Characters: Do your characters have no obvious signs of life, nothing that gives them unique personality, perspective, and passion? Plots: Are plots and conflicts created spur of the moment with no set up, build…
AVOID A SAGGING MIDDLE By DEE LLOYD No middle should sag. The dragging, sagging pace of the middle of a romance is every bit as unattractive as the lax muscles of a person’s…
Beyond Villains –Addressing Antagonists in Detail By Will Greenway ‘Villain’ is a dated term. It brings to mind a particular kind of bad guy that has become kind of a toothless foil in both the…
Crafting Blurbs Overview by Karen Wiesner Back Cover Blurbs A back cover blurb can be anywhere from one to four paragraphs. If the whole package is short and punchy, as we’ve said, it’s practically…
All the worksheets, checklists, and exercises from Cohesive Story Building are included here in a usable format, namely Rich Text Format (RTF), which allows for cross-platform document exchange and which most word processors are able…
Dynamic Beginnings (1 of 2) By Will Greenway The opening of your novel or short story is crucial. It must be well written, catchy, and evocative. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, your opening…
Meet Writers Exchange Author, Karen Wiesner: “I’m a lifelong reader. I remember nostalgically lazy days as a child, too young to have worldly cares, let alone responsibilities, opening a book and getting lost…
Choosing a Setting: Real or Fiction By Deborah Nolan It’s been said that location is another character in a story. I think that’s true if the setting is described well enough and with…
Starting a book from scratch can be an exciting but daunting process. The thought of creating an entire world and bringing characters to life can be overwhelming, but with the right approach and mindset,…
Are you writing police mysteries thrillers? Want to get it right? I do, too, though I may have an advantage, having been a police officer for 30 years. Although the home setting for my books…
Scene business, style, and dialogue By Will Greenway Viewpoint is one the most important aspects of writing. It is the eye through which readers see your work. Creating a strong viewpoint “presence” within your story…
Laughter is a universal language that transcends cultures and generations. The ability to make people laugh is a gift, and for writers, it’s a craft that requires both creativity and skill. In this blog article,…
The Stuff Series Are Made Of By Karen S. Wiesner “The disease of writing is dangerous and contagious,” Abelard famously said to Heloise. So, too, can a book series become a relentless obsession: It’s…
Psychoanalyst Ernest Jones, in his 1951 classic nonfiction book On the Nightmare, labels the vampire the most “overdetermined” of monsters in terms of its psychological roots–and, we might add, in terms of its richly…
Why I Write Science Fiction and Fantasy By Jeffrey G. Roberts There are many genres in literature, and many more sub genres within these categories. And though I have written stories in most…
