Writing Advice From A YA Author Powered By Chocolate And Green Tea
The holidays are a time for relaxing and taking a break, even Stephen King doesn't write on Christmas day! But writers like to make ourselves feel guilty if we aren't penning down words, even when it's time for a well-earned break, so here are some tips for maintaining a creative output during the holidays. Make …
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I recently read a book I was willing to say was the best book I'd read all year. It had everything I enjoyed in a story: great dialogue, good characters, tension, mystery, and a plot that built. It was such a page-turner that I couldn't put it down, racing through it in two days. Then …
We all know getting into good writing habits will see us complete our manuscripts, but what about those bad writing habits that don't help the process? You know what those habits are. They're the things that stop you from sitting at your keyboard regularly, eat up the precious part of the day set aside for …
Dialogue is an important part of any story and essential to get right. Good dialogue can reveal twists, unveil character traits, motivations, change the direction of the story, and give your cliffhangers the perfect bite—I mean, who doesn't love the final line of a scene ending in a suspenseful piece of dialogue! While it's up …
The real truth of writing is that you will spend a lot of time editing. A. Lot. Of. Time. Hours, weeks, months, sometimes even years (or at least, what feels like years). When the rush of new ideas is gone. When the thrill of filling in plot holes and working out twists is over. When …
Sometimes the best plotting in the world and wonderfully written characters aren't enough to save a story so boring even readers who can't not finish a novel consider putting it down. That's what can happen when your book lacks suspense, and if you're afraid of this happening to you, here are some ideas that might …
There's nothing more fun as a reader than slipping wholly into the point of view of a character. It's also creatively satisfying to be a writer who can master such a skill. Writing your book from the perspectives of your characters and getting it right forms a connection for both you and the reader, so …
We all have a writing habit that no matter how much we grow as a writer, sticks with us. For many writers (myself included), stage directing is one of those habits, and it takes the form of describing every physical move a character makes, beyond what's necessary. Because this habit happens naturally, it's usually hard …
When writing a book, plenty of effort goes into building our characters or working out our plots that sometimes the setting of your book world gets a little lost. This can happen if you're afraid of bogging the reader down in too much detail, worried you'll slow the pace by stopping to explain things, or …
