In the last article, Your Self-Publishing Toolbox for Authorial Success: Writing Tools, we discussed the tools I highly recommend for the writing phase of an author’s publishing journey. In this article, we’ll dig into the editing tools I recommend for your self-publishing toolbox for authorial success.

When we finish writing the magical words, The End, a deep sigh of joy escapes our lips. 

We did it. We. Wrote. The dang. Book. And it can seem as if we’ve reached the final finish line. Except there’s only one problem. Once the manuscript is done being drafted, the process of true writing has just begun. This is where your editing tools come in.

Editing Tools

Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Yates Martin

Intuitive Editing is a book written to explain exactly how to edit a book. It’s described as: 

Developmental editor Tiffany Yates Martin has spent her career in the publishing industry honing practical, actionable techniques to help authors evaluate how well their story is working, where it might not be, and how to fix it.

With a clear, accessible, user-friendly approach, she leads writers through every step of deepening and elevating their own work, as well as how to approach the edit and develop their “editor brain,” and how to solicit and process feedback. Intuitive Editing doesn’t offer one-size-fits-all advice or rigid writing “rules”; instead it helps authors discover what works for their story and their style—to find the best version of their vision.

Whether you’re writing fiction, narrative nonfiction, or memoir; whether this your first story or your fiftieth, Intuitive Editing will give you the tools you need to edit and revise your own writing with inspiration, motivation, and confidence.

I myself go through this invaluable resource over and again every time I’m editing a new book. It’s that rich. Whether you’re tackling developmental edits, plot holes, character flaws, and so on, this book breaks down exactly how to fix your book. I can’t recommend it enough. 

Google Docs

Here’s a second plug for Google Docs because the tool is versatile. You’ll remember that Google Docs is:

A free web-based application in which documents and spreadsheets can be created, edited, and stored online. Users of Google Docs can import, create, edit, and update documents and spreadsheets in various fonts and file formats, combining text with formulas, lists, tables, and images.

Even if you don’t choose to draft in Docs, it is a powerful editing tool for you. Not everyone is comfortable with editing software like: Grammarly and ProWritingAid. 

Sometimes, all you need is to add your manuscript to a different writing processor, change the font, and get to polishing to create your best work.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid is the only platform that offers world-class grammar and style checking combined with more in-depth reports to help you strengthen your writing. Our unique combination of suggestions, articles, videos, and quizzes makes writing fun and interactive.

While I haven’t personally used ProWritingAid for one of my novels yet, I know this is an invaluable editing tool. I’ve used it for smaller projects and was blown away by its features. Not to mention how much ease it brought to the entire process of editing.

ProWritingAid also employs technology, such as artificial intelligence, to amplify the tool so while you may miss something, the tool itself will not. It’s a great software to use for processing your manuscript before sending it off to betas and editors.

Grammarly

Grammarly is a cloud-based typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes. It uses artificial intelligence to identify and search for an appropriate replacement for the error it locates.

Grammarly is a good editing tool if you have a shorter manuscript and you’re not looking to do a thorough edit, such as developmental editing. I’ve used it for different projects. I, personally, noticed the tool works best on simpler, and shorter, projects versus, let’s say, a long-form epic fantasy manuscript.

If you like browser add-ons and something that’s quick, but works, I encourage you to add Grammarly to your toolbox for initial editing, after proofreading, before you dive in to handle developmental edits and so on.

Print It Out

Not a digital writer? No problem. I know many authors who will draft their books in a writing tool like Scrivener, but then they will go to their local library, or even somewhere like FedEx (USA establishment for printing and shipping), and they will print out their entire manuscript.

This helps them because they can physically scratch out lines, write notes, and rearrange scenes, all in a bright red pen… Okay, that may be too triggering. For some, the pen is purple… Or orange. Ha!

Nevertheless, if you need to touch it? Flip it? Physically put your pen to it? Go ahead and print it all out. Grab a massive binder to add the sheets to, and be sure to stack up on pens and highlighters so you can dive into a thorough edit of your book.

As you continue on your journey, you will find other editing tools that will help support you where you are and be of great assistance to your craft. However, if you’re uncertain of where to begin, I highly recommend these tools for your toolbox once you’ve crossed over into the editing stage of your book.

Tell us in the comments: What editing tools do you use? Are there any not on this list?

Stephanie BwaBwa is a Fantasy Universe Builder, Author, and Entrepreneur. She’s the creator of Elledelle, the universe filled with angels, adventure, romance, and magic. She’s the author of the fantasy series: The Seraphim Resistance and The Transcendents, as well as the writing guide, Fantasy Fundamentals. Stephanie co-hosts a podcast for indie authors called: Indie Author Lifestyle with her fantasy partner-in-madness, Angela J. Ford, and is a self-publishing columnist for DIY MFA. You can usually catch her going for a walk through a park, or simply binging anything creatively juicy with too many snacks. Get in contact with Stephanie directly at: stephaniebwabwa.com.

The post Your Self-Publishing Toolbox for Authorial Success: Editing Tools appeared first on DIY MFA.

As always whenever I offer advice I give the caveat that you should take what I have to say with a grain of salt. Not because I’m trying to swindle you or sell you something, but because there are eighty million ways to be a writer and only a few of them are right for you.

For your sake, I hope you encounter every bit of writing advice here and elsewhere with the eagerness of a rookie and the wisdom of a guru. If it works, keep it. If it doesn’t, drop it. And remember just because it worked for you doesn’t mean it’s going to work for your third cousin once removed who wants to be a screenwriter. 

Alright? Still with me? Excellent. Here we go!

World Building Tools

First let me say that there are some great world building tools out there including World Anvil, Campfire Blaze, and One Stop For Writers. Read all about these awesome tech sites for fantasy writers or gamers here: Best World Building Apps

I could geek out about these all day—they look amazing. I haven’t tried any of them yet and I’m finishing my first draft of my third YA high fantasy novel. Clearly, it isn’t required but I have to admit I have been intrigued by these sites for a while and before I start my next project I will be trying them out.

What a World Needs (besides a little love):

Time and Technology 

When is this taking place? A novel taking place in 2045 is going to be a lot different than 1345 unless you’re making up an entirely new planet.

What kind of tech do they have? Weapons? This is the fun part of world building, guys! Captain Picard was reading on a kindle long before they were invented. What amazing things would you like to see in your science fiction?

Alternatively, if you’re writing epic fantasy (hiyo! I see you there!), what kind of science are they using in a time before cars and computers? I recently started reading a book about science in the middle ages (yes, they did have science!) The book is called The Light Ages: The Surprising Story of Medieval Science by Seb Falk. Seb is a medieval history and history of science at Cambridge University and I first saw him interviewed on Star Talk with Neil deGrasse Tyson. I highly recommend this book for research addicts and all those “must be grounded in reality” perfection nuts like me. 

Last but never least, if you’re writing urban fantasy: how does your magic system interface with your technology? Can you cast spells through email? Can a vampire use nanotech to protect them from the sun? So. Much. Fun!!

Setting

An obvious one, but what is the geography of our world? The weather? What is important here and how does it interact with our protagonist and their path? 

You can’t downplay the importance of setting, and I think of setting as my “other main character.” After all, what would Wizard of Oz be without the tornado and the hum-drum backdrop of a boring midwest Kansas town?

History

Who are the heroes? The villains? The underdogs? What are the past tragedies and victories? The political geography? 

If you are setting your post-dystopian novel in a country like Ukraine, researching their history is vital to understanding the current crises. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. There are hundreds of years of wars and famines and population migrations around the world that will give your world some depth if applied right.

Culture 

(Music/the arts)

Music and the arts are a natural consequence of intelligent life, and always follow a culture with a period of relative political and material stability. 

Have fun with this! I like to research ancient or medieval cultures for my stories but that’s my jam. You might fall in love with the history of music and art in Iran or Norway.

Ghost Stories/Fables

What culture doesn’t have their own version of the boogeyman, the monster under the bed, the villain in the shadows? What they’re afraid of says streams, rivers, oceans about what that culture is all about.

Other Questions to Ask when World Building:

• What are the idiosyncratic features of these cultures? What are the contradictions? 
• How does the protagonist’s worldview impact, hurt, or help them on their mission?
• Are they an optimist? A realist? A pessimist? Or somewhere in between? 

Language

Thinking about creating languages from scratch? Are you an English professor teaching philology at the University of Oxford? No? Then don’t. Just don’t. 

I did. It was a mess. Learn from my mistakes. (Or don’t. Like I said, maybe it will work for you).

What you can do is think about what kind of slang your characters use. What kinds of things do they say or think that are specific to their family or part of the world? 

Let’s not negate what conflicts might arise from people speaking different languages in your novel. 

Do I sense a research rabbit hole coming up? YES. Don’t get me started on this. DO THE RESEARCH RABBIT HOLE. 

We’re writers, gosh darn it! We are not going to be put in jail by the Efficiency Police. We’re curious. Stay curious. Follow all those interesting white fluffy tails down those deep, dark holes, then come back and report to your readers!

World building: it’s not just for fantasy!

Sure, there isn’t a magic system to create in realistic fiction, but you still need to create the world. 

We may share this world but none of us walks through it in the same way. We’re all a hodgepodge of unexamined childhood beliefs, stereotypes, fears, and blind spots. 

You need to decide what kind of world you want your character to walk through. What are you focusing on? What are the bright spots and pain points? The point of view of a middle-aged professional working in Los Angeles is going to inhabit a starkly different world than a young man working a hot dog booth in Queens, New York.

Have I lost you yet?

If I have, it’s probably because I committed the mortal sin of the info dump. I threw a bunch of information at you and didn’t move the plot along at the same time. Basically, I grabbed your sleeve and was like, “wait, wait this is really, cool, no, I promise, it’ll only take like ten minutes and then we’ll have fun okay?”

Sometimes an info dump is okay. If you’re a celebrity or we know it’s going to get really good really fast because all of our friends are reading this book too. If that applies to you, excellent!

If not, better save those backstory tidbits for when they can naturally come out of a scene after you already have the reader’s interest. 

And remember: just because YOU need to know which Queen dispatched which power-hungry noble three hundred years before your main character is born, does not mean the reader needs to know it too.

Tell us in the comments: How much do you love world building?

Angela Yeh is an East Coast Canadian native that lives and works in the great state of Texas. Angela is a black belt wanna-be who loves to garden, write about magic, and eat cake. If you’d like to check out her first published novel, A Phoenix Rises, she will send you cookies (not cake – she’s already eaten the cake). She lives with her husband, two lovely human children, and three cranky fur babies. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram or on her website.

The post World Building without Losing Your Mind (or Your Reader) appeared first on DIY MFA.

An author’s toolbox is essential. Within will be the resources you revert to, time and again, to write, edit, publish, and market your books. While every story you pen will begin from scratch, your toolbox will make putting it all together far simpler. 

In this article you’ll find a list of self-publishing tools, specifically for writing your stories, I highly recommend for your authorial success. Most of these writing tools I use myself, and can confidently say they will be of great service to you as they have been to me for many years.

*Please Note: In this article, we will focus on writing tools. In subsequent articles, I will share the best tools for editing, publishing, and marketing.

Writing Tools

Scrivener

Scrivener is the go-to app for writers of all kinds, used every day by best-selling novelists, screenwriters, non-fiction writers, students, academics, lawyers, journalists, translators and more. Scrivener won’t tell you how to write—it simply provides everything you need to start writing and keep writing.

I have used Scrivener for many years. It hasn’t always been perfect, but it has been the best tool possible for me when it comes to writing my novels. There are many functionalities I love about it, and this writing tool is always my first suggestion for a writers’ toolbox.

Learn More

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a word processor software developed by Microsoft in 1983. It is the most commonly used word processor software. It is used to create professional-quality documents, letters, reports, resumes, etc, and also allows you to edit or modify your new or existing document.

When I first began writing for publication, back in 2013, Word was the first tool I used, primarily because it was the one tool I knew. I wrote in Word for years before switching to Google Docs, and then finally finding the magic that is Scrivener. Word is wonderful for beginners, especially if you already own the software. Depending on what you’d like to do during the writing process, you may find yourself itching for a more efficient tool for authors. But if you need to get typing right away, Word is a great way to start and go.

Learn More

4thewords

4thewords is an online writing game and community. It helps you write more using game mechanics like monsters, item rewards, quests, and a fully immersive world to explore. 4thewords is here to push your daily word count and to help you maintain a consistent writing habit.

I myself have not used 4thewords yet, albeit I plan to. One of my best friends, Angela J. Ford, swears by 4thewords. This is how she has successfully published over 20+ bestselling novels throughout the last several years. If you’re into RPGs, or you’re a gamer of any kind, this tool will help you pen your novel while you’re having a world of fun. If you need something more interactive to get you writing, this writing tool will be a great option for you.

Learn More

Google Docs

Google Docs is a free web-based application in which documents and spreadsheets can be created, edited, and stored online. Users of Google Docs can import, create, edit, and update documents and spreadsheets in various fonts and file formats, combining text with formulas, lists, tables, and images.

After Scrivener, Google Docs is my best friend! But nah, for real. While it may not have all the fun features of Scrivener, it’s quite efficient and is a great tool. I often draft in Scrivener, but I edit in Google Docs. It’s wonderful to use as well if you also have software such as ProWritingAid or Grammarly (more on these in a subsequent article). 

If you don’t have a Google account, I highly recommend creating one so you can have immediate access to Google Docs, whether you want to use it to draft or edit your manuscript. Google Docs is also where most editors will send your manuscript for you to confirm their changes for your polished novel.

Learn More

Pen and Paper

This goes without saying. Most of us are still pen and paper writers. Even if it’s only for the early stages. There’s something about fleshing out ideas in a notebook, or the back of a napkin, or the edges of mail you’ll never read, that stimulates your imagination and fosters your creativity. Keep a few notebooks on hand with working pens close by. Story ideas are always brewing, and you want to be ready when they decide to pay you a visit. 

Here’s your permission to go to Target, Michaels, and Hobby Lobby, and splurge on all the notebooks and stationary your heart desires!

The above writing tools may not seem profound, but you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the wonders they do for your career as you use them. The longer you use a tool, the more familiar you become with it, the more your creativity will find a home within it. This makes for easier writing and better storytelling.

Soon I will share with you the best editing tools. For now, pick one of the above writing tools and get storytelling. Share with me below which tool is your favorite, which one you use now, and what you will give a go in the future.

Disclaimer: There are no affiliate links in this article that will profit the Columnist, Stephanie BwaBwa. She genuinely loves and uses these tools herself, and sincerely hopes your authorial career benefits from them. If you’re on the fence, don’t be. There are no gimmicks here. Just value.

Tell us in the comments: What writing tools do you use? Are there any not on this list?

Stephanie BwaBwa is a Christian Fantasy Novelist. She’s the creator of the universe: Elledelle – about angels in magical worlds with impressive power that mirror the human condition.

Stephanie is a Canadian-born, Haitian-raised, Congolese descended, North American dweller who lived a colorful life in south Florida that cultivated a perspective on the world as unique as her background.

She’s the author of the YA fantasy series: The Seraphim Resistance Prequels and The Transcendents Serial, as well as the writing guide, Fantasy Fundamentals for Christian fantasy writers.

You can usually catch her going for a walk through a park, or simply binging Disney+ with too many snacks. Get in contact with Stephanie directly at: stephaniebwabwa.com or follow her on Instagram or Goodreads.

The post Your Self-Publishing Toolbox for Authorial Success: Writing Tools appeared first on DIY MFA.

I didn’t even finish the book before I embarked on another “Way”—the Santiago Trail in Spain, which I walked with my parents. The Santiago Trail is meant to be a spiritual pilgrimage, and again I felt that I needed to draw a line in the sand and move away from writing. 

After I reached Santiago, I parted ways with my agent and stopped pursuing writing as a career. I moved back to America (I had been living in London for a decade). I started working with horses again and eventually moved to Los Angeles, which became the inspiration for my recently released novel, Good Rich People. 

For nearly two years I hardly wrote a thing and it was just what I needed to start writing again. I am certainly not advocating for such a long break—although I personally needed it—but I do think that problems with writing and inspiration are rarely about writing itself. 

Here are some exercises to help you become a better writer by not writing:

Reconnect with your childhood self

Part of my problem was that I had lost sight of my identity. I had been recently widowed after a seven-year relationship that was largely focused on survival and my husband’s career. By reconnecting with the things I loved as a child—horses and Los Angeles—I was able to find meaningful inspiration. 

Think about what you wanted to be before you learned whether you could be or not. What were your passions? What made you laugh? Often these things can feel so distant. I’m not that person anymore, you might think, but that person is still buried inside you and often they hold the keys to your true creative self. 

Once you uncover those latent interests, explore them. Is there a way you can meet an astronaut, explore a fire station, visit a zoo? If it makes you feel silly, it may be because it means more to you than you’re willing to accept. 

Disconnect from your phone

I’m convinced that the Internet is one of the biggest killers of creativity. But I need to stay tapped into current trends and culture, you say. A bunch of random Instagram accounts might hold the key to my next idea! But the truth is, the Internet is built on artificial reality and while it may inspire superficial ideas, it is unlikely to inspire anything meaningful enough to be worth your time. 

It’s unrealistic to say that you should disconnect completely but I highly recommend giving yourself off days or large blocks of time where you plan to stay off the Internet—and planning ahead is mega important, so you are not forced back on by something you “need” to do. 

Note that this is not writing time, this is time to be in the moment, whatever that is. Whether you are with your kids, waiting in line, lying in bed, use this time to let your creative mind flow. Remember what it was like to actually be bored—this is why stories were invented!

Tackle a challenge that will take a long time to complete

It can be anything—set a goal to run a marathon, start a garden—but it has to be something that will take weeks or months to complete. The idea is to teach yourself discipline and perseverance. 

Whenever I speak to people unfamiliar with the publication process, I find that they have no concept of the actual time it takes not only to complete a novel but to find representation, a publisher, to go through editing, and finally, see a book through to release. 

Most of my author friends did not have their first story published. In fact, most did not have their tenth story published. Whether you are just starting out or an old hat, one of the hardest things to remember is that writing a novel takes time. The people who finish are the ones who understand that there will be long periods where it feels like nothing is being achieved, like you are just making a mess and getting nowhere, and push through anyway. 

Nearly any great accomplishment in life is done in the same way, and it’s important to remind yourself of this and teach yourself to see something through to the end. 

Go Method

This is one for the truly bold, the method writers! Take a day or even an hour, a hike in the woods, or a trip to the store in character. Choose places where you won’t have to speak to or interact with people, this exercise is about getting into your imagination, not provoking an external reaction! But feel free to dress how the character would dress, even go to a place that the character would go. While you are there, think through the character’s backstory and life up until “now.” Imagine conversations between the character and friends or family that would not appear in any book, scenes without plot or conflict. Get to know your character as a person.

Creativity often functions better when free from the pressures of story structure. Sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves to put a character to work and we forget to get to know them first. The most enjoyable stories to write are ones about characters we love. 

Read

This one seems obvious, but it’s easy to forget. Read, and do it in a variety of ways. Sometimes read for pleasure. Read the books that you want to read, not the books you think you should read or the ones in your genre. Other times, do the opposite. Read in a targeted way, focusing on popular books in your genre or field of interest, with an eye toward examining what they do well and how you can add to the conversation. 

Sometimes when we are blocked, reading can feel as hard as writing. The key, in this and all of the above, is to make sure we are letting our passion lead. 

It is so easy to get so caught up in writing goals that we lose all inspiration. By tapping into our true creative selves, we can not only write better but we can write more meaningfully. We can write the books that change our lives. 

Tell us in the comments: How are you productively not writing?

Eliza Jane Brazier is an author, screenwriter, and journalist. She currently lives in California, where she is developing her books for television. You can find her on Facebook, or follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

The post How to Write Better by Not Writing appeared first on DIY MFA.

I’ve decided to present them in chronological order by date of publication, though I will also mention the order I read them in for context.

Commonalities

Before we get into the specifics of each of the five books, there are several qualities or types of content that they have in common.

• Without exception, all the books contain a guide to the meanings of the cards. For some, this guide is restricted to the major arcana. In most, however, there is an appendix or section devoted to both the major and minor arcana.
• All the books discuss spreads. Spreads are specific layouts of the cards that may help uncover their meanings. Some are simple and others are fairly complex.
• Despite the suggested meanings and spreads, every author recommends an intuitive approach to reading the tarot.

And now, the books.

Tarot for Writers

Corrine Kenner wrote Tarot for Writers and it was published by Llewellyn Publications in 2009. It was the last of the five books I read, and I consider it to be one of the best of the books on the subject. It’s also one of the longest at 325 pages, but 206 of those are devoted to the meanings of the major and minor arcana.

Kenner is a practicing tarot reader and wrote several other books on tarot for Llewellyn. She also wrote a book on astrology for writers and includes a chapter on astrology and the tarot in this book. Tarot for Writers is considered to be the foundational work on the topic. Kenner starts with an introductory section on how to read the tarot and classic spreads, and then she progresses to writer-specific topics like character creation, plotting, setting and description, breaking writer’s block, and using the tarot as a writing coach.

If you can only get your hands on one of these books, I recommend it be Tarot for Writers.

Mapping the Hero’s Journey with Tarot

Arwen Lynch wrote Mapping the Hero’s Journey with Tarot in 2017 and she focuses on the Hero’s Journey as set out by Christopher Vogler in his book The Writer’s Journey. It’s a nice, compact volume and very accessible. This is the second book on tarot for writers that I read.

Lynch starts with character building, launches into the Hero’s Journey in three act structure, and then finishes with some discussion of themes and journals before her section on the meanings of the cards and spreads. There is one overarching Hero’s Journey spread, but for each stage, Lynch recommends a simple three card reading specific to the stage of the Hero’s Journey. While she does suggest specific cards that epitomize each step, her system is intended to work equally well with a random drawing of the cards.

If you’re fond of the Hero’s Journey as a mythic storytelling structure, then this is the book for you.

Tarot for Fiction Writers

Tarot for Fiction Writers is a Writersaurus Guide written by Haley Dziuk in 2018. Dziuk readily admits her beginner’s status in using the tarot as a writer. She was so taken with the potential of the tool that she was compelled to commit her newfound knowledge to the page in a guide for writers. This was the third of the five books on tarot for writers that I read.

After an introductory section, Dziuk offers some recommendations on the writer’s choice of deck and tarot journal, a brief overview of learning the meanings of the cards in the context of a spread, making reference to the more detailed section on the card meanings later in the book, and some advice on conducting tarot readings as an author, including how to use them depending upon your orientation on the pantser/plotter spectrum.

She then discusses a few simple spreads, again with reference to resources at the back of the book, using the tarot for story prompts, character development, plot development, world building, and addressing writer’s block. The rest of the book, roughly half, is devoted to resources.

Tarot for Fiction Writers is a good beginning text on the topic, ideal for a writer who wants to dip their toes in the world of tarot without devoting a lot of time or money to the study.

Tarot for the Fiction Writer

Are we seeing a trend here? Tarot for the Fiction Writer was written in 2019 by Paula Chaffee Scardamalia, who uses the tarot professionally as a writing coach and as an author of fiction and non-fiction (so, not a tarot professional advising on writing, or a writer just getting into tarot). It is the most beautiful of the tarot for writing books with full color illustrations throughout and a built-in ribbon bookmark. It was the fourth book I read and, I must confess, my favorite.

Chaffee Scardamalia structures her book on the major arcana and with the framing device of an adventure at sea. The journey is twofold, for the characters of your stories and for you, as the writer. She, too, has a preparatory section regarding choice of deck, the structure of the cards, and spreads, but thereafter groups the cards of the major arcana (singly, in pairs, or threes) using each to illustrate the journey of the character and the journey of the writer. She’s the only author to discuss the book launch, promotion, and marketing as integral parts of the writer’s journey.

This book has it all, though it’s not as comprehensive as Kenner’s in terms of the minor arcana.

Story Arcana

Story Arcana was the first book I read and how I became interested in the topic. The author, Caroline Donahue, is a writer and the woman behind the Secret Library Podcast. I became aware of her and Story Arcana through an interview she did with Joanna Penn on the Creative Penn Podcast last year.

Donahue published Story Arcana in 2019 and uses a similar tactic to Chaffee Scardamalia, covering each of the cards of the major arcana in terms of the character’s and the author’s journeys. There is some introductory material and some information on spreads and other resources at the end, but little discussion of the minor arcana. Like Dziuk, she’s a writer who’s found value in the tarot for her own process and who felt the need to share that knowledge with other writers.

To be honest, it was my least favorite of the books, the others all covering similar ground and often more comprehensively. I did enjoy all the books, however, and I think any one of them will help writers delve into the world of tarot.

If you’re a fan of Donahue or the Secret Library Podcast, I’d encourage you to support her by picking up Story Arcana.

Next Time on Speculations

Originally, I mentioned that I was going to analyze two stories using this mythic storytelling tool as I have with the other structures I’ve discussed in the past, but I’ve realized that’s not going to work. The tarot isn’t a structure per se, but about finding structure/story, overcoming creative confusion, or opening yourself to your intuitive powers as a storyteller.

With that in mind, I’m going to use the Hero’s Journey spread to create the basic outline of a fantasy story.

This is going to be fun. I can’t wait to find out what happens!

Until next time, keep speculating, and see where it leads you!

Melanie Marttila creates worlds from whole cloth. She’s a dreamsinger, an ink alchemist, and an unabashed learning mutt. Her speculative short fiction has appeared in Bastion Science Fiction Magazine, On Spec Magazine, and Sudbury Ink. She lives and writes in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, where she spends her days working as a corporate trainer. She blogs at https://www.melaniemarttila.ca and you can find her on Facebook and Twitter.

The post Mythic Storytelling: Five Books on Tarot for Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

To save you the time and frustration of exploring the endless options out there, I’d like to share five author tools that have made a big difference to my writing life. I have no affiliation with any of them.

1)  FocusWriter

One of my biggest frustrations as an author is struggling to get into the zone, enter a flow state, and output at the pace I want to. This is often due to the distractions that come with writing in 2018. Non-stop notifications and distractions can really disrupt your creative rhythm.

FocusWriter is a free writing app which allows you to zone in on your writing. Some of the reasons I love it include:

• Minimalist interface to avoid disruption and distraction
• Productivity assistance with writing targets and timers
• The ability to customize your virtual writing environment with backgrounds and sound effects such as typewriter keys

If you usually write in the cloud, and end up getting distracted, FocusWriter could be the ideal solution.

2) ProWritingAid

If you’re anything like me, you sometimes write a lot slower than you should. This is often due to me second guessing my writing as I go.

ProWritingAid is way more than just a simple grammar checker. Instead, it offers comprehensive analysis of your writing, allowing you to gain a deep level of insight into your strengths and weaknesses. The free version limits your word count, but otherwise offers:

• Twenty five in-depth reports giving you insight into your pros and cons as a writer, allowing you to learn and improve on the way
• The ability to analyze writing you admire in order to have a quantified way of ensuring your own is stylistically similar

ProWritingAid may offer more features than most writers will regularly need, but I challenge you to check it out. I’m confident you’ll learn something new about yourself as a writer.

3) Hemingway Editor

Appropriately for an app named after the mastery of brevity, Hemingway is a simple tool allowing you to tighten up and refine your writing. Hemingway is totally free and online. I suggest using it because:

• You can really improve the impact and style of your writing in a couple of minutes
• Hemingway will spot errors in your writing you might fail to find yourself
• Helps eliminate excessive adverbs, overuse of the passive voice, or other stylistic deficiencies

When I first discovered Hemingway, I was astonished at how much better my words sounded after. Give it a go and see if you experience something similar.

4) Trello

One of the undeniable truths in the life of a self-published author is the need to keep a lot of plates spinning at once. Without a watertight system of organization, it’s easy to drop the ball and fail to keep track of everything. I’ve found Trello to be a real blessing in this area because:

• The user interface is very clean and intuitive
• The mobile app is fantastic and syncs up with the desktop service via the cloud
• Trello integrates with other services such as Google Calendar
• Great for tracking all the phases of a publishing project, or even for outlining a new book

If you’re looking for a simple but incredibly effective way of organizing your author life, Trello is the answer to your prayers.

5) Google Drive

I’m always amazed when people aren’t aware of everything Google Drive can do. Truth be told, it took me a long time to join the party myself. After making the switch from Dropbox, I’ve never looked back. The main benefits I experience from Google Drive as an author are:

• Full access to all of Google’s awesome free Cloud apps such as Google Docs and Google Sheets
• Flawless integration with other Google tools, such as Gmail and Android
• Incredibly generous storage for no cost
• Easy to collaborate with people such as editors and proofreaders—I’ve found using a shared file a lot more efficient than emailing back and forth

Overall, Google Drive is probably the most powerful free tool on this list, as it has so much to offer authors. Even if you use a specialist writing app, it’s still more than worth storing and sharing your files on Google Drive.

Now you know my favorite five free tools, let me share with you a way to use them as part of a streamlined, efficient author process:

• Use Trello to plot out your next writing project. Break it down into stages, dividing each stage into a series of smaller tasks
• Set up productivity targets and your ideal writing environment on FocusWriter. Write out your content using the app to avoid distraction
• Run your first draft through ProWritingAid to gain insight into your weaknesses ahead for your second draft
• Use Hemingway to further tighten your drafts as you write
• Upload your writing project into Google Drive to collaborate with your editor and proofreader on the cloud

Hopefully, you now see the potential benefits of using free author tools to improve your writing process.

If you have a free tool you personally love using, or a variation on my step by step process, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Dave Chesson is a book marketing obsessive who has consulted for various NYT Bestselling authors. He shares his latest ideas at Kindlepreneur.com, such as his recent guide to book writing software, and also hosts The Book Marketing Show podcast.

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Thanks to filmmakers, who are as equally fascinated by famous authors as we writers are, there are countless movies that let you observe Dickens and other master writers at work. Think of these movies as one-on-one masterclasses taken in the privacy of your own home. Pay attention and be prepared to take notes as we take a break from reading this month. Instead, join us in learning writing tips from the world of cinema.

1) Charles Dickens: The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)

The most recent film on our list  focuses on the time between two of Charles Dickens’s most successful books. In 1838, Oliver Twist made Dickens a household name and resulted in a financially lucrative tour of America. Multiple rejections and unsuccessful books followed, leaving Dickens and his family almost as poor as the orphan that propelled him to fame. The audience watches his writing process as he creates A Christmas Carol, the book that ultimately restores his name and fortune.

In the movie, Dickens uses the DIY MFA formula to write the book that has been loved for generations. First, he reads with purpose. He knows he wants a ghost or ghosts to figure prominently so, he borrows books about vampires and Irish ghost stories from his children’s nanny. Then, he writes with focus. He has a private study where we see him not only writing but pacing while trying different character names aloud. Although his family has orders not to bother him and he is on a particularly tight deadline to finish the manuscript before Christmas, the constant interruptions are something all writers can relate to, and provide for some happy coincidences that make it into his plot. Finally, Dickens builds his community at a local supper club frequented by writers, reviewers, and publishers. It’s great fun to see him jot down the name of someone he meets there for use as a future character.

2) Ernest Hemingway: Papa: Hemingway in Cuba (2015)

This movie was filmed in Hemingway’s actual home, Finca Vigia, which still contains many of his personal artifacts. Most exciting for writers is seeing the author’s actual typewriter and personal book collection. While the film focuses on the Cuban revolution and Hemingway’s stormy fourth marriage, there are still writing tips to be gleaned for the observant viewer.

Hemingway offers to mentor journalist and novelist Denne Petitclerc (called Ed Myers in the movie). His main lessons are to (1) find the real story and (2) less is more. In one memorable scene, Hemingway asks the younger writer to pick a number between one and ten. The number selected is six. Then, Hemingway writes a complete short story in just six words:

“For sale – baby shoes. Never worn.”

Masterful!

3) John Keats: Bright Star (2009)

This is one for the poets in the DIY MFA community. Mentions of repetition, rhyme, imagery and allusion are scattered throughout the script. We also are treated to beautiful dialogue, since many of the lines are taken from Keats’s poetry and correspondences.

Keats utilizes the accountability system in his writing. That is, he works alongside another writer (Charles Armitage Brown) in the same room everyday. They read aloud their day’s output and offer critiques. Be warned, however, that this real-life story is part romance and part tragedy.  Like all great poetry, your heart will soar and break in equal measure.

4) Jane Austen: Becoming Jane (2007)

Before there was Mr. Darcy, there was Mr. Lefroy. This film is not so much about Austen’s writing process as it is about someone who influenced her writing. Tom Lefroy and Jane Austen could not marry because neither of them had much money. Years later, they both went on to have highly successful careers. He as an Irish magistrate (who named his first daughter Jane) and she as a famous novelist. It’s highly suspected that Austen based the character of Mr. Darcy on Lefroy, although with a much happier ending.

This movie reminds us that sometimes the best ideas come when you’re not writing. When Jane encounters writer’s block, she walks away and plays the piano instead. We also see her reading quite a bit. It is Lefroy who suggests she read A History of Tom Jones by Henry Fielding. In the movie, he also takes her to meet author Ann Radcliffe. Although most scholars believe no such meeting occurred, we do know Jane Austen was a fan of Radcliffe’s style.

5) Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings – Cross Creek (1983)

While this is the oldest film on our list, I know several writers who return to this film year after year. It has a cozy, writer’s retreat feel, and the big takeaway is to write what you know.

Mary Steenburgen plays Rawlings, who journeys to rural Florida for some uninterrupted writing time. Rawlings is determined to write gothic romances–love stories with a castle as a setting.  As her New York editor receives her completed pages, he is unimpressed. Instead, he looks forward to the chatty letters Rawlings includes with her work. The letters tell of the interesting people, customs and events she’s encountered in 1930’s Florida.

“Write about that,” famous editor Max Perkins instructs her.  “Write about Cross Creek.” Thus is born a classic of American literature–The Yearling.

Advanced Coursework

All classes eventually come to an end. Today,  we only had space to cover writing tips from five movies. Your assignment is to find online previews of the films, and then decide which masterclass you’d like to take in full. Here are a final few ideas to get you started. If anyone has other favorites, please comment below–especially if you’re aware of any films featuring writers of color.

• New Zealand author Janet Frame: An Angel at My Table (1990)
• Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat Pray Love (2010)
• Sylvia Plath: Sylvia (2003)
• Virginia Woolf: The Hours (2002)
• Julie Powell and Julia Child: Julie & Julia (2009)
• Truman Capote: Capote (2005)
• Boston Globe reporters: Spotlight (2015)
• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein: All the President’s Men (1976)

Terri Frank is a professional librarian and holds a Master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working in a library, she’s probably visiting a library with her husband and two kids. Her current writing projects include a novel about a tuberculosis sanitorium.

The post Five Movies About Master Writers appeared first on DIY MFA.

Help is here!

I thought it might be fun to scour my @WriterThesaurus feed for some great motivators to keep you in your chair with fingers on the keyboard. (For those of you who don’t know about my @WriterThesaurus account of twitter, check it out sometime. Each tweet is a link to an unusual or unique writing tool or resource for writers. Over 500 tweets means over 500 gold nuggets to help you with your writing!)

Without further ado, here’s some tools to keep the words flowing!

1. For the distracted writer.

Focus Writer

Do all those shiny desktop buttons beckon? All those internet tabs waiting to be filled with search terms? This program hides all distractions, keeping your eyes locked on the flow of words.

2. For the chronic reviser

Keep Writing

This ‘typewriter-esque’ program won’t let you delete words, forcing you to stay focused on the word count, not the revising. (You can do strikethroughs, however!)

3. For the longhand writer

Penzu

Love writing longhand but hate how long it takes to turn thoughts to words on paper, to a doc.? Worry no more! This tool supplies the visuals to make you feel like you’re writing longhand on paper as you type.

4. For the Cat Lover

Written? Kitten!

Each time you write a set amount of words (100, 300, you set the number) you are rewarded with a cute kitten picture. AHH! *dies of cuteness*

5. For the Bacon Aficionado

Written? Bacon!

Just like the app above, when you hit your word count, a picture of GLORIOUS bacon fills the screen. (HINT: you can change the search term in the browser to anything you desire to keep you motivated. Like pictures of chocolate. Or Firemen. *coughs*

6. For the determined-yet-busy writer

750 Words

750 words is a modest goal–three pages a day. In a year, that adds up to a full novel. Accessed from anywhere, you get points for each 750 words you write, giving you something to challenge yourself with matching month-to-month. Darcy Pattison uses this method.

7. For the hardcore writer

 Write or Die

Time to get down to business. Set a target word count & reach it in the allotted time…or your writing will ‘unwrite itself!’ Be warned…this is a tool for the adrenaline junkie or high stakes writer!

8. For the social media addict

Cold Turkey

Can’t stop yourself from checking your email, Amazon ranking and Facebook updates every two minutes? Cold Turkey will temporarily block your social media, email and games so it’s just you and the page.

Your Turn! What keeps you motivated? Let me know in the comments!

ANGELA ACKERMAN is a writing coach and co-author of the bestselling writing resource, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression, as well as the newly released Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Attributes and its darker cousin, The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws. You can find her on Twitter, Facebook and at Writers Helping Writers (formerly The Bookshelf Muse).

A version of this article was originally published on Book Dreaming. 

The post Stay Motivated: 8 Writing Tools To Keep Words Flowing appeared first on DIY MFA.

1. Finish new draft by November
2. Edit during December
3. Send my first query in January

I kept the first goal. By November 1, I had a draft. A month of edits and I would be ready to go, right?

Wrong.

E.B. White once said, “The best writing is rewriting.” It’s a phrase that ranks up there with “Kill your darlings” and “Write what you know.” And, like most cliches, it’s a cliche because it’s true. I was setting myself up for frustration and failure by not making a realistic plan for re-writing. If I had, the process would have been quicker and more fruitful. Here’s a few ways you can make the most out of your re-write by giving it the respect it deserves.

Give Yourself a Break

Have you ever spent too much time with a friend, and grown sick of each other? You save your friendship (and your sanity!) by giving yourselves a break. The same holds true with a story. By the time you finish a first draft, you’re so in the world it’s hard to see it. You might be sick of it. You might be on a writing-high. But, either way, you are not objective about it. Editing requires objectivity.

Taking a week away can be hard, but it will give your mind and book the space to breathe. Think of it as a reward: during that week, you don’t have to stop writing, but you can work on something fun and different. You can catch up on reading. You can organize or decorate your writing space. And when you come back to your manuscript, you’ll be ready to re-write.

Read With New Eyes

One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard was from Stephen King, who said, “Write with the door closed; edit with the door open.”  When you’re writing that first draft, thinking about audience or editors or agents can stifle your imagination. Doubt crushes creativity. So shut the door, don’t listen to anyone and go for it. Sometimes the best ideas come at the end of a string of ridiculous ones.

But, when re-writing, it’s time to invite some other people into your world. You have to be the critic. This can sound harsh, but  we need to be prepared for people to have negative reactions to our work. Before you start re-writing, re-read. All of it. Start to finish. And begin considering what an editor or a reader might think. When you are looking at a scene, a character or even a plot-line, ask the tough questions. Here’s a few I ask myself:

1. Is this (scene/character/plotline/description) necessary?
2. Does it reveal character or move the plot forward?
3. Is it a reflection the character’s goals, and not mine?
4. Does it make sense?
5. Can it be said more concisely?

If the answer is no, make a note of it. I print out and bind each draft, and then make notes in the margins. You can also easily do this with Track Changes in Microsoft Word or Scrivener. Don’t start writing yet. Just observe. Take the project as a whole. Threads and problems will start to reveal themselves to you, and you’ll save time in the long run by not stopping to fix every little thing you see.

Create a Hospital

“But I love that scene!”

It’s the cry of the re-writing writer. A scene or a character or a plot-line needs to go, and you don’t want to let it. Fair enough. It is, to use another cliche, your darling. So, don’t kill it. Create a folder and label it “Hospital.” You’re the doctor, and this scene is very, very sick. Cut it out, paste it in a separate document, and save it in the hospital folder. It’s not dead; it’s on bed-rest. It will be there if you ever want to revive it.

And, in the meantime, your manuscript is getting leaner, cleaner and maybe–just maybe–doesn’t need that scene after all. But having the option of putting a scene back in can help the re-writing process be less painful.

Set Concrete Goals

With the excess cut, you’re ready to start the actual re-writing.

When you’re drafting, it’s easy to set goals: a page a day, or a word-count a day. Re-writing is less easily defined. Revising one chapter can take a week; revising another can take a few hours. It all depends. It can be easy to lose sight of the progress you’ve made, or where you’re headed, when you’re in the throes of re-writing. It’s helpful, before you start, to set goals. I try to make mine:

1. Challenging — It’s always good to push yourself. You do, after all, want to get this thing finished! So keep in mind, when you are setting your goals, to push yourself.
3. Obtainable — That being said, it’s no use to set goals you can’t keep, either. If you almost never are able to keep the goals you set, you’ll find yourself getting discouraged and not wanting to continue.
5. Sustainable — Re-writing takes a while. The standard (so they say!) is around three months for a 60,000 word book, but this can vary wildly. For me, it took a year and four months. But no matter how long it takes you, it’s important that the goals you set are ones you can keep over an extended period of time.

I make a list of tasks, by chapter, and label them as one-day, three-day or one-week tasks. Each one day task gets one line. A three day task gets three, and a week task gets seven. That gives me a line to check for every day. A simple system, but it’s very effective for keeping me motivated, and also for understanding at the progress I’ve made.

Bess Cozby writes epic stories in expansive worlds from her tiny apartment in New York City. By day, she’s an Editor at Tor Books, and Web Editor for DIY MFA. Her work is represented by Brooks Sherman of the Bent Agency. Tweet her at @besscozby, contact her at bess@diymfa.com, or visit her website at www.besscozby.com.

The post The Rewrite Rules! appeared first on DIY MFA.

That lasted about a week. Once I discovered that Pinterest wasn’t going to make my outfits nicer or my dinners more interesting without a serious amount of work on my part, I stopped pinning. I had heard of websites using Pinterest for marketing, but I didn’t understand how that worked, unless you were marketing clothing, organic pasta or a home decorating service. Pinterest, I concluded, was a social media platform that simply wasn’t for me.

Now, I use Pinterest every day. It has improved my writing life exponentially. What changed? I started looking at it in a different way. While many writers do use Pinterest for marketing and social media, I found it was most useful for the other two areas of my writing life: reading with purpose and writing with focus. In the process, however,  I ended up building community. Inevitably, we all spend a significant amount of time on the web. With a “Pin-It” button on your browser, you can create an invaluable tool and resource for your writing life.

Here are three ways you can use Pinterest to supplement your DIY MFA.

Writing Inspiration

I am writing one book right now and editing another. Each one has a distinct feel. Distinct world. Distinct people. And, whether I’m crouched over a laptop in a crowded cafe or at my desk with the door closed, I need to get myself in a distinct mood to write each one. Before I begin, I’ll take a minute to scroll through the Pinterest Board I’ve made for that book.

These boards are easy to make. To start, I just searched Pinterest for a few key words, saw what popped up, and slowly began building my board. At first, I didn’t really know what to pin, so I pinned pretty much anything that reminded me of my book– a boy with brown hair, a wheat field, the American flag–anything. When I had about twenty pictures, I started getting pickier. I try to add five pictures a day, but I often delete pictures, too, if I found better ones. The result is a working board that evinces particular characters, moods, settings or events. You can share it or keep it a “Secret” board–a private source of inspiration. I still keep a physical mood board as well but, let’s face it, wall space is limited and magazine clippings only get you so far.  A book board on Pinterest is  just like a physical mood board, except you have more options, less printing and no cutting and pasting!

The key, however, if you’re planning to create or maintain your book board, is to give yourself a time limit. Otherwise, Pinterest can be a big time suck!

Reading Organization

I love my eReader. It saves me money and space. But it’s not a perfect substitute for a bookshelf! One of the best things about a stack or shelf of worn in, broken-spine books, is the visual confirmation of all I’ve read. Sometimes, when all your work is on a computer, you can lose track of the bigger picture, and have a harder time assessing progress. With an eReader, I can’t get a good picture of my reading habits, or of my reading plans. With Pinterest, I can create a board for that.

I have three boards for Reading With Purpose. A “To-Read” Board, a “Read” Board and a “Reading” Board. The first two are just book covers–like a digital bookshelf, but easier to see and navigate than the shelves on GoodReads. The third is for anything I come across on the internet that reminds me of a book I’ve read. This could be quotes, pictures, people, anything! It’s a great way to remember the things I loved about the books I loved, which is a powerful tool for every writer.

In addition, you can start compiling a board for book covers you like — it’s never too early to start dreaming! Often, editors will ask their authors for titles they think have a similar “look” to their book. While most authors don’t have control over their final covers, having a quick reference for covers you love or that relate to your book might help you get the cover you want.

Community Creation

By using Pinterest for reading and writing, you will inevitably build your community. Here are three ways:

1. Your Pinterest page can be an interesting extra resource for a reader. When I go to an author’s website, I want to know more about his or her process, writing life, reading life and inspiration. Pinterest boards provide readers with a ton of information without having to do much work. This will give you more time to do guest posts and interviews, to interact with readers and, of course, to write!
2. You can use Pinterest with your writing friends. If I give my manuscript to someone to read, I invite them to view my book board (Pinterest has an option to keep up to three boards secret). Only me and my critique partners can see it; they can post if they find something on the web that reminds them of my book. I still retain primary control over the board–anything I don’t approve of, I can delete. But I’ve found it very fun to see what other readers bring to the book, and what great pictures they find!
3. These book boards can be revealed at some point before a book publication to drum up excitement. They will give readers a peek into the story and world of your book. When people are scrolling the internet, they might now want to read a long synopsis or excerpt, but you can catch their attention with a beautiful board. A picture, in this case, might really be worth a thousand words.

Enjoyed this writing boost? Check out this DIY MFA online workshop that’s coming up. We’ll share 7 techniques designed to give your writing a jolt of inspiration.

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