A lot of you Word Nerds out there have the goal of writing and publishing a book. After you’ve accomplished that goal (and after the mandatory celebration of your awesomeness) you would also probably like someone (other than your mom) to read it, right? Of course, no one is going to read your book if… Read more »
With so many books on the market (upwards of a million published each year), maintaining loyal readers continues to be a priority for authors. We not only need to get them reading our books, we’ve got to keep them reading—to the last page and onto whatever else we’ve written. Discussions abound on exactly what magical… Read more »
As an author, the sole act of completing and finishing written work can be a daunting task all on its own. Throw in marketing and outreach and the entire process can become overwhelming. Books require countless hours of ideation and rounds of editing. Crossing the finish line alone is enough cause for congratulations. However, the… Read more »
I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Who doesn’t? I love the aesthetic prettiness of Instagram, and taking pictures of coffee and books. I love that I can keep up with people from high school and college on Facebook. I love reading the minute-by-minute quips of my favorite thought leaders and writers on Twitter…. Read more »
Creating characters of color, especially when you yourself are not of that ethnic group, is an issue most writers will grapple with at some point in their careers. While we could debate the issues of cultural appropriation that occur when white authors produce diverse characters—or how those efforts impact writers of color attempting to share… Read more »
Scenes depicting violence may prove difficult for some writers, since our artistic medium lacks a visual component. We must work doubly hard to keep the audience invested through vivid descriptions and sharp pacing. Smart authors also aim for techniques that channel tension and elicit emotion. In this post, we’ll outline five tips to help achieve… Read more »
Fiction writers have been called many things, but to me “magician” seems the best description. They dip into the black hat of their imagination and produce an endless variety of characters, situations, images, genres, events, and styles. The effect on readers is nothing less than magical, the reader also becoming a magician and an important… Read more »
From Agatha Christie to Alfred Hitchcock, plot twists have long been used to amuse and amaze us. But they’ve become so pervasive in recent fiction—especially in crime, thriller, and mystery novels—that readers have come not just to expect plot twists, but tire of them. Indeed, many twists these days are predictable, poorly structured, or simply… Read more »
In my interviews with literary magazine editors, they tell me they want fresh, vital, and well-revised writing to publish. It’s probably clear to you how to revise your work well. (Hint: find a grammarian-friend.) And it’s also not that hard to figure out what an editor might think of as fresh. (Read journals to see… Read more »
“If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” — Isaac Newton I’m a big believer that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, and there is no need to blaze your own trail when many others have successfully walked the path before you. That’s not to… Read more »
