A collection of tips, tricks, and advice for new and learning writers.
New posts added regularly!
If you’ve just finished writing the first draft of your book, you probably want to hire an editor. But now you’ve learned that there are at least four types of editing! Here’s a handy guide to help you decide which one you might need.
Does your draft sound like it was written by 5 different people? That’s because you haven’t committed to your authorial voice. What is author voice? Your voice is your persona. It’s the character that your writing portrays to the reader. That’s not to say that you should be fake or
Many new authors of nonfiction make the same kinds of mistakes, which can slow down the revision and publication process. Here’s what to avoid while you’re drafting.
Recent trends have demanded that fictional villains be relatable and sympathetic in order to be more “realistic.” But what if our real-life villains are just plain evil?
“To be, or not to be, that is the question.” The answer, for writing, is almost always: not to be. Not to say that Hamlet, or Shakespeare, was wrong! What I mean is the usage of the verb “to be” and its conjugations, including “is,” “are,” “were,” and especially “was.”
If I could ask writers to answer one question before they start writing their novel, it’s this: Who are your POV character(s)? Nearly every weakness in a scene can be traced back to the author not having a clear point of view (POV) character. Let’s find out why.
If you’re struggling with bringing the scenes in your novel to life, you might be missing one of these elements. Each of these helps to strengthen not only the individual scenes themselves, but also the overall story arc. Readers want to immerse themselves in what we call the “fictive dream,”
Finishing your first draft is just the beginning. Here’s why you need to spend quality time in revisions and edits.
My debut novel, Daughter of Sekhmet, is a tale over 20 years in the making.
The developmental edit is the more important stage of the editing process. Read more about why in this post.