Tag: writer’s bane

• Little details mean a lot: font choice

   Does it matter what type font you use when you publish your own book? That question is a perennial discussion topic in indie author/writerly social media.   I don’t get into discussions about it online these days because I lack the strength to drag my soapbox collection that far. It’s far less exhausting to display my…

  K. M. Herkes

  July 21, 2014

  Authoring, Writing Advice

  craft, frustration, people suck, writer’s bane

• Books are pyramids

  Bear with me here. I’m not saying that books are literally solid geometric forms with five sides. I’m not proposing a radical change in book formatting.  It’s a metaphor. A simile, really, with a silent “like” lurking within the statement. If you’re in the mood for a little thought experiment, come with me ona tour…

  K. M. Herkes

  July 18, 2014

  Authoring, Writing Advice

  craft, expectations, fonts, graphic design, rant, writer’s bane

• Revisiting the Issue of Style (Writer’s Bane #167)

  I want to rant about style. Yes,  I’ve done it before.  I’ll probably do it again. Count your blessings. I could be bitching about word counts. (No worries. I swore I would take a break from that one for a few months at least.) My gripe today: the “acceptable usage” problem in genre writing. I…

  K. M. Herkes

  July 7, 2014

  Authoring, Writing Advice

  contrarian, craft, grammar, style, writer’s bane

• The puzzle of style

  My hackles go up when people I will call Serious Reviewers base their assessment of a book’s quality on style. In the last week alone, I’ve read the phrases, “amateurish style,” “lacked style,” and “pretentious style” in multiple reviews. The market spectrum ranged from YA, through SF, to literary fiction. The market penetration ranged from…

  K. M. Herkes

  May 9, 2014

  Writing Advice

  art, craft, judgment, people suck, sickness & health, writer’s bane

• Word Counts, and Why I Hate Them

  I hate word counts. No, not the counts themselves. I like to know how much time I’m about to invest. When I’m looking at a physical book, I can tell at a glance. (Thick? Thin? Tons of photos? None at all?)  When “pages” don’t exist as a physical limit, then counting the words is the…

  K. M. Herkes

  April 10, 2014

  Writing Advice

  confessions, contrarian, measuring progress, no judgment, rant, word counts, writer’s bane, writer’s life