One milestone to hit in the book writing process is sending your WIP off to beta readers. Your betas can be family, friends, fellow writers, or even paid for services. I’ve used all types, including this week when I finally sent my latest work in progress to four fellow writers! These talented author friends and …
Welcome to the May 2021 roundup! I don’t know about you, but May was another quick month for me and included some non-writing-related events in the form of numerous specialist medical appointments. If you’ve been following my blog for a few years, you’ll know I had surgery in 2018 for what turned out to be …
If you’ve ever read a book you couldn’t put down, chances are one of those reasons is because of unanswered questions. This fun little writing trick usually pops up in parts of dialogue between characters, or as a throwaway sentence wedged in a paragraph that didn’t seem all that interesting until the question’s asked and …
Ah, book endings. Every story needs to have one, but not every story pulls it off. If you’ve ever read a book to the last page and been bitterly disappointed by the ending, you’ll know what I mean. It’s frustrating as a reader to be enjoying a book and then have the story fall apart …
Continue reading How To Tell If You’ve Nailed Your Book Ending
Welcome to the April 2021 roundup! Did anyone else blink and it was suddenly the end of April? As has been the theme of 2021 for me, I spent the fourth month editing, editing, and doing more editing. Hopefully, I'm still on track to release the third book in my YA series mid-year, but that …
When you set out to write a novel, you quickly learn that it takes a lot of drafts. There’s the first draft, which is laying down the story. The second works out what the story is missing, and every draft after is refining until it becomes the finished book. How many drafts that takes depends …
Continue reading Motivational Tricks To Keep You Working On Your Manuscript
Just as book trends see certain genres fall in and out of favor, there are certain elements of books that once worked but now no longer do. One such example is the clichéd mirror look, aka when the author has the MC look in a mirror and describe themselves so the reader knows how they …
Continue reading 5 Ways To Describe A Character Without Using The Clichéd Mirror Look
Welcome to the March 2021 roundup! And the year continues to fly by! I can't believe we've hit the end of March already. I was busy doing lots of editing this month and will continue to do so into April—because let's face it—a writer's work is never done. I hope you've all had a safe …
If you follow me on social media, you’ll know I’ve spent the last few months editing my latest WIP. It’s book 3 in my Urban Fantasy YA series, Blackbirch, and I’m aiming to have it published in the first half of this year. I spent most of 2020 rewriting the draft I penned back in …
