CAPTIVATE YOUR READERS is out!

Great news! My third editor's guide to writing compelling fiction, CAPTIVATE YOUR READERS, is finally out!

You can find it in trade paperback and e-book form at all Amazon sites, including these:

Amazon.com  Amazon.ca  Amazon.co.uk

It will soon be available in print at many independent bookstores and libraries.

Here's a bit about the book:

Captivate Your Readers - An Editor's Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction, by Jodie Renner

This third guide to writing compelling fiction by respected editor and award-winning author Jodie Renner provides concrete advice for captivating readers and immersing them in your story world. It’s all about engaging readers through techniques such as using deep point of view, showing instead of telling, avoiding author intrusions, writing riveting dialogue, and basically stepping back and letting the characters tell the story.

Today’s readers want to lose themselves in an absorbing story. Renner shows you how to provide the immediacy and emotional involvement readers crave in fiction, the direct, close connection to the characters and their world. And she does it in her usual highly accessible, reader-friendly style, with plenty of subheadings, concrete tips and examples.

This book is available in both e-book form and print, through all Amazon websites, and also in print through Red Tuque Books in Penticton, BC. Available soon in print at many independent bookstores and libraries. 

“Jodie’s books are packed with practical writing and editing advice. Get ready to improve your manuscript today.”

– Steven James, author of Story Trumps Structure: How to Write Unforgettable Fiction by Breaking the Rules

“Want to write solid, marketable fiction? Read this book. Regardless of your experience level, CAPTIVATE YOUR READERS gives you clear and concise tools that will help you create a believable story world and spin a good yarn.” 

– DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Dub Walker and Samantha Cody thriller series

“Jodie Renner nails it! Captivate Your Readers should be at the top of every new and experienced writer’s arsenal, as well as a preferred resource for every teacher of writing. Her no-nonsense, easy-to-understand approach is perfect. Bravo, Jodie Renner!”

– Lynn Sholes, bestselling author of the Cotten Stone series and The Shield

Jodie Renner is a freelance fiction editor and the award-winning author of three craft-of-writing guides in her series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Fire up Your Fiction, Writing a Killer Thriller, and Captivate Your Readers. She has also published two clickable time-saving e-resources to date: Quick Clicks: Spelling List and Quick Clicks: Word Usage. You can find Jodie at www.JodieRenner.com, www.JodieRennerEditing.com, at The Kill Zone blog alternate Mondays, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+.

IndieReader's Review of Fire up Your Fiction

I'm thrilled with IndieReader's recent glowing review of my book, Fire up Your Fiction - An Editor's Guide to Writing Compelling Stories (formerly titled Style That Sizzles & Pacing for Power).

I lost a couple of points for formatting glitches, as I erroneously sent them an e-copy I had uploaded to Kindle with formatting problems, a temporary situation I wasn't aware of at the time. Since then I've had the e-version of this book professionally formatted by BookNook.Biz. (The book, in its properly formatted form, has no typos!)

The reviewer, Lucy Wang, was very generous about the content of the book and its value to aspiring authors.

The review is below, in its entirety, and here's the link to the review on IndieReader.com: http://indiereader.com/2014/03/fire-fiction/.

And you can buy the e-book HERE and the print version HERE.

Fire Up Your Fiction      

By Jodie Renner         

Rating: 4.5 stars

IR Verdict: FIRE UP YOUR FICTION is the Strunk and White for writers who want to be not just mere storytellers but master story-compellers.

Jodie Renner’s FIRE UP YOUR FICTION is a handy manual for writers looking to make the biggest impact with their craft. Renner shows and tells: Each chapter offers precise rules of what to do, and what not to do, with plenty of concrete examples. A section at the end invites the reader to be the editor and apply all the knowledge imparted throughout the book.

While this manual may be useful to authors at any stage of their careers, it is probably best suited for the novice or the writer who has completed a first draft and needs to go back and revise. With a whole draft in hand, the chapters serve as a trusty map, practical checklist and action plan all in one.

Renner once specialized in editing thriller fiction – and it shows. This book is packed with cries for action (Don’t overexplain! Don’t lecture!) and moves at a brisk, no-nonsense pace. There is a certain rush in seeing the sloppy, awkward “before” transform into the lean, mean “after.” Chapters are clear and succinct. Some leave you breathless. Chapter 21 offers a priceless lesson in the importance of choosing the right word, by demonstrating alternatives to such ordinary choices as “walked,” “run” and “looking.”

A couple of minor flaws: Many points are needlessly repeated, and there are numerous typos and formatting errors, at least in the Kindle version. Still, this book belongs next to that other must-have classic, Strunk and White’s Elements of Style.

FIRE UP YOUR FICTION is the Strunk and White for writers who want to be not just mere storytellers but master story-compellers.

Reviewed by Lucy Wang for IndieReader

Added by IndieReader: << This book review was based on the e-version provided to IndieReader. Since the publication of this review, an updated version has been released. >> 

Fire up Your Fiction has also won two other awards to date: a Silver Medal from the Florida Authors & Publishers President's Book Awards, and an Honorable Mention from Writer's Digest Self-Published E-Book Awards. It is also a finalist in the ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year Awards (winners to be announced at ALA, June 27, 2014).

For more info, please visit Jodie’s author website or editor website, her other blogs, The Kill Zone and Crime Fiction Collective, and find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. To be the first to hear when Jodie's next book is out and to receive links to valuable, timely blog posts, sign up for her newsletter here