—Life Through the Eyes of Storytellers—
We're all busy and sometimes you just can't read everything that gets posted on a blog. So this is our second installment of "Articles on Writing You Don't Want to Miss" in which we provide a list of some of our past articles you may have missed the first time around. 5 Expensive Book Services… Continue reading Articles on Writing You Don’t Want to Miss (#2)
Book publishing has always adapted to an environment shaped by the accelerated pace of technology, and no one has pushed these changes more than Amazon. As such, it is the first port of call for independent authors. If you can write it, you can publish it. Simple as that! So needless to say, Amazon has… Continue reading 10 Ways Amazon Turned Authors into Tinder Dates
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware that characters are kind of big deals when it comes to fiction writing. They’re the heart of the story and the main reason our readers gift us with hours of their lives. Let’s face it: without characters, the reading experience wouldn’t really be electrifying. Like,… Continue reading Creating Your Character – A Checklist
There are few career choices as authentic as that of a writer. It requires a passion that is fueled almost entirely by one’s own internal motivation. In the early years, that period when development occurs, when style emerges, when a genre is chosen, the writer operates with little feedback and with almost no social validation.… Continue reading The Authenticity of Writing
I like to use parentheses (you know, to share my extra thoughts and stuff). But only in non-formal situations (like blog-writing). In fiction, however, I avoid it like a plague. And I realize that may just be a personal preference, since I feel it would pull my readers out of the world I spent so… Continue reading Parentheses in Fiction: Do They Break the Fourth Wall?
Writing dialogue is messy. Am I right? It has so many rules, it makes me wish I’d gone with my original plan in life. I’d intended to become an all-in-one supermodel-psychologist/part-time medical researcher. What? I thought I wanted to save people, discover things, and change the world wearing a tiara and killer heels. But the… Continue reading How to Correctly Punctuate Dialogue for Novels
Fiction writers have a long and rich tradition of being the unofficial historians of social and political conditions. You can learn much about early twentieth-century midwestern America from Faulkner, or the Spanish Civil War from Hemingway, or the social constraints of the Victorian era from Thomas Hardy. These “learnings” are less about dates and events… Continue reading A Writer’s Public Persona and the Philosopher’s Stone
Being a writer means your brain didn’t come with an on/off switch—it came with a dial. We can turn it down, we can turn it up but we can never shut off the creativity. In fact, because our ideas come from all the things around us, we never really stop working. We collect, we sort,… Continue reading 10 Ways Writers Are Always Working
I’m here to help stop the madness. You know the one. The insanity that accompanies the “fun” of writing a book blurb. Attacking is more like it . . . I could stab it upside the head if it had one. But alas. Don’t let my bitterness get to you. In fact, use it to… Continue reading 7 Tips for Writing a Book Blurb
I often say I suffer from CRD—Chronic Rewriting Disease, a term I made up because it seems at least 50% of my work needs to be rewritten. But that’s my writing process, and I accept it. Sure, I could be like many writers and outline my novel from the start . . . but… Continue reading Why You Should Write Your First Draft Before Outlining Your Novel
How do writers find time to write? Given the opportunity, we’d allow writing to consume our world. Deadlines, plots, and ideas would overtake us, and we’d live in fantasyland while blissfully ignoring reality. But apparently, that’s frowned upon, so we live the other way around. We end up abandoning our written worlds to attend our… Continue reading Finding a Writing Routine That Works for You
As writers, we’re always told to show and not tell . . . So in the spirit of keeping it light and taking our own advice of laughing more, we’re sharing a few of our top lessons learned this year in a five-minute video. If that’s not showing, I don’t know what is! 😉 https://youtu.be/Nb84PngnMGc… Continue reading Top Lessons Learned in 2016
Two decades ago surveys suggested that 80% of Americans planned to write a novel. Ten years ago, the ease of e-publishing and low costs of book production created the opportunity for many writers to realize their dream. Unfortunately, just because one can self-publish doesn’t mean that one should self-published. I am not suggesting that book… Continue reading The Efficiency Obstacles of Self-Editing
So, you wanna write a novel? That's fantastic. You should! There's a reader out there who cannot wait to read what you have brewing inside that head of yours. Heck, I'm interested in your book. Storytellers are naturally intrigued by the many possibilities that our creative peers have to offer. And because of this, we're… Continue reading 3 Storytelling Mistakes to Avoid
I always wanted to be a writer. Not a journalist, not a laureate, just a guy who wrote the types of stories that people enjoyed reading. I remember, as a child, the feeling of awe I experienced looking at all those mysterious symbols on the pages of the book my mother from. I remember sitting… Continue reading A Writer’s Journey
Writing. It's one of the most difficult heartachey types of careers you can pursue. The glamor, fame, and financial richness is lacking, to say the least. But that feeling of fulfilled satisfaction and passion that comes along with the job is absolutely priceless. And a true writer would have it no other way.… Continue reading 3 Things Every Writer Should Stop Doing Immediately
Is the query letter standing between you and your dream of signing a traditional publishing deal? Well, then you've landed on the right article! Author Jane Friedman has some excellent advice for you. Read on! The Complete Guide to Query Letters That Get Manuscript Requests The stand-alone query letter has one purpose, and one purpose only: To seduce… Continue reading A Complete Guide to Query Letters
To pseudonym, or not to pseudonym: that is the question. Personally, I’m not “me” and choosing to go with a pen name was actually a must. Why? Well, read on for that answer. But for most writers, whether to use a pen name or write under their real names could be a complicated decision. Like… Continue reading Pros and Cons of Using a Pen Name
What is it? The increase of audiobooks popularity has caused an uproar in the book industry. Over the past year, they’ve started outselling print books, and many publishers are in disbelief. Why is it important? While self-published authors are giving traditional publishers a run for their money, the unlikely contender of audiobooks has risen to… Continue reading Are Audiobooks Really Outselling Print Books?
Writers After Dark 