by Anne R. Allen I often run into new writers who want to be reassured they have talent. They sometimes ask me to read some fledgling work in hopes I’ll pronounce them “talented.”I always decline. (A wise author never goes there.) It’s not simply that I can’t fit one more thing into my already […]
How to Turn “Real Life” into Bestselling Fiction…and a Word about Memoirs
by Ruth Harris Writing a novel based on the lives of real people is much more than simply recounting their story—even if it’s a whizz-bang, humdinger of a story. The challenge is turning real people and real events into fiction. Having no guidelines at the time I wrote Decades, I figured it out as I […]
Is Perfectionism Slowing Your Writing Process? 7 Ways NaNoWriMo Can Help
by Anne R. Allen We’ve all met those people who think their sojourn on earth is meant to be a fault-finding mission. They can spot lint on your jacket at fifty paces, provide a litany of your imperfections whenever there’s a lull in the conversation, and be counted upon to tell you why your pumpkin […]
Living with Robot Overlords: How to Survive in Our Cyborg World
by Anne R. Allen Everybody tells us that to succeed as writers in the e-age, we need to be active in social media. And once we get the hang of it, most of us find it a lot of fun. Cyberspace can feel like a big old playground for writers. Look! I can type […]
How to Write Chapter Endings That Make Readers Want to Turn the Page
by Jessica Bell A good chapter ending is like having one mouthful of your favourite food left on your plate, but not yet feeling full, so you go for seconds … and we hope, thirds, and fourths. The key to a great chapter ending is to introduce a new conflict. It doesn’t have to […]
Do Authors Obsess Too Much About Book Reviews?
by Anne R. Allen Let’s Face it: Getting Reviews is Tough Whether we’re newbies or superstars, traditional or self-publishers, pretty much all authors stress about reviews: getting them…and surviving them. From the time our first book launches, we’re told our number one job is to get reviewed. We send out ARCs, desperately query book bloggers […]
BLOCK-BUSTING: 14 Never-Fail Tricks Every Writer Needs to Know
by Ruth Harris Stuck? Can’t get there from here? Something’s wrong but you don’t know what. You’re chasing your tail in an endless loop with no off-ramps in sight. You’re stalled out at a dead end in a dark, scary forest. Happens to every writer and no one knows why, but your book—and you—have come […]
10 Things that Red-Flag a Newbie Novelist
by Anne R. Allen Beginning novelists are like Tolstoy’s happy families. They tend to be remarkably alike. Certain mistakes are common to almost all beginners. These things aren’t necessarily wrong, but they are difficult to do well—and get in the way of smooth storytelling They also make it easy for professionals—and a lot […]
The Secret to Publishing Success in the Era of Social Media: Teaming with Your Fellow Authors
by Anne R. Allen Jon Stewart said on The Daily Show on August 27, (with heavy irony, of course) “Everybody uses Social Media as a weapon; that’s what it’s for.” He was, as usual, uttering spot-on truth disguised as a joke. Lots of people DO seem to use social media as a weapon, whether it’s […]
The Biggest Mistake New Writers Make and 5 Ways to Avoid It
by Anne R. Allen It’s been an exciting week for the blog. Marketing expert Penny Sansevieri named us to the Top 30 Websites for Indies and blog guru Molly Greene named us to her list of must-read “leaders” in self-publishing. (I’m only recently self-published—and most of my work is still with a small press—but […]
Writing Collaboration: Is it Right for You?
by Ruth Harris According to the sublime Cole Porter lyric: Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.Writers do it, too. Often. Collaborate, that is. Peter Staub and Stephen King paired up to write horror and dark fantasy in The Talisman. Their Black House is a Stoker Award winner. Joe Konrath, an […]
10 Obsolete Beliefs that Can Block Self-Publishing Success
by Anne R. Allen New writers contact us every day, asking questions about everything from how to start their first short story (answer: butt in chair; hands on keyboard) to how to deal with trolls and bullies (don’t respond; walk away; report abuse.)We answer them all—as time permits—but there’s one kind of writer we […]
5 Protagonists Readers Hate: Why Writers Shouldn’t Identify too Closely with a Main Character
by Anne R. Allen You can learn all you want about writing powerful prose, well-planned story arcs, lyrical descriptions—or any other aspect of fiction—but if you don’t have a protagonist your readers care about, none of the rest matters.I don’t think it’s terribly relevant to talk about character “likability” in the sense of “niceness.” The […]
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