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Tag Archives: Technical Writing

Welcome to the New “Unstressed Syllables”

Tweet It took a little longer than I’d expected, but I’m proud to share with you the all-new Unstressed Syllables. This site used to be a place for me to keep friends and family updated on my writing and other projects. About a year ago I moved all that stuff over to AaronPogue.com. I also […]

How to Write a Business Letter to Your Boss

Tweet This site started out as a writing advice blog, and in the earliest days I spent as much time offering Technical Writing advice as I did talking about storytelling. It’s been long enough now that I suspect I’ve mostly lost the crowd that came around for tips on good professional writing, but today I […]

Amazon Imprint Submission Guidelines

Tweet I’m going to start with the punchline today, and then backtrack to tell you where the information came from (and why it’s interesting). I’ll even explain why I told the story in reverse order. But first, the info. Submission Requirements for the Amazon Imprint 47North If you want to submit a novel for consideration […]

On Scheduling: A Quick Poll

Tweet I know I said Tuesday that I’d probably be dropping down to one post a week now that school has started, but that wasn’t a promise. Just my expectation. Besides, today’s isn’t really a post.  It’s a quick question (although it could have ramifications for Posts of Thursdays Future). See, my reasoning for cutting […]

On Writing Technique: Building Characters through Sequel

Tweet In yesterday’s article I introduced the concept of sequels in classical scene structure. They act as a kind of transition, a moment of reflection, and (as I said at the end) they provide your protagonist with a critical opportunity to shine. I described the sequel as a progression: It starts with an emotional reaction […]

On Publishing: Writing for Work

Tweet In the fall of 2009, I started a grand experiment. The English department at my alma mater lost their Tech Writing professor at the last minute, and the chair of the department asked me to step in and teach the class for a semester. I agreed, and then scrambled to put together a lesson […]

On Editing: What Editors Are For

Tweet This week has been a lot of talk about surprises, whether it’s the unexpected catastrophes that derailed both of my meticulously-planned covershoots so far, or the sudden and unfortunate realization a week before a book is supposed to go to press that it has a gaping flaw in one of the most important scenes. […]

On Editing: Expect the Unexpected

Tweet I started the week with the story of my two novels: Gods Tomorrow and Ghost Targets: Expectation (in stores February 15th!). Specifically, I talked about the covershoots for both books, and the surprises they held for us. Those little surprises are pretty troubling, especially when the book is so close to being published, but […]

On Editing: Expectation

Tweet Five months ago, with Gods Tomorrow poised on the brink of publication, I brought my awesome photographers (Julie and Carlos of Julie V. Photography) to town to shoot some art for the cover. I made arrangements with our model, scouted locations, and put together a whole covershoot in the space of about a week. […]

On Revising Your Manuscript: Looking Back

Tweet Today is December 14th. That means Thursday is going to be December 16th. I know, I know…I’ve just demonstrated that I’m a brilliant mathematician. Or…calendarist. Something. There’s a special significance to December 16th, though. Around here, anyway. Thursday will be the official anniversary of Unstressed Syllables. One year ago Thursday, I wrote my first […]