Well, you did it. You took that spark of an idea, fleshed it out into an entire book, edited the last page for the last time, and finished one final read-through. The book is done. At least it should be. As proud as you were, there was a little voice in your head as you …
Continue reading Editing Tips: What To Check When It Feels Like Something Is Missing
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
Ah, point of view (POV), a writing essential to include in your book but something that you can get so easily wrong. It doesn't take much to slip from the view of the character who is telling your story, and you might not even notice you've done it. That's where the following advice comes in …
Continue reading Point Of View Errors! How To Spot And Fix Them
While a great storyline and an intense setting can make for an excellent read, what really creates a great book is awesome characters. After all, how many pages have you kept turning just to see what happens to the MC? Getting your reader to care about your characters is a task every writer should aim …
Unless you're a super-organized planner who stuck to your writing outline religiously, there will come a point during editing when you'll re-read a scene and have to make sure it includes everything you wanted. This is my dilemma as I work on my current work in progress. I wrote the draft back in 2017, so …
When you're the writer of a manuscript, everything about the story makes sense to you. And why wouldn't it? You're the one who has spent hours writing your way through countless drafts. The trouble with being the person who's worked on the story so intensely means it can be hard for you to notice when …
Continue reading Unintentional Story Issues, And How To Fix Them
If you've entrenched yourself in the writing world, you've no doubt heard what doesn't make for a good book opening. These tips range from ditching prologues to the ultimate pressure inducing advice: the opening sentence/paragraph/page must automatically engage the reader or they won't read on. While this advice is enough to make you consider taking …
You might think confusing characters only happen in movies. It's easy to get characters visually mixed up when the actors/actresses have the same good looks and do-good temperament. But it happens on the page too. And why wouldn't it? The characters come from the mind of one person, the voice of one writer, and that …
Ah, deep POV. It's something I'd never heard of when I started writing and was something I wasn't even doing a year ago. Since learning this wonderful writing trick (which you can read about here), I've added a new depth to my writing and upgraded to being a serious writer. As with any new skill …
Continue reading How To Tell If Your Writing Has Slipped Out Of Deep POV
K.M. Allan 