Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen What’s over-workshopping? It’s what happens when writers attend too many writing workshops or critique groups where they’re fed dogmatic, my-way-or-the-highway rules. Following rules too closely can slow down your story (and your career.) It can also eliminate what’s creative and original in your work. You can spend years schlepping that […]
by Anne R. Allen I’m often approached by parents or grandparents of children who’ve shown a talent for writing. They ask how a child can learn to be a writer. Or sometimes a person going through a mid-life job change will ask my advice about going back to college to pursue a long-deferred writing dream. […]
by Anne R. Allen “I don’t do realism. Sometimes people will mention that something I’ve written doesn’t seem realistic and I always picture them looking at a Chagall and thinking the same thing. You can say, “I don’t like what you do, or I don’t like Chagall, or I don’t like Picasso” but saying that […]
by Anne R. Allen This week I saw links to a couple of threads on social media about reader pet peeves. Then Buzzfeed weighed in, listing some of the biggest complaints from fiction readers. Some peeves are predictable but others are kind of surprising. I do some of this stuff myself, so I was grateful […]
by Anne R. Allen I blog often about an author’s online presence and the importance of keeping your image squeaky clean, especially when you’re starting a writing career. That image is sometimes called your “author persona.” Artists have always had personas—an image they project when they are in public. It may involve a way of […]
The elusive Author Superfan, and the epidemic of braggy-beggy newsletters. by Anne R. Allen I keep reading about them. People swear they exist. But I’ve never met one. Or even seen its elusive footprint. No, I’m not talking about Bigfoot. I’m talking about the author Superfan. Lots of publishing experts I respect are saying we […]
by Anne R. Allen Ruth Harris and I have both written about how there are no rigid rules for writing good fiction, only guidelines. Even guidelines don’t apply to everybody. Every genre has its own conventions. What is de rigeur for a romance can be deadly in a thriller. And what readers expect in a […]
Personality disorders can create a distorted self-image. by Anne R. Allen. Most of the truly rotten villains in fiction are what used to be called “psychopaths.” (Now clinically known as people with ASPD: Anti-Social Personality Disorder.) These are people who have no conscience and no empathy. But psychopaths can make boring fiction. Psychopathic villains have […]
Writing a novel synopsis doesn’t have to be a miserable chore. by Anne R. Allen. I have yet to meet a writer who enjoys writing a novel synopsis. Unfortunately, we all need to write them. Yes, even self-publishers. I sometimes see people in writing groups and forums who gloat when there’s a discussion of how […]
Aggression, greed, and paranoia do not enhance your author brand. by Anne R. Allen Recently there’s been a bizarre drama going on in the book world. It’s been given the name #cockygate, because it involves a cocky author who managed to trademark the word “cocky” in a deluded attempt to eliminate the “competition” and “protect” […]
An Author Blog is still one of the best ways to build platform By Anne R. Allen If you tell your non-writing friends you’re thinking of starting an author blog, you’ll probably hear some noise about how blogging is “totally over.” People have been pronouncing the demise of blogging for a decade. Google “blogging is […]
Blogging can open up many career paths for writers by Anne R. Allen Most people who choose a career in writing first imagine ourselves as novelists or memoirists, not nonfiction writers. But these days, writers, even novelists, can’t just write books. We need to start “A Multi-Media Author Business.” And that involves writing a lot of […]
Author blogs: Are you blogging for the right reasons? 5 Bad Reasons for Author Blogs 1) Getting Rich Quick Nothing infuriates me more than those books and blogs promising writers they can make a gazillion dollars of “passive income” with a blog in the next month if they take this overpriced course or buy that […]
