Let’s face it, the characters you write about are often more familiar to you than your own family and friends. After all, they’re with you 24-7. Fixing dinner for your family: “So, yeah, hey, you know I think I’m actually allergic to goat cheese which means you really need to scrub that entire amazing scene […]

Jessica Strawser Mumble-mumble-cough years ago, back in my high school days, I was what you might have called a hopeless romantic—in the doe-eyed, day-dreamy way of those who have yet to actually experience romance, let alone real hopelessness. At my bedside was a faux wood clock radio, and every night after my lights were out, […]

Becca Puglisi As authors, we all know the importance of engaging our audience within a book’s first few pages. It’s called grabbing the reader: captivating them in a way that makes them want to stick with the story to its end. Michael Hauge prefers the term seducing: “Everybody likes to be seduced; it’s a gradual, […]

I do a lot of critiquing. As I get better at craft, I’m starting to catch the nuances of good writing; things beyond the basics of POV, show don’t tell, etc. They’re subtler and harder to spot, but I believe they can be the difference between a ‘good writer’ and a popular author. And yes, […]

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy Revisions are a part of writing, and as much as we wish they'd go smoothly, they don't always work out like we planned. Some manuscripts fight us and nothing we do makes them any better. When we run into such a troublesome beast, it helps to step back and figure out […]