Blog
How to Scare Your Readers | Writing Horror Fiction
When writing horror fiction, you’re basically inviting strangers to listen as, for hours, you try to scare the hell out of them.
Prolific Novelists on How It’s Done
Caroline Hiley Writing one novel is hard enough. But how about 50, 100, even 500–all of them published, and with more to come? We asked six super-prolific writers for their secret and were unsurprised to learn that there is none. It’s all about work and passion. For each of these authors, writing is a calling […]
Little Details Can Make a Big Difference
Every so often, a novelist should make it a point to remember that most readers have about 54,000 other things they could be doing instead of reading a book. A novel will only hold your reader’s attention ahead of all those other things if it’s truly worth reading. Aside from all the various mechanics and […]
7 Ways To Save Money On Your Edit
You can save money on your edit. I have received literally hundreds of manuscripts. Every one is its own universe. An edit cannot be a flat rate depending on word count (or, in the old days, page count.) Some manuscripts are submitted with, for example, a lot of...
Short Story Submissions
Fellow writer William Shunn provides the classic format for short story formatting here (ignore at your peril). Eventually, this will become such a habitual format that you won’t have to think about it, and any other will look odd to you. Well, suppose you’ve finished your epic story “Wrecker of Ten Million Galaxies,” it’s in the proper format, […]
Why Every First-Time Author Should Self-Publish
What first-time author doesn’t dream of landing a lucrative book deal with a big publisher, complete with a six-figure advance, a book tour, media spots, the works? As lovely as this sounds, the sad reality is, these days such deals are about as rare as global warming skeptics at a meteorological convention. Unless you are […]
The 3 Rules of Writing and Publishing Novels
These are the primary facts of life about writing and publishing a novel: ---It’s your story, your voice, your work. ---Writing is a craft as well as an art. ---Once your book leaves your hands, it becomes a product. Remember these facts, and you will have little...
Find a Literary Agent: Avoid These 7 Mistakes
Authors needs to be prepared. Literary agents reject about 97% of the manuscripts submitted to them. Here are some tips for writers from an experienced literary agent.
Story Structure: Putting Our Pants On One Leg at a Time, Like Everybody Else
What do stories have in common with a pair of pants? Structure! To be recognizable as a story, a narrative must obey a few conventions, but like pants, infinite variety can be layered upon that. The concept of story structure is anathema to some writers, a restriction...
Thoughts on Writers Conferences
Why should you spend your time, money, and energy on attending a writers conference? I can think of a number of good reasons, but for now here are two:
5 Tips: Gathering Ideas for Historical Fiction
Often I’m asked, “How do I come up with a good idea for a historical novel?” The answer is: “Ideas are all around you.”
Beta Readers For Writers
You’ve just completed your first novel. You’re convinced it’s the next great American classic, your Catcher in the Rye, the book that is so big and important you’ll never have to write another, content to spend the rest of your days as an eccentric recluse instead. Better yet, you’re certain that as soon as news […]
Using Your Senses To Write Well
How to incorporate the five senses into your writing. See, taste, touch, smell, hear. I wrote these words on a sticky note and put it on my writing desk until I absorbed them. The five senses are how we perceive the world, and through them writers translate experience to a reader. Without the senses, you cannot transmit the […]
How Do Authors Find Time To Write?
I enjoy working with authors no matter how they approach the task of writing, whether it’s with bubbly joy and passion or steely grit and determination-or, more typically, a combination of both. In any case, these authors have done something that many other wishful writers have only talked and/or daydreamed about: they finished a book, […]
Editing for Sport: Q&A with John Ethier, Author
John Ethier’s novel, a basketball thriller titled The Little Red Boat, was edited by Marie Valentine of Book Editing Associates. Here, she gets more information on his process. MV: Tell us about your book. JE: The Little Red Boat is the story of two friends, Jamie and Angel, who come from a small town in northern […]
