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Sharpened Words

@sharpenedwords.bsky.social
2 followers 3 following 10 posts

A blog for writers of fiction. www.sharpenedwords.net

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Sharpened Words @sharpenedwords.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Hearthside advice: On Feedback. If the house is on fire, you don’t try to put it out from within. Think of your beta readers and editors as fire fighters who help put out the fires that you can’t see and can’t reach while you’re stuck in the building (your novel).
Simple graphic of a log fire in a pale orange color. The text overlay reads: 0.01 in black.
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Sharpened Words @sharpenedwords.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Since I’m descending into the chaos of the holiday season, I’ve decided to start up a new series on the blog. Bite Sized Beta will tackle some common beta/developmental feedback I leave on books. Today’s bite: Avoiding “white room syndrome.”
Icon for Bite Sized Beta: a purple square centered on a white background. Within the square a minimalist graphic of a twist wrap candy in white. “1.00” is centered in bold black font
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Sharpened Words @sharpenedwords.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
Characters are the vessel through which to tell your story. You may have the most original plot of the age, but without interesting characters to populate it, many readers will close the book. This is why Characters are the first major unit we’ll tackle here!
Icon for the Characters unit: the image is of two hands reaching for each other, nearly touching. “1.00” is overlayed in bold black text.
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Sharpened Words @sharpenedwords.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
The site is now live!! The first four blog posts are up for your eyeballs 👀
Still shot of Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein shouting, “It’s alive!”
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