Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Ruth Harris We all know them. Each of us has encountered them. They are the pilot fish and blood suckers with literary stars in their eyes who wannabe — drumroll — A Writer! Wannabe writers come to you with gauzy fantasies about “inspiration” and visions of overnight fame and instant riches. And they have […]
by Anne R. Allen “Leave your critique group” was my editor’s advice after my first full-length novel, Food of Love, came out with his UK publishing house. He said he didn’t want a bunch of wannabes messing with my work. He had a point, and I understood what he meant. But the members of […]
by Melodie Campbell I’m a crime writer. Hell, I’ll put on my other hat (the one with the pointy top) and say it. I’ve also been a fantasy writer (same pen name, different genre.) So I know about suspension of disbelief. I’m willing to admit that as an audience, we might agree to ‘suspend belief’ […]
by Anne R. Allen With the self-publishing revolution, we were warned of a “tsunami of crap,” but the real problem is the tsunami of scammers. They seem to invent a new way to scam writers every day. Not just indies, but the traditionally published as well. Unfortunately, there are plenty of uninformed wannabe writers […]
by Ruth Harris I’d been planning to write my April post about outlines. Which authors do outlines? And which ones don’t? (I don’t and neither does Anne). I’d done a bit of research and made some notes when along came AI, the hot new kid in town. How could I ignore AI when everyday I […]
by Anne R. Allen Back in 2002, a New York Times survey showed 81% of Americans want to write a book. With the indie ebook revolution, the percentage has only expanded. Of course, most of that 81+% won’t ever write a word. There’s an old, unkind joke that says, “Most people think they have a […]
by Vasalysa Zaturets You can write an award-worthy story, but nobody will find it out if your book cover design doesn’t appeal to the target audience. Book cover design matters, and here’s why: It creates the first impression and proves that the story deserves the readers’ time and money. No advertising campaign is possible […]
by Becca Puglisi When it comes to storytelling elements, we’re all pretty familiar with symbolism. You basically take an object, word, color, phrase, etc., and apply it in a story to give it a deeper meaning. Tolkien’s one ring (evil) in Lord of the Rings The floating feather (destiny/fate) in Forrest Gump A Mockingjay (rebellion) in The Hunger […]
by Anne R. Allen A blog reader asked me recently to address the question of description in fiction. How much is too much? How much is enough? And why are contemporary novels so devoid of physical character description? Is this a new rule — or is it lazy writing? The answer to all of […]
writing advice from the creators of South Park by Ruth Harris The book you started with so much energy and optimism? That idea you thought was so great? Well, now that you’ve written mumble-mumble number of words, you’re not so sure. You’re beating up on yourself. You’re out of ideas. Out of gas. You’ve wasted […]
by Anne R. Allen These days, pretty much all writers need to learn to write Web content. Yes, even if you’re a Victorian romance author whose readers care more about reticules and spatterdashers than retweets and SEO. Even if you don’t have your own blog. Any website needs content. Plus you may want to […]
by Joseph Perry Congratulations! You’ve received an offer of representation. The next stop is the bestseller list. But before you start planning your book tour, you should take a few minutes to review your literary agent agreement (or lack thereof) Oral Agreements Some literary agencies do not have written contracts. They work with a verbal […]
by Anne R. Allen A trendy word in publishing recently is “autofiction,” short for “autobiographical fiction.” The term isn’t new. It was first invented in 1977 by author Serge Doubrovsky when talking about his memoir-sh novel, Fils. And what about those Creative Nonfiction essays that fill literary magazines? (A goldmine for memoir writers.) Can you […]
