Author Archives: Donna Maloy, Author

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About Donna Maloy, Author

Captivating romantic suspense. History, mystery, and sometimes... a little touch of fantasy.

Monday Advice from Agents and Editors: Don’t Make Janet Reid Cry

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Donna Maloy, Author

Sorry to be posting a day late. Janet Reid is a very successful literary agent with FinePrint Literary Management who offers great advice to aspiring writers. Her blog has (at last count) 266 blog entries under the key words “query … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Agent, Janet Reid, Queries | Leave a comment

Monday Advice from Agents and Editors: Start with Character

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Donna Maloy, Author

In a recent post for Adventures in YA Publishing, Susan Hawk of The Bent Agency answered the burning question, “What would make you stop reading when reviewing sample pages?” Her answer wasn’t specifically directed to YA manuscripts. But it was surprising—at first … Continue reading →

Posted in Character-driven action, Character-driven action, Openings, Susan Hawk, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Monday Advice from Editors and Agents: The Golden Triangle of Plotting

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Donna Maloy, Author

Every Sunday James Scott Bell blogs about writing on The Kill Zone or TKZ. But he’s not just reminiscing about his “journey” or his favorite writing retreat. Bell (bestselling, award-winning author, writing coach and fiction columnist for Writer’s Digest magazine) … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Best Writing Advice

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Donna Maloy, Author

John Scalzi is a Film Critic/Columnist, Writer/Editor, Freelance writer, Novelist (his own words). He’s a New York Times best seller in fiction and has won the Hugo, the Locus, the Seiun and Kurd Lasswitz awards. His works have been translated … Continue reading →

Posted in Advice, Craft of Writing, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Monday Advice from Editors and Agents: Use [Only] the Right Words

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Donna Maloy, Author

Marilyn Brigham has a popular workshop she’s presented at writers’ conferences. It’s called, The Editor’s Eye: Powerful Word Choice & Sentence Structure. Repetition and Clutter are two of her main topics. Liz Pelletier has put together an intensive novel editing … Continue reading →

Posted in Editing, Taking out fluff, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 10 Comments