Designing a cover is an exciting process, but it can also be a stressful one. In this blog post, I will walk you through all the points you need to consider. First, decide what your budget is. If your budget is on the low side, you might want to check out sites like Fivver. However, … Continue reading How to successfully design a cover
Category: Writing Advice
Things to consider when hiring an editor for your novel
No matter how many grammar books you read and how often you reread your manuscript, you will want to hire a professional editor for your manuscript before self-publishing it. For those on a tight budget, I suggest checking out the website Upwork. It has thousands of freelancers and you can search by skills, rates, test … Continue reading Things to consider when hiring an editor for your novel
How to fix wrist pain
Those of us that type a lot will most likely encounter wrist pain or strain at one point or another. When writing a detailed outline for one of my books, I found myself typing over 7k for several days. I was proud of the amount of work I had completed but the progress came at … Continue reading How to fix wrist pain
Tallahassee Writers Conference (TWC)
Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to attend the Tallahassee Writers Conference (TWC). In this post I will highlight my main takeaways and whom I think the conference is best suited for. TWC started at 8:30am and ended at 8pm on Saturday the 22nd of April. Lunch and dinner included a keynote, where authors shared their inspirational … Continue reading Tallahassee Writers Conference (TWC)
Writing a better novel: Keeping track of your secondary characters
Most writers do a good job keeping track of the protagonist, the love interest and the villain. Secondary characters—not so much. As a novel unfolds, it is not uncommon to find that secondary characters disappear to only reappear when it is convenient for the writer. These sporadic appearances not only feel unnatural and forced, they … Continue reading Writing a better novel: Keeping track of your secondary characters
Word count—why the length of your novel matters
In today’s post I’m going to argue in favor of a shorter word count for both chapters and overall novel length. First of all, I would encourage writers to familiarize themselves with the average word count for novels in their genre. If you’re thinking about submitting your novel to a particular publisher, you might even … Continue reading Word count—why the length of your novel matters
How to write a successful novel—Choosing time and place
Ever started out with an idea of telling a story that spans several years, perhaps even decades? Or a story that is set all over the world? As brilliant as you think your idea is, books without time and/or place boundaries are problematic. They either confuse readers due to their many time and scenery jumps … Continue reading How to write a successful novel—Choosing time and place
How to tear your manuscript apart and rewrite it without going crazy
A sense of relief fills writers after they finished polishing their first draft and hand it over to beta readers. Both excited and fearful of feedback, most writers hope that the reader will make minor yet genius suggestions that are easy for us to fix and will make our manuscript that much better. But what … Continue reading How to tear your manuscript apart and rewrite it without going crazy
Can books with teaser endings ever be satisfactory?
Many readers have a love-hate relationship with books that end on a teaser aka where a question is posed that will only be answered in the next installment or a hint at a future quest is given. Why are some teasers well received while others are despised? Readers dislike: Incomplete stories Loose end plot lines … Continue reading Can books with teaser endings ever be satisfactory?
Online critique groups
Last week I discussed the benefits and risks of joining a local in-person critique group. Today’s post will examine the advantages and disadvantage of online critique communities. To illustrate how an online critique groups works, I will use Scribophile, one of the bigger online critiquing platforms. Many of Scribophile’s operating principles apply to other critique … Continue reading Online critique groups
