top of page
Just Released!
BLOG / BOOKS / EDITING
Matt's Blog
Articles on writing and editing
Search
by Matthew Bayan
Nov 2, 20172 min read
4 Questions Agents Might Ask In A Pitch Session
FOUR QUESTIONS AN AGENT MIGHT ASK YOU DURING YOUR PITCH SESSION 1. Are you working on anything else? This is one of the standard...
16 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 26, 20172 min read
ACT FIRST, EXPLAIN LATER - Part Two
ACT FIRST, EXPLAIN LATER: Part 2 In part 1, the focus was on the inciting incident that kicks off a novel or movie and how not to clutter...
14 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 24, 20172 min read
Act First, Explain Later - Part 1
"Act first, explain later." - James Scott Bell I saw this on a blog and immediately thought, "Simple and brilliant." James Scott Bell is...
14 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 22, 20173 min read
Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words?
Is a Picture Really Worth a Thousand Words? Let’s turn this equation around. Does it take a thousand words to describe a picture? See the...
17 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 21, 20172 min read
Will The Holidays Take A Bite Out Of Your Novel?
USE THE HOLIDAY SLUMP TO YOUR ADVANTAGE Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Year. The next three months will suck you...
14 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 19, 20172 min read
Elements of Story - Motive
Elements of Story – Motive Every good story needs to start with a question which then needs to be answered by the end of the story. A...
22 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 12, 20173 min read
Writers! 3 Steps to Showing, not Telling. Turn blah to wow.
In writing, we have 3 main forms: Description - We TELL what something looks like, sounds like, etc. Summary - We TELL about something...
12 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 7, 20171 min read
There's No THERE There.
There's no THERE there. How to engage readers with active verbs. Whenever you see "there" you usually have a passive verb. Except when...
7 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Oct 2, 20171 min read
Don't Judge a Book by its Cover? Get Real.
Yes, we all know that as writers we want our work judged by its literary quality. Yes, we know that publishers rarely consult us on what...
12 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Sep 19, 20172 min read
The Magnificent 7 - Elements of Story - Conflict and Motive
A novel is a dramatic story told dramatically. Drama is not about sitting around having a pleasant chat. Drama involves conflict....
5 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Sep 8, 20173 min read
Getting Drunk With Gene Roddenberry
In these many years since the explosion of the Star Trek universe, Gene Roddenberry has taken on a mythic stature. Not undeserved in some...
3 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Sep 3, 20174 min read
The Magnificent 7 - Elements of Story - Characters Part 2
The Magnificent 7 – Elements of Story – Characters Part 2 In a previous article, I talked about the need to make main characters not...
9 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Aug 29, 20172 min read
7 ELEMENTS OF STORY (3/7) - CHARACTERS
7 ELEMENTS OF STORY – CHARACTERS In any story, we need at least one main POV character, usually the person we want the reader to identify...
4 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Aug 23, 20171 min read
ON A LIGHTER NOTE - BUILD AN IMAGE
How did Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and others forge their brands? Click here: http://tinyurl.com/yb86wwnv and visit matthewbayan.com often...
4 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Aug 19, 20172 min read
READY, SET, QUERY, PRAY!
THE QUERY CHECKLIST So you’ve done your research, created a list (or a spreadsheet if you’re a paragon of efficiency and organization) of...
7 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Aug 15, 20172 min read
ELEMENTS OF STORY - SETTING THE TABLE #writing #writingtips #novels #editing
ELEMENTS OF STORY - SETTING THE TABLE Normally, when we think of setting, we consider it to be where the story takes place: New York in...
7 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Aug 6, 20173 min read
The Magnificent 7 - Using the 7 basic elements of story - #writing #writingtips #novels
7 basic story elements 1) Title 2) Setting - 3) Characters – Outside the bell curve 4) Conflict – Multiple characters and conflicts =...
14 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Aug 4, 20174 min read
Why Writers Need To Be As Tenacious As Weeds
Every writer is either in this situation or has been. Interesting read. Click on the picture or use this URL: ...
8 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Jul 21, 20171 min read
7 THINGS SCREENPLAY AGENTS WANT TO SEE
Here's an excellent article to help you get into the movie business. Though the thrust of the article is about getting a screenplay...
8 views0 comments
by Matthew Bayan
Jul 19, 20171 min read
Try This To Write Engaging Characters
Can't seem to get your main character to be interesting, to jump off the page? Having problems with other characters who seem too...
30 views0 comments
bottom of page