Picture this: You finally sit down to write your first novel. You’ve been brainstorming it for years, since childhood really, and thinking about it has taken over your life. It gnaws at you , creeps down your fingertips and through your pores until you have no choice but to sit down and write it. You’re… Read more »
Historical fiction is like your personal time machine. Hop into a book and whisk off to medieval England, the Wild West, or ancient Rome—the options are endless. Historical fiction takes facts and events from the past and deftly weaves them into a fictional tale about characters we grow to love. Plenty of recent books for… Read more »
Every month or two, DIY MFA’s Wendy Lu will be hosting “New Spin,” a column that covers everything that falls within alternative storytelling: literary mash-ups, books that put a new spin on classic stories, and “meta-books” that use new media, graphic illustrations, and interaction between words/design for an enhanced reader experience. Whether your English teacher… Read more »
DNA is a miraculous thing. It’s the microscopic genetic material that contains the blueprint for a life. A well-constructed sentence can do the same thing for your story. It can clearly communicate your story to your audience (and to you too). It can be the building block of all your marketing efforts as well. As… Read more »
Everyone touts Twitter as great for building a target audience. Starting a platform, they call it. But to get on Twitter solely for the purpose of selling books I haven’t even published yet? I’m bored already. I need more instant gratification for motivation to decipher the crazed universe of Twitter. There are obvious benefits: making… Read more »
You’ve been social networking on Facebook and LinkedIn for years, and you can hunt down lost high school friends with the best of them. So when it comes time to build a professional network for your writing career, it’s understandable if you’re not clear on the difference. What’s wrong with what you’re already doing? The… Read more »
Superheroes are not just for kids anymore, if they ever really were. With the popularity of the Marvel movies and television shows, people in capes and spandex out to save or rule the world have definitely gone mainstream. As a lifelong comic book reader and superhero story fan, I couldn’t be happier about that. … Read more »
Writing groups take many shapes and sizes. Frequency of meetings, general purpose, size, and requirements all vary from one group to another. Many writing groups exist for more than manuscript exchanges, special events, and critiques. I found myself leading the charge in organizing a writing group in which the members were interested in readings and… Read more »
Series are a big business these days. If you can hook the reader in with the first book, then you’ve got a built-in base of sales for the next two (or three or more) books. Before you start writing a series (or further developing your current one), here are five tips to keep in mind…. Read more »
When you’re writing a story, how often do you think about theme? It’s OK if your answer is, “Not often.” That was mine last year when a friend asked me about themes in my fantasy novel. Fortunately I found a few, but only after paying close attention to the story. Which got me thinking: Even… Read more »
