Gina G writes

 I give it one star. Out of respect for the author, I am NOT including the title.  I ordered the book online because I liked the title and the blurb, plus I am interested in anything that is against trophy hunting. This one was written as a memorial to the horrible death of Cecil the Lion by a rotten man who lured the lion into a hunting zone, shot him, and left him to die until the following morning. Men like this and even women who get a kick out of killing for "fun" are not good people.  The book "...Hunted..." was a payback to Trophy Hunters. I have already written about the lack of editing that was needed in this book. This is the sad part. IF the author had edited the book ... IF the author had added emotion ... IF the author had added the five senses ... and IF the author had fleshed it out, this would have been a GREAT READ. But it wasn't.  I wanted to shake some sense in the author and tell him to pick up a thesaurus. You can describe the same word in d...

To Edit or Not to Edit Okay, seriously, it's not even a question. Edit. I ordered a book the other day. The title and blurb sounded promising. I liked the subject matter. Amazon did not give me the option to read the first page. If it had, I would not have bought the book. Hindsight. I received the book in the mail and eagerly unwrapped it. The author spent the first four and a half pages telling me about the character. It was all "he did this, he liked this, his wife did this, and his children did this."   Example 1: "Dick turned off the alarm clock and got out of bed. He smelled coffee. His wife Jane was making breakfast. He loved his wife. The breakfast smelled good. His children were laughing. He loved his children. It was sunny outside. He needed to finish packing for his vacation. Maybe after breakfast." Don't tell me, show me. Show the character's life. Example 2: "The alarm clock jarred Dick from his dream. Groggily, with one eye half open, ...

 The Struggle Is Real I have been staring at the same page in my WIP for the past two weeks, erasing everything, rewriting everything, and rewording everything, and it still doesn't feel right. This is the life of a writer. I am in a tight scene—a very emotionally charged scene. It's an IMPORTANT scene that needs to convey a lot of information without sounding like an info dump or a bunch of heads talking.  It's driving me crazy. I may be overthinking it, trying too hard to get it right, and need to write it down, move on, and polish it when the story is finished.  I stare at the words and think ... what is essential? Setting: Kolob Mountain. Fall. Year: 1964. Situation for this chapter: The hunters and their dogs are tracking down a bear that is NOT responsible for the killings. Jack, the park ranger must convince them the bear is not responsible. The men have set out. Jack is following behind with the sheriff. They arrive at a clearing where the men and dogs search for ...