Every story needs structure to be successful. Does your story have it? Consider a house. To stand, it needs a basic structure. Those 2x4s support the walls, and the trusses support the roof. Your story is no different. It needs structure to stand up. Few stories can succeed when written in an offbeat sequence,...
How do you hone your craft? You write. It doesn’t matter if it stinks and you can’t spell. What matters is you keep writing. Some people find that picking a specific time every day works well for their writing. Others do better if they just let it flow when the mood strikes. Either way,...
If you’re new to the book game, you may be wondering just what in the heck we do. As an author, you know that books just don’t write themselves. You must write, rewrite and perfect your story. Well, once you’ve got your story as good as you can get it, that’s where we come...
Do you have a concept for your story? Do you know what a concept is? It isn’t an idea… that is merely the seed that may sprout into a concept. It may help you to phrase your concept as a ‘what if’ statement. If it is a strong concept, this what if statement should...
You may have heard a lot about writers who wing it… they write as they go, without any planning. Called seat-of-your-pantsers, or pantsers for short, some of them really bring it. Their stories unfold like a blooming rose, with all of the elements of storycraft in place. However, most writers can’t do this. Stephen...
Characters are your story. They plan the subplots and drive the plot through their mistakes and their moments of brilliance. So how well do you know them? You want your characters to be memorable. You want your readers to understand what makes them tick and maybe wish they were real enough to invite to...
Thought I’d post about some of the most common errors I’ve seen while I’ve been editing lately. Keep these in mind when you’re self-editing before you submit your manuscript to an editor, agent or publisher. For those of you who make them, just be aware. I am not making any judgments about these; I...
Today we are lucky to be hosting a guest post by author Liz Borino. (Loud applause.) She has two books published now. She also edits and does publicity for other authors. See the links at the bottom of this post to get your hands on her books. Thank you for having me here today,...
You have toiled over your manuscript for weeks, months, maybe even years. You’ve written and rewritten more times than you can count. You’ve removed scenes and sentences you’ve loved in the effort to make your book ready to publish. Finally, you’ve sent it off to an editor for polishing. It is rather like sending...
