QUICK CLICKS: WORD USAGE and QUICK CLICKS: SPELLING LIST both $0.99!

I've been busy creating a new series of handy, clickable e-resources for writers, editors, students, teachers, instructors, journalists, bloggers, and anyone else with a writing project on the go. I just published the second one last Wednesday, and yesterday, I decided to play around with the titles to re-brand them a bit. (Until yesterday, they were called Grammar on the Go and Spelling on the Go.)

So far, two e-books in the series are out: Quick Clicks: Spelling List - Commonly Misspelled Words at Your Fingertips and Quick Clicks: Word Usage - Style and Usage Tips for Writers and Editors. And to introduce the second one, I've just put them both on sale for $0.99 each, tonight through Tuesday, Nov. 18. Click on the titles to go to the e-resources on Amazon.com. I'll list the links below for Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk, where they're also on sale for the equivalent of 99 cents USD.

Why more spelling, word usage, and grammar resources? Because these are designed to be super quick and easy to use, so they'll save you a lot of time - and you can rest assured that the information presented is well-researched and accurate.

At the beginning of each guide is a bank of letters like this, only with live links to small groups of words or terms in the document that start with those 2 or 3 letters:

A  ad  af  al  am  an  ap  as   Ba  be  bi  bo  br  bu   Ca  ce  ch  ci  co  com  con  cr   Da  de  di  dr   Ea  ef  em  en  ev  etc.

You click on a pair of letters and you jump right to the words starting with those two (or three) letters. Then on every page is a link to get you back "Home" or to the "Key" to look for another word or term.

The idea is to have the e-resource on your computer, e-reader, tablet, or phone beside you, or the PDF up on your computer, behind or beside your WIP, and just click to the word or term, check it, then get back to your writing project within seconds.
 

You can buy the PDF for $2.99 ($1.50 during this sale) by contacting Jodie Renner at info (at) JodieRenner (dot) com. You'll need a PayPal account, but they're very easy to set up.
 

If you click on the links to Amazon, you can open the book and preview the first 10 pages or more to check them out.
 

Spread the word about this great sale, as it's only for two days!

Quick Clicks: Word Usage on Amazon.ca ($1.12) 

Quick Clicks: Word Usage on Amazon.co.uk (0.77)
 

Quick Clicks: Spelling List on Amazon.ca ($1.12)
 

Quick Clicks: Spelling List on Amazon.co.uk  (0.77)

And suggestions welcome for more words and terms to include in updated editions! Please add any suggestions or comments below. Thanks!

 Besides publishing her popular craft-of-writing books under the series, An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction, the award-winning Fire up Your Fiction and Writing a Killer Thriller (and the upcoming Captivate Your Readers), as well as her handy, clickable e-resources, Quick Clicks: Spelling List – Commonly Misspelled Words at Your Fingertips and Quick Clicks: Word Usage – Style and Usage Tips for Busy Writers and Editors, Jodie Renner is a sought-after freelance fiction editor and author of numerous blog posts on writing captivating fiction. Jodie is also a former English (and French) teacher and has a master's degree in language and literature. Find Jodie on Facebook and Twitter.

SOME GREAT RESOURCE BOOKS ON HOW TO WRITE POPULAR FICTION THAT SELLS

Some Excellent Guides for Writing and Revising Your Novel or Short Story

A list of recommended books, compiled by Jodie Renner, editor, author, & speaker

Follow Jodie on Twitter.

Click on the titles below to check out the books on Amazon.

IF YOU’RE JUST GETTING STARTED:

Writing Fiction for Dummies, by Randy Ingermanson and Peter Economy. Not for dummies at all! An excellent resource.

The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel, by Hallie Ephron

How to Write a Damn Good Novel, by James N. Frey

A Writer’s Guide to Fiction, A concise, practical guide for novelists and short story writers, by Elizabeth Lyon

How NOT to Write a Novel – 200 Classic Mistakes and How to Avoid Them – A Misstep-by-Misstep Guide, by Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Writing a Novel, by Tom Monteleone

Outlining Your Novel - Map Your Way to Success, by K.M. Weiland

Plot & Structure, by James Scott Bell


REVISING AND EDITING YOUR NOVEL OR SHORT STORY:

Revision and Self-Editing - Techniques for transforming your first draft into a finished novel, by James Scott Bell. Just excellent!

Manuscript Makeover – Revision Techniques No Fiction Writer Can Afford to Ignore, by Elizabeth Lyon

Fire up Your Fiction (Style that Sizzles & Pacing for Power) - An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Stories, by Jodie Renner

Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us – A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing Is Being Rejected, by Jessica Page Morrell 

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers – How to edit yourself into print, by Renni Browne and Dave King

38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham

Between the Lines, by Jessica Page Morrell

Rock Your Revisions: A Simple System for Revising Your Novel, by Cathy Yardley


CLASSIC ADVICE FROM THE “GURUS”:

Writing the Breakout Novel, by Donald Maass

Writing 21st Century Fiction - High Impact Techniques for Exceptional Storytelling, by Donald Mass

Stein on Writing, by Sol Stein
         
On Writing, by Stephen King

Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott

The Successful Novelist, by David Morrell

The Fire in Fiction – Passion, Purpose, and Techniques to Make Your Novel Great, by Donald Maass


WRITING COMPELLING THRILLERS & MYSTERIES:

How to Write a Damn Good Thriller, by James N. Frey

Conflict & Suspense, by James Scott Bell

Writing a Killer Thriller - An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction, by Jodie Renner

How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, by James N. Frey

Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel, by Hallie Ephron


CHARACTERS, CHARACTER REACTIONS, DIALOGUE:

Characters, Emotion & Viewpoint, by Nancy Kress

The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, by Angela Ackerman and Becca
Puglisi. An excellent resource for finding just the right character response for the situation!


WRITING ROMANCE NOVELS:

On Writing Romance – how to craft a novel that sells, by Leigh Michaels. Also contains lots of great tips for writing any kind of fiction.

The Everything Guide to Writing a Romance Novel, by Christie Craig and Faye Hughes

The Busy Writer's Tips on Writing Romance, by Marg McAlister 

The Romance Writer's Handbook, by Rebecca Vinyard


WRITING YOUNG ADULT (YA) & MIDDLE-GRADE FICTION:

Writing Great Books for Young Adults – Everything you need to know from crafting the idea to landing a publishing deal, by Regina Brooks. Excellent reading for any fiction writer.

Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies, by Deborah Halverson

Writing Irresistible Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Readers, by Mary Kole

Wild Ink: Success Secrets to Writing and Publishing for the Young Adult Market, by Victoria Hanley

Second Sight: An Editor's Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adults, by Cheryl B. Klein

Writing for Children and Young Adults, by Dr. Marion Crook


WRITING MEMOIRS:

Shimmering Images – A Handy Little Guide to Writing Memoir, by Lisa Dale Norton

Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art, 2nd Edition , by Judith Barrington

Fiction writers - do you know of any great resources for writing compelling fiction that I should add to this list? Please share your ideas in the comments below and I'll add them! Thanks!

Jodie Renner has published two books to date in her series, An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: Writing a Killer Thriller and Fire up Your Fiction (Style That Sizzles & Pacing for Power), which has won two book awards so far. Look for her third book in the series, out soon. For more info, please visit Jodie’s author website or editor website, her blogs, Resources for Writers, Crime Fiction Collective, and The Kill Zone, or find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. And sign up for her newsletter.

RESOURCES FOR WRITERS NEWSLETTER

by Jodie Renner, editor & author

I just sent out my first newsletter, and here's the text of it. To subscribe to my future newsletters (3-12 per year), click on the link below. Also, please let me know of any writing-related topics you'd like me to cover in blog posts. Thanks, and keep on writing!

Welcome to Resources for Writers! My aim is to offer lots of great links to useful articles and other valuable resources for fiction writers, as well as alerts on freebies and discounts on my books and others.

Feel free to forward this blog post to any other writers you know, and perhaps suggest they subscribe to receive the next newsletter directly. Here’s the link to subscribe to “Resources for Writers” occasional newsletters:  http://eepurl.com/C9dKD

Scroll down for links to giveaways and useful blog posts by me and others.

Summertime, and the livin’ is...hectic? This spring and summer have been crazy busy! Besides editing fiction and writing craft-of-fiction advice, I’ve also been speaking to writers’ groups. In May & July, I presented two workshops and have other panels and workshops planned for upcoming writing conferences.

Also, I’ve been busy revising and expanding my Writing a Killer Thriller – An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction (new edition now in print, too), writing blog posts, editing fiction manuscripts for others, judging self-published books for Writer’s Digest, and attending Thrillerfest in NYC in July, where I participated in a panel “How to Be a Masterful Editor – of Your Own Work.”

And I’m preparing a workshop on “Deep Point of View” for Killer Nashville in three weeks, where I’ll also be on a panel called “Be Your Own Editor – Make Your Book the Best it Can Be.” And finally, I’ll be contributing to two magazines, in August & Sept. (details & links below).

GOODREADS GIVEAWAYS

I’m giving away a book a week for the months of August & October on Goodreads. Here’s the schedule and links for August. Click on the title to go to Goodreads.

Aug. 1 - 14 – 2 print copies of STYLE THAT SIZZLES & PACING FOR POWER will be given away.

Aug. 14 - 28 – 2 print copies of WRITING A KILLER THRILLER will be given away.

This pattern of Giveaways on Goodreads will repeat in October (2 weeks for each book, one free book per week).

SOME RECENT BLOG POSTS OF INTEREST TO FICTION WRITERS

Click on the title to go to the article.

- Developing a Strong Third-Person Voice, by Jodie Renner, The Kill Zone

- Analyzing Book Description Copy, by James Scott Bell, The Kill Zone

- The Readers Sound Off! How They Read, What They Like and Where They Find Us, by Marie Force, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author

- What Does an Agent Want to See When They Google You? By Chuck Sambuchino:

- Thought Verbs, by Chuck Palahniuk:

- Tips for Writing Compelling Back Cover Copy, by Jodie Renner, Crime Fiction Collective:

- Basic Formatting of Your Manuscript (Formatting 101), by Jodie Renner:

- Revising, Editing, and Polishing Your Novel, by Jodie Renner:

- Write a Killer Thriller Opening, by Jodie Renner, Writers Forensics blog:

- Adding Suspense, Tension, & Intrigue to Your Story, by Jodie Renner, The Thrill Begins:

 - Big-Picture Problems to Look for in Your Novel , CFC:

- Checklist for Adding Suspense & Intrigue, by Jodie Renner, The Kill Zone:

 

JODIE’S ARTICLES OR INTERVIEWS IN WRITING-RELATED MAGAZINES

Suspense Magazine, August 2013 issue: “Adding Tension, Suspense, & Intrigue to Your Story” by Jodie Renner: http://www.suspensemagazine.com/

Southern Writers Magazine, Sept.-Oct. issue – interview of Jodie Renner, freelance editor: www.southernwritersmagazine.com
 

RECENT & UPCOMING WORKSHOPS AND PANELS

- Aug. 23-25, 2013 - Killer Nashville Conference, Nashville, Tenn. http://www.killernashville.com/schedule/ :

Jodie will present a workshop called “Deep Point of View, or How to Avoid Head-Hopping.”

Also, she’ll be on a panel called “Be Your Own Editor – Make Your Book the Best it Can Be.”

- July 13, 2013: Thrillerfest, New York City. Jodie participated in a panel called “How to Become a Masterful Editor—of Your Own Work.” She also distributed three relevant handouts on revision and self-editing.

- July 18, 2013: London Writers Society, London, Ontario: Jodie presented a workshop on “Self-Publishing on Amazon.”

- May 2013: Jodie presented a workshop called "12 Do's & Don'ts for a Compelling Opening" to the London Writers Society.

Jodie Renner, a freelance fiction editor specializing in thrillers and other fast-paced fiction, has published two books to date in her series, An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction: WRITING A KILLER THRILLER and STYLE THAT SIZZLES & PACING FOR POWER, both available in e-book and trade paperback.

For more info, please visit Jodie’s author website or editor website, or find her on Facebook or Twitter.