While a great premise, unforgettable characters, and a fantastic fictional world are surefire ways to keep readers invested in your story, if everything is smooth sailing for your characters, it makes for a pretty boring tale. Even the happiest of stories requires some upheaval, a hook, to keep the reader on board. But don’t worry, …
Continue reading 3 Ways To Mess Up Your Character’s World And Hook Your Readers
A classic piece of writing advice is to hook the reader with the first sentence. While what makes a great sentence is so subjective that such advice is near impossible to achieve, it’s the sentiment that is sound. You want to grab the reader with your opening so that they’ll want to pick up and …
Continue reading How To Create A Read-Worthy Opening Chapter
If I asked you why your favorite book is your favorite book, chances are high the reason will be because of the characters. Yes, a great plot and lyrical prose make for a compelling read, but it’s the characters we like to follow from page to page and revisit if they leave the right impression. …
Continue reading 3 Simple Ways To Make Readers Care About Your Characters
When it comes to penning a story, there are a few essential ingredients to add to the mix, and one of them is conflict. Why? Because humans love drama. That’s the reason reality TV shows are still around and why readers enjoy stories that use conflict to hold their interest. Does that mean your book …
While there are just as many writing tricks as there are ways to tell a story, there are some specific ones that can help make your book something special, and one of those is internal thoughts. If you’ve never heard of the concept, it’s where you let the reader inside a character’s head by writing …
Continue reading 4 Reasons To Use Internal Thoughts In Your Writing
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 …
K.M. Allan 