Filler, flash fiction, and finishing the race.

Editing Tip of the Week

Filter the filler. First drafts and finished prose alike can fall victim to excessive wording. Search your social media post, article, or manuscript for the following words/phrases and pare them down:

• There is/are/was/were

• That

• Of

• The (particularly when repeated in a sentence)

• In

• Is/are/was/were (particularly when repeated in a paragraph)

• Just

• So

• And so on

What are your guilty-pleasure fillers? Prepositional phrases are mine—I love stringing them together like Christmas lights on the tree in my living room during the holiday season.

#towerflashfiction contest!

If you’re not following me on Instagram, this is your chance! To celebrate 750 followers, I’m running a flash fiction contest with this prompt:

In 100 words or fewer, write a story about someone climbing a tower.

Here’s how to enter:

• Subscribe to my newsletter (look at that, you’re already here)

• Follow @addisonhornerauthor on Instagram

• Post your entry to Instagram with the hashtag #towerflashfiction (you can post an image of the text or include it in the caption of your post.

• Tag @addisonhornerauthor and two other accounts in the comments of my post (the one you see above) when you’re done!

The deadline is Friday, July 7, and I’ll declare a winner on Monday, July 10! Winner gets a fantasy book of their choice in any format (limit $20 incl. shipping).

Check out the entries so far, then post your own!

Writing Updates

Codename SPOOKY: My beta readers provided fantastic insights and helpful suggestions for the story’s final draft. I’ve all but completed those edits; now I’m waiting for sensitivity reader feedback on my portrayal of a character with Down Syndrome.

Some beta reader comments:

“I cannot wait to have this on my shelf!”

“This was one of the best books I’ve read in a while.”

“D*** it, Addison!” (No spoilers on what was happening here.)

But as exciting as beta reads are, I got something else in my inbox this morning: COVER ART!

Covers by Jules (no, I don’t know her last name) designed a killer cover for Codename SPOOKY. Will you, my dear newslettees, be the first to see it? Yes! Will that happen today? Nope! But soon, I promise.

Codename SPOOKY SEQUEL: I passed 70,000 words on Sunday, which feels surreal considering I started drafting on March 7. I’ve averaged around 1,250 words/day this month. This first draft may be done by the end of July.

Writing a sequel is so different than writing a series starter. Not only are the story craft and style dependent on the first book, but the lessons I’ve learned from SPOOKY help me write a stronger first draft AND plan for edits without feeling like I have to get everything perfect right now.

Codename MEMORY: What’s this? A new codename?

With the SPOOKY series well underway, I’m directing my insatiable need for new projects toward a premise I created late last year. I’m building the characters, world, and story with the help of John Truby’s The Anatomy of Story. This mind-bending fantasy novel will scratch an itch for fans of Memento, Inception, and Minority Report.

With edits completed, the next progress update will look a little different…

Calling All Indie Authors

I have three line editing spots available this fall for authors who want to level up their manuscripts. Respond to this email to claim a free sample edit, no strings attached!

In The Next Newsletter…

I reveal Codename SPOOKY’s title and premise AND the winners of #towerflashfiction!