It’s nearly the end of a long year. If you weren’t as productive as you wanted to be, don’t worry about it! But now might be a good time to start using the clean slate of a new year to set goals and level up your author career...
Nanowrimo is just around the corner: here’s a brief getting started video with links to my best writing and publishing resources. Start with this: It’s a “Defense of #amwriting” and explanation of my #amwriting tattoo...
I’ve put a lot of effort into plot outlines and templates for writing fiction, but the deeper stuff is sometimes trickier to convey. After all, you can have a brilliant outline that still fails to generate any interest. Intrigue is about...
As seen on Reddit, someone brought up this quote from an old Guardian article. I agree in spirit, but not practice, which is interesting enough to reflect on briefly. Here’s the quote: Those who insist that the job of the writer is simply...
This article was originally, mostly, about copyright infringement… but since then, the topic blew up on Twitter as a group of forward thinking YA authors attempted to pull off an NFT-based community writing project and got shredded by...
I saw a post online recently from a 23-year old author who was already worried that they were somehow “too late” to publish or get a publishing deal. I also received a lovely email from a 73-year old who is finally seeing some...
Today on Reddit I saw a post from a young author who felt unsupported. He was seeking someone to edit his book for free, or give feedback or commentary. I’m sharing my response because I truly sympathize: writing can...
I can tell you exactly how to write books that matter, but first we need to agree on some basic tenets, regarding the purpose of writing. Otherwise, you may resist some of the strategies I’m about to share, due to things you’ve been told, and...
I started this article ages ago but only recently decides to finish it: in the past I’ve been skeptical of writing coaches in general, and even made a two hour rant against one that was charging high rates. So let me start with that: most...
I started this series of videos from a quick list of 7 book cover design tips for indie authors. That’s a 40 minute video you can watch if you want. But I lost my list and tried listening, and only found six. 1. title font = genre. 2...
I haven’t talked specifically about cover design in awhile, and I usually ignore those raging Facebook diatribes where everybody has loud opinions and gives bad advice, but I got involved in one tonight that is important enough to share...
This sounds like tropes and elements, that are unique to genre. That’s half of it. Tropes should be sustained and elevated, same same but different. The other half is plot points which are pretty universal in commercial fiction: establish...
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