Kate Moretti | Writers In The Storm

How to Successfully Ask, “Can I Pick Your Brain?”

Guest Blogger — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 11:00:02 +0000

Kate Moretti We’ve all heard it. Sometimes we groan, sometimes we delight, depending on the situation and where you are in your publishing journey. You’re at a Friday evening neighborhood barbecue when the man down the street approaches you, cautiously, but also sort of expectantly, too: “Can I pick your brain?” As we […]

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Divine Inspiration… Or Not: Mining Your Life for Story

Guest Blogger — Mon, 15 May 2017 11:02:44 +0000

Kate Moretti A few weeks ago, the fabulous Kimberly Brock wrote a post about the fear of the blank page. She claimed that there are people who love it and she called them psychopaths and equated it to jumping out of airplanes. I’m here to confess: I am that psychopath. I just handed in my […]

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Bad Review Blues - Some Perspective from the Trenches

Guest Blogger — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 12:01:02 +0000

Kate Moretti From the moment you hit send on those final pass pages or click submit to upload all your hard work to Amazon, the novel you lovingly poured your heart into for the past two, five, ten years now belongs to everyone but you. It belongs to every reader, critic, reviewer, blogger, and consumer. […]

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How to Preserve Your Creative Self In Times of Trouble

Guest Blogger — Mon, 21 Nov 2016 12:01:57 +0000

Kate Moretti This is not going to be a political post. But I am going to talk about politics. Sort of. As writers, we’re sensitive souls. We observe the world around us, and as Kimberly Brock called us in a beautiful post earlier this week, we’re lightning collectors. I loved this analogy; it’s so […]

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Does Genre Dumb it Down or Make it Rain?

Guest Blogger — Mon, 15 Aug 2016 11:00:07 +0000

Kate Moretti We writers spend a lot of time online. Facebook, twitter, forums, groups, message boards, I could go on. We debate. We talk about craft and commas and grammar and agents and publishers and eventually someone will bring up genre and everyone will silently groan because the only conversation that rivals genre is “Plotting […]

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Cutting Through the Busyness to Get To Business

Guest Blogger — Mon, 16 May 2016 11:01:38 +0000

Kate Moretti In 2012, I published my debut novel with Red Adept Publishing. I had no idea how much my life would change. As a result of this book, I’ve written four additional books, I’m starting my fifth. MY FIFTH. When I say it out loud, it feels crazy to me. Writing is now part […]

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Getting Out of the Dreaded Slump

Guest Blogger — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 12:01:26 +0000

Kate Moretti I’m going to be honest. I’ve never had real writer’s block. Until recently, I really believed it was an excuse. I thought you could just write through it. I wrote THOUGHT I KNEW YOU and I swear I was high on sugar the whole time. It was the most fun I’ve had writing […]

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5 Secrets to Writing with Suspense - Even if You Don't Write Suspense

Guest Blogger — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 12:00:03 +0000

Kate Moretti In July I wrote a guest post about finding your manuscript's hook. The post was geared toward writers of all genres, with the tenet that even character studies can find a central conflict and thus construct an opening hook. The same is true for writing with tension. Many people think that writing a […]

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What is High Concept?

Guest Blogger — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 11:00:30 +0000

Kate Moretti We’ve all seen the examples: Wizard School, Dinosaur Park, Titanic. Don’t shudder everyone, high concept is back. Whether it was ever “out” is somewhat debatable. We see it on agent’s manuscript wish lists, in rejection letters, in publisher submission pages. Everyone seems to want a compelling pitch, to heck with characters and world-building […]

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Fishing Out Your Manuscript Hook

Guest Blogger — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 11:00:13 +0000

Kate Moretti Congratulations, you did it! You typed “The End”. Finite. Have a glass of wine, heck have a bottle. Now, polish it up, send it out to agents, maybe editors. Maybe you get a few rejections, no problem. Maybe a few more. Maybe they sort of hinge around one thing: It didn’t grab me […]

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