@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: If we meet and you decide to reach out via social media but use heavy filters or pop culture images for your profile, I won’t have any idea who you are and won’t accept the message. This applies everywhere. Hard to start a business convo that way.

Only 10 days left until Particular Passages is out of print and gone forever. Order a copy for yourself now!

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@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Some writers feel they can't write a short story. Think of them as a joke, which is a kind of short story. Write the setup and then the punchline. It doesn't have to be funny, just have a punch at the end. You can always expand from there. Try it!

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Writing and selling short stories is a great way to start learning the industry as well as new aspects of writing. Don't dismiss the idea of writing them until after you've tried it, or you may miss out on something special.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: If you must use double spaces or tabs to indent or comic sans font or whatever in order to write, then do it. Use search and replace to remove extra spaces and tabs or whatever, and change the font to match submission guidelines before you send it

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Words, when used as modifiers to a verb, that can help you spot the passive voice: are, am, been, being, by, of, is, was, were.
These are not the only ones, and they don't always signify passive voice, so don't go crazy trying to get rid of them.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Some writers think you should never use the passive voice. It exists for a reason. Here are some times the passive voice is appropriate: When the person/thing performing the action is unknown, unimportant, abstract, or needs to be de-emphasized.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips:
A man with a wooden leg named Smith.
What was the name of his other leg?

An old joke, but one that perfectly shows what a misplaced modifier is. Sometimes we can't see it when we've written it, and that's another reason why we need editors.

The thing about mermaids is, there's always a tail...
Paperback on sale at Amazon for $9.76
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While Particular Passages is going out of print, Particular Passages 3 paperback is on sale at Amazon! $9.36
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While Particular Passages is going out of print, Particular Passages 2 paperback is on deep discount at Amazon! $4.61
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Particular Passages goes out of print at the end of this month! Don't miss your chance to get a copy before it's gone, never to return!
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@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: There are many types of narrative voices. In general, a narrator is a character (sometimes even if it doesn’t feel like it). If the narrator is lying to you, even if they don’t know they are, they are called an unreliable narrator.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Is it redundant to say "said" in dialog?
"Hi," he said.
Maybe, but sometimes we need identifiers to know who was talking.
How about "asked?"
"Oh?" he asked.
Maybe, but again, we need identifiers. Just don't overdo it. Skip unnecessary ones.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: We've all been told never judge a book by its cover, but we all still do it. That cover is not just the book cover, but your online personality and profile, too. And how you treat people in person. And, of course, your appearance. Be professional.

@samknight.bsky.social 's #writingtips: To consider when picking a publishing platform: set up/other fees, formats available (print, ebook, hardback, audio), royalty rate, (restriction of) distribution, file formats accepted, pre-orders, free promos, bad terms of service, extra features

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Not every opportunity is too good to pass up. Maybe you'll miss out once in a while, but if you get a bad feeling, if you feel pushed or forced into something, then get out. You don't have to do it. This applies to all of life, not just writing.

On May 1st, the original Particular Passages anthology will go out of print. If you missed out on this, now is the LAST chance you will have to get a copy! We dropped the eBook to $2.99. We can't change the print. Order before April 30th! books2read.com/u/bWrlZG

@samknight.bsky.social 's #writingtips: Just as there are run-on sentences, there are run-on paragraphs. My rule of thumb is "new idea, new paragraph." A new speaker is a new idea. A new, closely related action may not need a new paragraph, but a fight is probably not all one paragraph.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Ambiguous descriptions can hurt your story. Land on a new planet and the ground is ashen? I don’t know if that’s a color or actual ash. Open a portal to a gilded world? I don't know if that's the lighting or if everything is covered in real gold.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: There is a special character for the ellipsis that is all three dots in one character (…) instead of three periods (...). I suggest you always use one-character ellipses so a publisher never has one of the periods break off into the next page.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Some programs automatically convert two dashes (--) into an em-dash. Some use a special character menu. In MS Word on PC, you can make an em-dash by pressing:
ctl + alt + (-) on the number pad. On MS Word on Mac, use shift+Option+(-) hyphen.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: The en-dash (–) is used with a range of numbers such as “1–100” or “read pages 78–96” or linking things, like the Bush–Cheney political ticket. A hyphen(-) combines them into one thing instead of linking them. Bush-Cheney would be one person's name

@AuthorSamKnight's #writingtips:
em-dash (—)
en-dash (–)
hyphen (-)
The em-dash (—) is called em-dash because it takes up the same amount of space as the letter M. (Or it did at one time, in that one font…)
The en-dash (–), of course, was the same width as the letter N.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Than vs. Then.
Than is used for comparing things.
Bigger than that.
Then is used to mark chronological order.
Did this then did that.

Have you been enjoying @samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips? Find more in his book! Available most everywhere, or ask your local bookseller to order it! books2read.com/u/49vkQw

@samknight.bsky.social 's #writingtips: Farther vs. Further.
Farther indicates a measurable, physical distance.
He flew farther into space.
Further indicates a comparison of more that cannot be physically measured.
She fell further in love.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Did you know, when talking hypotheticals (like wishing about something to have been different) instead of reality (even in fiction) you should use were (weren’t) instead of was (wasn’t)?

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: Some authors swear by selling only on KU. Others swear by selling wide. Others only to trad publishers. There is no one right answer, only answers that are right for you. Maybe you only want to sell stories to your favorite magazine. That’s okay.

@samknight.bsky.social's #writingtips: House Rules means each publishing house has its own preference for certain punctuation styles/norms it follows for consistency across its publications. One may want spaces before and after ellipses, one may want no spaces. Don't take it personal.