On Writing | Vicki Hinze

Craft: Author Theme v Novel Theme

by Vicki Hinze | Dec 28, 2010 | On Writing

Vicki Hinze © 2003-2011 Author theme and a novel’s theme are NOT the one and the same. A novel’s theme is specific to that particular novel. The author might write fifty novels, and give each of the fifty novels a different theme. The author’s theme...

Craft: Backstory

by Vicki Hinze | Dec 28, 2010 | On Writing

Vicki Hinze © 2003-2011 Q. When you’re writing a novel and want it critiqued, I was always told to drop backstory and add the action or move the action up, in order to trickle some information along the way. Why is that? And how do you do that? A. The rule of...

Business: Basket Accounting

by Vicki Hinze | Dec 28, 2010 | On Writing

Vicki Hinze © 2003-2011 What is basket accounting? Is it good or bad? Important? Basket accounting is pooling income on several books, typically two or more books being contracted simultaneously. The practice was a lot more popular a few years ago than it is now,...

Business: Book Doctors

by Vicki Hinze | Dec 28, 2010 | On Writing

Vicki Hinze © 2003-2011 Please be advised that I am currently looking for an editor for my book and don’t want to be taken advantage of. What is a reasonable price for someone to edit a first draft of a manuscript with a mainstream women’s fiction genre I...

Craft: Brief Word on Synopses

by Vicki Hinze | Dec 28, 2010 | On Writing

Vicki Hinze © 2003-2011 Once a brief idea has been fleshed out into a story set in a specific place and peopled by specific, three-dimensional characters, the writer must actually lay out the novel. A practical way to do so is through the synopsis. A synopsis is...

Business: Changing Agents

by Vicki Hinze | Dec 28, 2010 | On Writing

Vicki Hinze © 2003-2011 Q. I’ve been with my current agent for about 3 years, but business is being handled in a way that lets me know I need to change. Will my publishers frown on that and will it have a negative impact on my relations with them? Also, when do...