Darling Axe Editing

Good morning, humans 🌞

What are you working on today?

Good night, everyone 🌚

Hope you got some good writing done today! And if not, there's always tomorrow 💜

Had no idea that a Wuthering Heights movie just came out and was trying to figure out why the traffic on this blog post was up over 1000% last month 😄

If you treat your readers like detectives, you give them their own stake in the story.

Story Skeleton—Wuthering Heights In the character of Heathcliff, Brontë proves that a protagonist doesn’t have to be likable for readers to follow them; they just have to be interesting.

Story Skeleton: Wuthering Heights

"In the character of Heathcliff, Bronte proves that a protagonist doesn’t have to be likable for readers to follow them; they just have to be interesting."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/w...

#writingcommunity

As @septimusbrown.com, yes. I publish nonfiction (craft books) as David Griffin Brown.

Break a leg!!

Finished an outline yesterday. This morning I'm on the precipice of page one 😄

Good morning, humans 🌞

What are you working on today?

Good night, everyone 🌚

Hope you got some good writing done today! And if not, there's always tomorrow 💜

The word "daisy" comes from the Old English word "daeges eage," which meant "day's eye," referring to the flower's tendency to open during the day.

#etymology

How odd. Thanks for letting me know!

Less backstory = more curiosity

The (100+) agents interviewed in this series are specifically asked about what they are hoping to find in their slushpiles. I promise, the content is very appropriate to the hashtag.

Have you had a look at some of our interviews? Perhaps you would like to participate in this series in some way?

Book Broker—an interview with Samantha Fabien An interview with lit agent Samantha Fabien from Root Literary. A resource for querying authors. Find out what stands out in a good submission, what warning signs suggest a manuscript isn't ready for...

Book Broker—an interview with Samantha Fabien

"I'm hungry for mysteries, thrillers, suspense, and horror for adults and young adults."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b...

#amquerying #mswl

"Faux pas" is French for "false step."

#etymology

"Mentor" comes from Greek mythology, where Mentor was a wise advisor to Odysseus' son.

#etymology

Story Skeleton—The Bell Jar The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath—A detailed plot summary, structural analysis, and exploration of themes. Unpack this proto-autofiction masterpiece that blurs lines between personal experience and…

Story Skeleton: The Bell Jar

"Whenever I'm analyzing the plot of a more structurally experimental novel, I start by considering what happens at the climax."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/t...

#writingcommunity

“Souvenir” comes from French, meaning “memory.” It traces back to Latin subvenire, “to come to mind.”

#etymology

Beware coincidence that helps your protagonist along the path to their goal.

#writingtip

“Hedge” comes from Old English hecg (also hege), meaning a fence or enclosed boundary. It traces back to Proto-Germanic hagjaz, “enclosure.

#etymology"

“Quack” (a fake doctor) comes from Dutch kwakzalver—a salve-seller who boasted about cures.

#etymology

Avoiding Burnout: How to Write Happily Ever After Sometimes people overstuff their schedules to make sure they have time to write each day—which can lead to burnout. But sometimes burnout occurs when you’re so busy that you no longer make time to…

Avoiding Burnout: How to Write Happily Ever After

"We talk a lot about pacing in a novel, but it's rare to discuss pacing in a writer's life."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/a...

#writingcommunity

Book Broker – an interview with Jeff Ourvan I look for page-turning narratives in which the dynamic between the protagonist and the plot pumps like a piston: events cause the protagonist to change; the changed protagonist alters the trajectory…

Book Broker — an interview with Jeff Ourvan

"I look for page-turning narratives in which the dynamic between the protagonist and the plot pumps like a piston."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b...

#amquerying #mswl

Story Skeleton—Cloud Cuckoo Land There's a certain allure to a novel that intertwines disparate storylines, tying together seemingly unrelated narratives to form a compelling whole.

Story Skeleton: Cloud Cuckoo Land

There's a certain allure to a novel that intertwines disparate storylines, tying together seemingly unrelated narratives to form a compelling whole.

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/s...

#writingcommunity

Rainforest Writing Retreat 2026 Nine writers joined us at Linwood House for a week of writing, workshops, and (of course) Code Names.

We hosted another writing retreat!

And it was fun!!

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/r...

Story Skeleton—A Wizard of Earthsea Le Guin shaped the YA fantasy genre while never quite belonging to it. She proved that young readers can handle complexity and ambiguity, and that a children’s story can be rich in language and ideas.

Story Skeleton—A Wizard of Earthsea

Le Guin shaped the YA fantasy genre while never quite belonging to it. She proved that young readers can handle complexity and ambiguity, and that a children’s story can be rich in language and ideas.

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/s...

The (100+) agents interviewed in this series are specifically asked about what they are hoping to find in their slushpiles. I promise, the content is very appropriate to the hashtag.

Have you had a look at some of our interviews? Perhaps you would like to participate in this series in some way?

Book Broker – an interview with Danielle Svetcov What usually scares me off: a character waking up in the very first line of a book.

Book Broker — an interview with Danielle Svetcov

"What usually scares me off: a character waking up in the very first line of a book."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b...

#amquerying #mswl

Book Broker – an interview with Laura Gross With a fiction submission, it is imperative that I am taken in by the tone, a simple and intelligent self-presentation.

Book Broker — an interview with Laura Gross

"With a fiction submission, it is imperative that I am taken in by the tone, a simple and intelligent self-presentation."

darlingaxe.com/blogs/news/b...

#amquerying #mswl