Let’s face it. It’s hard to care about a story if you don’t care about the characters. Reading fiction is almost always an act of empathy: for a brief time, we get to live another life. Therefore, above all else, writing compelling fiction requires empathy, too—lots of it. It’s one thing to know facts about… Read more »
Coming of age stories are timeless. They’re found across a multitude of genres, from children’s books (picture and chapter books, middle grade, young adult) to adult fiction and even in nonfiction form, such as memoirs and biographies. And many novels ostensibly focused on something else contain coming of age content or aspects, whether it’s memories… Read more »
The main character in my novel, Andrea Hoffman Goes All In, is an institutional equity salesperson. Don’t be alarmed if you don’t know what that is. Neither did I until I became one. But it is important that my readers understand the basics of the job and some facts about the stock market and investing… Read more »
A great novel is like a well-made house: it needs a sturdy structure, or it will eventually collapse. Unfortunately, that structure doesn’t just happen all on its own through some sort of divine story magic (boy, wouldn’t that be convenient). Instead, structure must be developed and applied with great care. Some authors create this structure… Read more »
There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and it often seems overwhelming. Escapist fiction can give readers a break, but it can also feel too flippant for the moment. We want to read and write books that balance the heavy themes of this point in history with a strong, engrossing story that… Read more »
As a writer, it’s tempting to want to test out new styles and approaches to storytelling. One such is writing multiple points of view—where instead of one character’s voice telling the entire story, the author writes with more than one “narrator.” Multi-POV books are popular for many reasons: They allow readers to hear from more… Read more »
When we think about writing a book, images of long hours spent in coffee shops, late nights scribbling in a notebook, or sitting by a window and daydreaming about our characters might come to mind. But I’m here to say that what you should be thinking about is how to market that book you’re working… Read more »
Certain words keep writers up at night. They live in the darkest corners of the dictionary and carry with them anxiety and dread. For me, one is particularly ominous. Quitter. Let’s be honest. Writing is swimming upstream with a thousand pounds of hope, expectations, and manuscripts strapped firmly to your back. Publishing is a subjective… Read more »
