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Writing a Christmas Cozy Mystery

Writing a Christmas Cozy Mystery

For at least five or six years, I’ve been wanting to write a Christmas cozy mystery. I thought it would be fun to explore my recurring characters’ Christmas traditions and how the town celebrated.

Heart-Centered Book Marketing

Heart-Centered Book Marketing

Instead of thinking I had to contact hundreds of book bloggers to see if they’d like to review my book, I started with one blogger a week. By the end of 3 months, my book had appeared on about 20 blogs and received 10 reviews.

Eliminating On The Nose Dialoge

Eliminating On The Nose Dialoge

Crafting Authentic Dialogue: A Guide to Eliminating On-The-Nose Conversations Today’s writing tip comes from Alex Bloom, the founder of Script Reader Pro, a screenplay consultancy and blog based in Los Angeles dedicated to helping aspiring and working screenwriters. Whether or not you are a screenwriter, Alex’s writing tip applies to narrative writing too. Eliminating On-The-Nose Dialogue Have […]

How Burnout Made me a Better Author

Burnout saved me from my writer self

Burnout. Few words spark such dread among writers. Avoiding it, surviving it, and recovering from it are each the focus of many articles, blogs, podcasts, books, and conference classes. Still, most of us have or will find ourselves grappling with it. This struggle resembles a hiker who has fallen off an unforeseen cliff and now clings to the sheer rockface with desperate, failing fingers, unable to pull themselves up.

How To Build A Flesh And Blood Character

How To Build A Flesh And Blood Character

If you’re like me, when you have an idea for a character you go into serious planning mode. You might fill a notebook, use character questionnaires, worksheets, and other tools to uncover their inner layers. Or if you’re a pantser, you may decide to start writing a discovery draft to find out who they are and what the story is about as you go. Plan or pants, we all must end up with the same thing: a character who is rounded, credible, and unique.

How To Fix Flat, Two-Dimensional Characters

Speech Bubbles And 3d Characters Shows Discussion And Gossip

When people say that a character is “flat” or “two-dimensional,” they’re typically just saying that the character isn’t interesting. And uninteresting characters are a plague on a story. Let’s look at a few techniques to make characters interesting, round, and three-dimensional.

How to Write a Bestselling Novel in Three Easy Steps

How to write a bestselling novel

As an author, you may not want to admit, but you really care about selling books. If you’re writing to get rich, you’ve got to sell millions of copies. If you’re more of a revolutionary and want to change the world, it would sure be a lot easier of a billion people adopted your ideas. Or if you want to be admired by others, you do want millions of fans.

Want Strong Dialogue? Don’t Forget The Subtext

Mastering Dialogue Subtext unveils the hidden depths of character interaction with precision.

Mastering dialogue subtext reveals the hidden depths of character interaction. Realistic, evocative dialogue is an important part of any successful story. We need our characters’ interactions to be authentic, consistent, and engaging to draw readers into what’s happening. So when we’re learning to write, we spend a lot of time on mechanics—learning all the grammar […]

Pinch Points That Reveal The Opposition In Your Fiction

books on how to write a book

You may have heard of pinch points. Or not. I’d guess that most fiction writers have no clue what they are or why they’re so important. What the heck are pinch points? Do you need them? Where do they go in a novel, and what’s their purpose? I don’t know if you’re like me, but […]

Why Conflict Drives Story

why conflict drives story by jerry jenkins

Some writers are so averse to personal conflict that they avoid writing about it too. Trust me, that may well serve as the death knell to your publishing prospects.

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