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Lyn Fairchild Hawks

YA Author, Teacher & College Essay Consultant

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editing

Seven Ways to Wrangle Your Back Story

Lyn Hawks · July 21, 2019 · Leave a Comment

wonder woman

If you're like me, you just lo-o-o-ve telling the tale before the story begins. That's because you care so much about your characters and you can envision where they were when they were three, and you know the whole cast of characters surrounding them at key moments in their … [Read more...] about Seven Ways to Wrangle Your Back Story

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: agents, back story, back story, editing, editing, editors, fiction, novel, scene, scene, scene and summary, summary

Six Tips for Chapter One Success

Lyn Hawks · July 6, 2019 · 4 Comments

the number six

How do you make sure people—readers, agents, editors—keep reading Chapter One of your Great American Novel? How do we get them to Chapter Two? After publishing three works of fiction and after writing (and discarding) several novels, I've figured out how to crack the code of … [Read more...] about Six Tips for Chapter One Success

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: agents, agents, chapter one, editing, fiction, first chapter, plot, six ways to success, YA

All in a Hour’s Work

Lyn Hawks · December 22, 2017 · Leave a Comment

  They say teachers make over 100 decisions an hour. Writers are right up there, too. Global vs. Local Choices We face the big plot questions, all those arcs and growth and struggle. There are the back stories of characters that need exploration but not to the point … [Read more...] about All in a Hour’s Work

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: editing, editing, global editing, grammar, local editing, present continuous

Bless You, Beta Readers

Lyn Hawks · August 11, 2015 · Leave a Comment

There's no motivation like real, red-blooded beta readers to make you dive back into a manuscript and rip it up. The beginning dragged, a couple readers said. I dispensed with the first chapter and wrote another. No one uses the word "frosh," said a couple others. I hit … [Read more...] about Bless You, Beta Readers

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: audience, beta reader, beta readers, contemporary YA, critique, critiques, editing, How Minerva Mae Christopoulos Set the Record Straight, How Minerva Mae Christopoulos Set the Record Straight, LGBT, Minerva Mae Christopoulos, revising, revision, YA

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About me

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Photo by My Friend Teresa Studios

Could I live without words, writing, story? Probably not. I love telling stories. I love teaching stories. I love helping other people find theirs. That’s my story. [READ MORE...]

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