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A short time ago, I suggested to other retired workaholics the idea of attempting to write a novel. Granted, the idea was not an original one, but rather suggested to me by my wife because I was a little at loose ends after my ten to twelve-hour days began to shrink. I suggested that the idea would be especially appealing to anyone whose business had been in research, teaching or similar vocations.

I had suggested writing in the historical genre because it happened to be a personal favorite. The others available are legion, of course, and some require little to no research. Chick-lit was an overwhelming favorite for some time (although I understand it is waning today) and required no research whatsoever. I believe the genre would be quite a far stretch for the retiree, however.

If you want to stick to genre writing, Mysteries, Romance and Adventure always are a good bet. Mysteries probably are the toughest to tackle. They require an agile mind that can come up with twisting plots and believable characters. They have moved far from the old ‘the butler did it’ days.

Today, sophisticated techniques, including DNA sequencing, are quite generally understood by the public and are expected to be used. A working knowledge of police work and their procedures also is mandatory. Police lieutenants, for example, more usually do not go around investigating crimes. By the time they reach this rank, they really are in an executive position. There can be exceptions, of course. The lieutenant may be new to the precinct and may be making the rounds when a murder occurs. If he were young, his tendency could well be to become more personally involved. You would need to explain a situation of this nature, however. Mystery story readers are a dedicated breed who know the rules and will severely chastise anyone who does not follow them.

Adventure tales are a good choice, if the writer has a good imagination, or has been fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to experience adventure of various sorts. Once again, I cannot express strongly enough the need for thoroughly researching the place, time and people involved. A recent book review I read pointed out a specific error in the novel where a brazier was part of a costume in a period of time several years before the undergarment was manufactured.

Another fault often encountered is lack of attention to detail. I recently was chugging along happily in an adventure story when suddenly the rifle the man was carrying was referred to as a shotgun and two pages later again reverted to a rifle. Mistakes of this nature give the reader an unpleasant jolt, and if they occur in any number, discourage a reader from looking for more offerings by the same writer. Quoting from a recent review with respect to another book, “The author’s attention to detail is superb – it is one of the qualities I look for in a truly good book.” Most reviewers look for the same.

Romance, of course is the genre that has had the greatest lasting power. It might be said to have begun with Jayne Eyre and Wurthering Heights in the 1840’s. Before that, reading of novels was considered morally wrong, especially for young ladies ‘whose passions might be unnecessarily excited.’ Religious readings and the writings of Bulwer-Lytton (most notably, The Last Days of Pompeii) were those recommended.

However, it was not long before novels by Victor Hugo, and others, began to appear in abundance and it appeared that the seeds of the ‘Romance Novel’ had taken root. And the heroine changed dramatically. The heroine of Alexander Dumas Fils’ Camille, was a prostitute. Mrs. Henry Wood’s novel East Lynne, published a little later, depicted adultery, bigamy, double identity and murder. From here, the run was on, and today’s publishers rarely will turn down a good romance novel. The one problem with the genre, is you’ve got to think that way. However, if you can, you’re pretty sure of having a career as an author.

John H. Manhold is a retired professor and scientific journal editor. He is an author of several textbooks, a lexicon in four languages and now novels that often require extensive research. He provides coaching on various types and phases of writing. Please see John Manhold for more information, and an address.

Now that you have graduated college with either a BS or a BA degree, it is now time to focus on graduate school and the MBA Thesis you are going to have to write. What purpose does an MBA thesis have? It helps you to have a strong belief about a certain subject or topic. Within the beginning of your thesis, you are going to have to officially declare this belief on the topic you have chosen.

You must be able to describe the process whereby you intend to prove this belief, you must be able to outline and carry out that process and finally you are to describe the results of the process. After that, you must write your own conclusions. Below are some tips to help you research and lead to a good preparation of an MBA Thesis.

First of all, you should choose a research topic that you are very interested in. You are going to have to come to the realization that if you are going to write a successful MBA Dissertation or MBA Thesis, this is going to take a great deal of time, dedication and hard work! The beauty of the MBA Thesis is that you are able to choose your own ideas about a certain subject. You are going to have to prove just how correct your ideas are. It won’t seem so much like work if you truly love the subject you are working on.

When you perform your research, try to be thorough and creative. In order to support your basic argument, you are going to be required to get an incredible amount of research so that enough relevant data may be compiled to support you basic argument. Try to be creative as you collect your data. This data should not be from only very mundane sources. With the technological age exploding all around us, you will be able to compile data in more ways than one.

To have a really successful MBA Thesis, you should integrate knowledge between the different subjections of your thesis as much as possible. Knowledge building upon knowledge this is the mark of a good MBA Thesis.

Try your best to integrate knowledge between subsections. The mark that distinguishes a B or C thesis from an A thesis is that the writer was able to use knowledge to build upon knowledge. Some sound advice is to integrate, integrate and integrate some more.

Recheck all of your facts and details You must realize that the MBA Thesis is probably the most important paper you will turn in. You must get into the habit to check ands re-check every fact and number of details of you paper. If you just put a little bit of faulty data in your thesis, it could ruin the whole paper.

Once you have finished your thesis, go back and thoroughly proofread it for mistakes and fact checking. If you want to have a successful MBA Thesis, then you must travel a long, difficult road. Prepare yourself to put in a lot of work.

When at last you have the final revision of your thesis in hand, you can proudly turn in your many hours of long work. When you see the final grade on your MBA Thesis, all the hard work will turn into self-satisfaction for a job well done.

Everything you need to know about Thesis Writing and comprehensive list of Thesis Topics.

There are eight basic steps to writing a good term paper. Incidentally, term paper and research paper are really one in the same so I may take the liberty of using both of these terms interchangeably. The real start to writing a term paper of an A+ ranking is to believe that you are capable of achieving it. Keep a positive attitude as you develop your research paper and set your sights high.

Choose A Topic: Try to choose a topic which genuinely interests as well as challenges you. If you really like the topic, then you will naturally put a lot of enthusiasm and effort into you term paper. Once you have narrowed your topic down, get your teacher’s approval for it before embarking head over heels on full-scale research.

Select a topic that you can easily manage. At all costs, you want to avoid subjects that are too specialized, technical or learned. If your topic has very limited source materials, then you had better go back to the drawing board and choose something else.

Find Information: There are many places where you can find information. The library is still an excellent source for research materials. They have encyclopedias, magazines, periodicals and books.

With the Internet becoming increasingly popular, you can check out different materials that are available online. You must learn how to evaluate websites with a critical eye. By searching the Internet effectively you will be able to eliminate irrelevant sites so that your time will not be wasted.

State Your Thesis: This may involve some critical thinking on your part in order to write your thesis statement in one sentence. The vast majority of your term paper will consist of arguments to defend and support your thesis.

Make A Tentative Outline: You should all know how to make an outline for your term paper. In the opening capital Roman Numeral, you must make sure that all of the points you have mentioned will relate to it.

The main purpose of having an outline is to help you think through your subject with care and organize it in a logical manner before you begin writing. Your outline should have an introduction, a body and finally a conclusion.

Organize Your Notes: Organize the information that you have gathered according to the outline you have prepared. You must now check your data for accuracy and verify that all of your information you have gathered is up-to-date, factual and correct. Include no data that is not relevant to your topic. Remember not to plagiarize.

Write Your First Draft: You should write your first draft of your term paper according to the organization of your outline. For each idea that you plan to include in your term paper either write summaries, quotations or paraphrases.

Revise And Outline: Go over your term paper for any content errors. Make sure that your facts and figures are correct. Arrange all of your ideas to follow your outline. You must always keep your readers in mind as well as the purpose of your paper.

Type Final Paper: Since your term paper is a formal report, it should be typewritten. Most of us these days have a printer to go along with our computer. Proofread you final paper for spelling, missing or duplicated words and punctuation. Make sure that your term paper is tidy, clean, neat and attractive.

Try to turn in your term paper early. Pride yourself in your work and know that you did your very best. I am sure you will swell with pride when you see your final grade!

Get custom College Term Papers and find unique Term Paper Topics.

Writing college term papers are a very common requirement when you reach the upper-division courses. You will find that it counts as an influential part of your final grade. Remember that you are no longer in high school. Gone are the times when you could turn in just a mediocre term paper and come out on top with a good grade. Here are some guidelines for you to follow to assure that you will receive an A on your college term paper.

1. Getting Started: Make sure that you understand all of the directions that your professor gives. If something is not clear, do not hesitate to ask for clarification. If you just go your own way and turn in a paper that does not meet the instructor’s wants, then you may really feel dumb!

2. Don’t Procrastinate: A good college term paper requires careful preparation, critical thinking, research and writing. You must also allow time for the unexpected. Your computer may crash, files may somehow get erased, you may run out of ink or personal crises may arise.

3. Choosing a Topic: Try to pick an interesting subject that fulfills the assignment the professor gave you. It will help if you pick a topic that interests you. Make sure that your paper is a reasonable length. If your subject is too broad, consider narrowing the focus. Your main source of research will most likely be your local or campus library.

4. Research: The foundation or your college term paper is good research. If you build a paper without a solid foundation, that paper will inevitably be weak. You should make sure that you use a good variation of the most specific, expert and up-to-date resources. The first place to do research is your library.

5. Research Resources: There are many types of resources that can be utilized to do your research. One of the first places to visit is probably the reference room. You can begin to structure the basic outline for your college term paper right in the reference room. Some other reference materials are, of course, books and scholarly journal articles.

6. Organizing the Paper: The keys to having an effective college term paper are good organization as well as presentation of ideas. In order to have a good plan for your paper, you must organize all of your material in an outline. This will serve to lay out the structure of your paper to ensure that your paper is logical and complete and will prevent you from getting off the track.

7. Writing the Paper: You should always have clarity in writing. You must use good communication skills in order to bring your points home. You may even submit drafts to your professor well ahead of the deadline so that he or she may be able to help you refine your topic, identify resources and avoid pitfalls.

8. Citations and References: A good research paper will rely on information that has been compiled by and analysis that has been done by others. A research paper MUST cite other’s works. You do not want to be guilty of plagiarism.

9. Presenting the Paper: You must now prepare for the physical presentation of your paper. Unless you were otherwise told, your paper should be typed by double-spacing with one-inch margins on every side of your page. Your college term paper should have a title page, the main body of the paper followed by the bibliography and then by Works Cited, or References.

Even a paper that contain cogent analysis, impeccable research and brilliant writing will still elicit a negative reaction from the one who is reading your paper if it happens to be wrinkled or barely readable. After reading over your term paper for the last time and proclaiming that it is free from errors, go home relax and grab a pizza.

Hand written custom College Term Papers and a big list of Term Paper Topics to choose from.

Even though essays have many purposes, the basic structure remains the same. You may be writing your paper to explain the steps needed to complete a task or you may be arguing for a particular paint. No matter which kind of essay you choose to write, the format will remain essentially the same.

By only following a few simple steps, you will see that your essay will almost write itself. The only thing you will be responsible for is for supplying the ideas which is the main meat of the essay. Do not let the thought of putting your pen to the paper overwhelm you. You must simply choose to get started. Below are some steps that will serve as your guide as you write your essay:

1. Decide A Topic: You may not have a choice as to what your topic is to be. That is all up to the teacher who assigns the essay. Think about what kind of paper you will be expected to produce. Should you prepare a general overview or should it be narrowed down to a specific analysis of the topic?

2. Prepare an Outline of Ideas: The main purpose of a diagram or an outline is to jot down your ideas about the topic on paper in a loosely organized format. You may still have to change this before your essay is complete, so don’t lose sleep over this point.

3. Write A Thesis Statement: This statement tells the reader exactly what the essay will be about and the point that you the author, will be making. You already know what your essay will be about since you had chosen that topic to write about.

Now you must take a look at you outline and decide what point you will make. Take a look at your outline again. What do the main ideas as well as the supporting ideas say about your topic?

4. Write the Body of Your Essay: Now that you have chosen your topic, it has to be described, explained or argued. Each main idea that you jotted down in your outline will become one of the main body paragraphs. In the body of your essay you are going to write about the main points, the subpoints and even elaborate on each of the subpoints.

5. Write the Introduction: Before you essay is finished, you must write the introduction as well as the conclusion. With the introduction, you want to attract the reader’s attention and give him or her an idea of the focus of the essay. You may even think about beginning your essay with an attention grabber.

6. Write Conclusion: This brings a sense of closure to the reader. You are able to sum up your points or provide a final perspective on your subject. You only have to have three or four strong sentences in your conclusion. If you can end your essay in a useful way with an anecdote, then by all means use it.

7. Finishing Touches: Before you can consider that your essay is finished, you must think about how you are going to format your paper. Make sure the order of your paragraphs makes sense. Make sure to check your writing. Does your computer have a grammar checker or a spell checker? Make sure that your sentences flow smoothly.

All of these points will make sure that you will have a very good essay to turn in if you follow them. If you are given two weeks to complete your essay, don’t try to save it for the last minute and expect to get a good grade. Not many of us can pull that off. Allow yourself plenty of time and pace yourself for a good grade.

Essay Writing is a skill aquired by practicing. If you don’t have the time check out some Free Essays.

With the large increase of books being published by self-publishers, and the up-rise of print on demand, there is still a lot of death taking place in the publishing industry. In the United States, over 291,920 books were published in 2006, per Bowker.

Are you a part of this population? There are many aspects that make up these individuals. However, let us target just three that are undeniable to anyone reading this article.

As in anything we do, a large portion of it is about taking risks. Are you a risk taker? You’ve completed your manuscript or just published your novel; it is time to open the entrepreneur portion of your brain.

Risk takers do not mind the possible end result because the thought of success in pure motivation. Many writers and authors remain reclusive within the safe haven of their creativity. What makes this ideology costly? It is the slow return on their investment.

Are you wondering if you fit into this population of authors? Sure you have published your work for the whole world to read, even critique. But that is just the beginning of this venture. What makes you any different than the other hundreds of thousands of writers and authors?

Sure you can play it safe and hope your extraordinary opportunity hits you over your head. Why not become a risk taker and take it by authority?

Becoming a risk taker you must be:

— persistent

— creative

— passionate

Another obvious bludgeon death is the lack of knowledge.

Yes it is lovely to remain in your creative world and just produce book after book. Can you imagine leaving all the other hoopla for others to sort out?

No one whose a true business person would dare allow themselves to walk blind in their business. Prime examples are Oprah, Donald Trump and Bill Gates. However, many writers and authors are just that, blind.

In order to be successful, you need to be savvy on all levels in the literary industry. If you are not, just like buying a car, you are going to get taken every time. Do your homework, rather than relying on third party hearsay. Why would you find knowing unimportant? For example, POD (print on demand) writers. Many have shouted foul play. The pitch is knowing the short and long term of POD. Before signing any contract, may it be for a car, house, student loan, or what have you, the rule of thumb is to know what it says. If you do not know, you will swing at a curve ball because the only pitch you anticipated was the fastball.

To become knowledgeable:

— ask questions

— take the time to research

— make sure you understand

Lastly, the beast of all beasts, is marketing. It is amazing how many authors who are not marketing exhaustively.

This reverts back to the second point: lack of knowledge. Too many authors belief that a publisher will sign them and they will promote and market their book. Happy to inform you, that is not always the case.

This is your business and these publishers have invested enough in you, such as, advance, printing, and a brief promotion run. After this, it is the author’s job to build a website, create news releases, get interviews and so on.

There are many authors and writers out there with published works who are at a lost. Many assume self-published authors must deal with marketing and promoting. If no one has informed you, allow me: that is not true. All published authors, in any realm must market themselves.

How else will your book or novel sell without getting out to the masses? Your readers?

To market, you must:

— think-outside-the-box

— market everyday on some level

— address all angles of your novel or book

— have a user friendly website

Take a look at where you are and where you desire to be in this literary world. Determine if you are killing your publishing career.

This is going to be a challenge, but you have to have enough energy, passion, and juice to make it past the trying moments.

As a writer or author, make sure you are multi-dimensional. You are becoming an entrepreneur, so know where your hats are and when to wear them.

C.F. Jackson has been interviewed on The Sumter Television Show, The Louie Jones Show, Millionaire Monday Series by John DiLemme and Atlanta

The business of publishing is old world, mature, and has changed only incrementally over the past fifty years. One thing that can be said about publishing is that the biggest companies lead and the rest tend to follow. This is why little has changed in the way these publishers conduct business. The biggest are the most stodgy and the result is an industry that continues to shrink, while technology and the new marketing of the 21st century speed ahead.

Book are published, marketed, sold and distributed the same way they have been since the birth of the business. Certainly prices have changed dramatically, shipments are better coordinated, cover designs have evolved, merchandising has improved, but the basic business rules have not. Today there are still three general rules that apply to the business of publishing.

Rule number one: Every book is guaranteed to the bookseller, meaning, if they don’t sell at the bookstore, the publisher guarantees they’ll take them back. Returned books are as common place as paper and ink. Books have always been returnable. There are few if any retailers still in existence that will purchase newly published non-returnable books. The fallacy of this is that today, 2008, there are still some publishers that force their authors to pay several hundred dollars for the right to have their book considered returnable. Returnable books should be standard for any book contract. This is a clear example of how some publishers are not fluent in the ways of the business, and as a result they take advantage and prey on the pocketbooks of unsuspecting, and uninformed authors.

Rule number two: The business is about revenue, selling books. However there are two ways to look at revenue. For the Independent publishers and authors, revenue is when a book is sold and the money changes hands, that is a sale and represents the cleanest form of revenue. For the biggest publishers and all the others that want to compete in the marketplace, revenue is both gross and net. Gross is the number of copies multiplied by the cover price. This does not account for the returns that will eventually arrive at the publisher’s warehouse. The net price is what is left after all those books have been returned and counted. The big companies play with these numbers in a variety of ways and if you plan to compete in this market, you must be aware of this fact.

Rule number three: Bookseller real estate is for lease. When you walk into a bookstore and notice all those wonderful displays with multiple copies of the bestsellers, then you stroll down the aisles and look at the covers laying face up on the tables, keep in mind — this is not accidental. These retailers aren’t doing any favors. All of that space has been leased by the publisher of those titles for a specified period of time. In fact, virtually all of the floor space is for lease, if you can afford the price. Typically the front of the store is the most expensive real estate and the price goes down slightly as you move to the back of the store. Bottom line, retail space in major retailers, including bookstores and mass merchants, is for lease.

If you want to compete in the traditional marketplace, you must keep these three rules in mind: It’s how the business operates.

Jerry D. Simmons is the author of WHAT WRITERS NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PUBLISHING. He is the creator of TIPS for WRITING from the PUBLISHING INSIDER an eNewsletter that can be found at WritersReaders.com. He is also the founder of the leading social networking website for writers, authors and readers Nothing Binding. For comments or questions you can reach Jerry via email jerry@writersreaders.com.

From Rita Jamison’s Freelance Writing Workshop; Adult Education, Los Altos, CA, 2005

Your plot’s great. Your theme is awesome. You have a beginning, middle and end with interesting characters — No problem sitting and writing a story; no writer’s block — But it bombs. No one reads beyond page one or two. Who killed it? Probably you! You probably didn’t polish and buff the finish. You wrote with your heart but didn’t rewrite with your brain.

What should your brain do for you when you rewrite? What are the common pitfalls you absolutely must avoid?

TELLING INSTEAD OF SHOWING:

Remember Creative Writing 101? Remember the most frequent error a writer makes? Remember SDT (”Show, Don’t Tell.”) Show how your characters react with Visceral and Layered Description; Describe the character’s uncontrollable response to her location and conflict with some or all of her five senses, mood and feelings. The most banal physical object imparts this set of body reactions and all of us recognize and relate to if you, the author use your brain to rewrite.

For example: “There was a pencil on the table.”) (Not very interesting) vs. “Straight as a warrior’s arrow the sharp pencil on the table pointed at Charles. He picked it up and put the point in his mouth. It tasted metallic, tinny; the shaft smelled like sawdust in butcher shops of yore, when he was a boy. How the pencil screeched as he wrote the words that completely relaxed him: “I am not afraid of Mr. Hollerhan.”

Don’t you want to know more?

NARRATION VS. DIALOGUE AND INCIDENT

(Another “Show, Don’t Tell.”) Tell your story through conversation and action.

Above all, Do not preach; Do not patronize; Avoid homily!

There is probably a place for narration in an instruction manual, personal journal, scientific and philosophical treatise or theses — and maybe there are more — but there’s little use for it in your story. It will make a good outline in your first heart-driven draft. That’s why writers have brains. Use the brain in rewrite and keep on rewriting until you’ve eliminated the bland and the boring and replaced it all with exciting, colorful exposition flowing out of dialogue and incident.

BE ORIGINAL

Avoid clich