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Writers are advised to write fast. Writers are also told to write slow. What’s better, writing fast or slow? Writing Tip for Today: Let’s discuss the pros and cons of writing fast or slow. Fast Writing Over my writing career of about thirty years, I’ve had teachers or editors or mentors who told me that […]
Last post, we discussed the idea of author branding. Most writers are more concerned with just getting published. Writing Tip for Today: What are some ways newer writers can achieve publication? Practice and Feedback Although I didn’t love the first few years of writing for publication, I now understand how vital all that practice writing […]
A lot of writers with nonfiction books ideas come to the table with topics too broad or, as we discussed previously, too “me” centered and not reader-centered. Writers who mainly desire therapy for some trauma, who are bent on educating readers or who just want the world to see how much they know may be […]
Someone asks, “What’s the point of NaNoWriMo? You write 50k words in 30 days and you end up with a hot mess.” Writing Tip for Today: To anyone who has completed the 2021 NaNoWriMo challenge, congratulations! Even if you never sell this novel, other rewards can be just as important: A Great Idea By now, […]
The Pyramid Proposal method outlined so far helps you prioritize and understand the necessary components of good book proposals. It’s all a sales tool–and you must present the “hook, line and sinker” in a certain order if you want to reel in the reader. Writing Tip for Today: The last part of the Pyramid is […]
Last post we talked about the part of the book proposal which agents.editors see first. Your book needs a great title, a log line or hook that entices and a brief summary of 150 or so words to further tempt your reader. Writing Tip for Today: In this section we’ll look at the middle of […]
You wrote the book. You revised (and revised) and edited and edited. You’ve heard you’ll need something called a book proposal in order to approach agents and editors. Don’t panic! Writing Tip for Today: So how do you write a great book proposal? A book proposal assembles a wide range of information about you and […]
Today I’m taking a break to help my friend and colleague, C.S. Lakin, promote her new writing craft book, Writing the Heart of Your Story. You’re going to want this one on your shelf! Introducing— A new writing craft book for novelists like no other! Some novelists write with the goal of becoming a best […]
So many first novels I see begin with pages upon pages of a character trying to tell me who they are. Lots of times this is done through back story. While the great novelists often do begin with a bit of narrative, most will ease you into a scene fairly quickly. For it is through […]
Whether it’s a submission for a book proposal, a shorter piece for periodicals or for a contest, the submission rules are changing. In the pre-Internet era, writers concerned themselves with margins and typefaces and self-addressed stamped envelopes. Things are different now. But they’re also the same. Writing Tip for Today: What can you do to […]