanks for sharing this video. It makes so much sense.

Thank you

One good advice: turn on your microphone 😂

Excellent

I question your advice about never joining sentence: you obviously have never read Thomas Mann, one of modern history’s greatest writer and a nobel price winner who’s sentences can go on and on, and deliciously reveal more and more of backstory, dramatic conflict, philosophical musings, religious dogma and a world of other interesting historical lessons, superbly bound together in elegant, well constructed and inspirational prose; which of course, I’m sure who already have surmised, all leads the devoted and grateful reader continously and even increasingly hungry for more of his sophisticated and, requires somthing of an effort or and least concentration to follow, I admit! Nevertheless, some of Mann’s sentences are aestetical miracles that will reveal more about human spirit, loyalty, betrayal and even growth than is available in the works of most authors, even in his own time; Mann belonged to a time where, apart from pulp fiction writers, only few and very talented were published given the cost and constraint of publishing in the pre-WW2 years. Thomas Mann is something of a giant, and I passionately reccomend his works, perhaps the least challenging is the monomental achievement ‘Der Zauberberg’ or ‘Magic Mountain’ in English. Instead of wasting precious time taking stupid and utterly inconsequential selfies for social media, you could, even should perhaps, educate and entertain yourself by immersing yourself into Thomas Mann’s extraordinary rich literary Universe; you need, however to be prepared to not only accept but appreciate long and intricate sentences often as not revealing it’s final intention and multilayered meanings at the very end, given the construction of the German language and grammatical structure, or if you are so limited and struck by the cultural poverty of knowing only one language, you will sadly have to contend with only the English translation, which, admittedly is a masterpiece in itself. In short: long sentences are perfectly fine, provided your readers are not semi-literate ADHD diagnosed children, poor souls.

Super stuff!

This is incredibly useful. Thank you for making it!

I thought the first quote meant to plant the seat of the reader in a chair and keep them there.

Nothing is more fascinating to you than your dreams. Nothing is less fascinating to other people than your dreams.

Exclamation points eliminate the possibility of irony. "No." vs. No!"

I've never had any problem with run-on sentences. In fact, I do like them, both as a reader and a writer. The key is they must be constructed well, using the appropriate punctuation - and they must make sense, in regard to being very closely connected to each other for the thought(s) being expressed. Run-on sentences can also be very creative. I see professional writers use them well, in fiction as well as in nonfiction. Of course, as with any good thing, they can be overused, and as a writer you don't want to do this.

🤤 *Promo SM*

Great stuff Harry. Cuts through the BS, so clear and helpful.

My problem with "edit as you go" is, like King, I'm a "putter inner", not a "taker outer". I keep adding stuff and adding bloat lol

This video was, by far, the best advice on Queries! Thank you so much.

Excellent information!!!

Based on these numbers then the trad is selling more books because their royalty is so much less.

There's a classic novel that begins with someone waking up, the entire first chapter is the protagonist washing, shaving having breakfast, might be catcher in the rye or catch 22, i can't remember but it drones on forever.

please am interested in this course. how do I start as I need improvement in my writing skills

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