We’re in the downhill stretch now folks! If you missed any of the other genres, you can find them here: Fantasy and Romance Science Fiction, Myster, Thriller, and Horror To continue in our discussion of how to create a professional book cover for your genre, let’s take a look at: Literary and Women’s Fiction Yes,… Read more »
Establishing the setting is one of the toughest elements of storytelling for me. I have always struggled with it. Painting that picture, or turning what I see in my head into words, has taken me a lot of time, study, and practice. So when I had the idea to write a story where two people… Read more »
Charged with writing an article on the topic of “inspiration on demand,” I considered the usual suspects—those tips and tricks that help spur my own creativity. I thought of all the wonderful sources for inspiration—such as this website’s Writer Igniter page or the Prompt-a-Palooza writing prompts I offer on my own blog each Monday. I… Read more »
“I LOVE plotting, but I’m drowning in binders and color-coordinated sticky notes! How can I make my characters feel authentic when I’m telling them what to do?” -Missing My Pants As I said in my last column, I’m an incurable plotter. I love spreadsheets, index cards, and workbooks. In fact, a lot of the time… Read more »
Thanks for sticking with me! We’ve already talked about creating a professional book package for fantasy and romance books, but we’re not done yet. Continuing on our genre cover journey, let’s dive right in: Science Fiction This genre includes several subsets for the purposes of cover design: “hard” and “soft” science, space opera, steampunk and dystopian. In… Read more »
Truth-time: I’m an incurable plotter. I like tracing the three-act or hero’s journey more than I like to do the actual writing. So, to show my tolerance for “the other half,” I’m going to pants this blog. That being said, I can appreciate a good character. Believe me, I’ve heard voices arguing in my head,… Read more »
When we started our website, Final Deadline, we made creativity our business. For those looking to get creative, here are four simple steps from the murky pool of our collective wisdom. 1) Panic! So the deadline’s tomorrow and your wordcount is still smaller than your bank balance; the more conventional advice might be, “Don’t panic.” This… Read more »
I’m thrilled to be a guest columnist on DIYMFA! Having recently gone through the process of self publishing my novel, Flirting with Monogamy, I’m looking forward to sharing a few pointers and helpful hints of what I learned during the process. First of all: 1) Do Your Homework There are numerous outlets for self-publishing a… Read more »
Continuing where we left off, let’s take a look at those genre specific cliches that can help make your cover a success. Are these hard and fast professional book package rules? Of course not. But someone looking to hook as many readers as possible would do well to pay heed to their genre guidelines. At… Read more »
#askbecca “I’m having trouble developing fully-rounded characters and showing how they change as the plot progresses.” — Charles E. “My go-to strategies for character development are either describing the clothes that a character is wearing or what they order if they sit down at a restaurant.” — Cooper S. Here is an actual character description… Read more »
