Write

Articles about craft.

12 Writing Tips I’ve Learned After 20 Books and 3,000 Articles Over 20 Years

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This post by Andrew Griffiths originally appeared on Inc.

As much as we might think the written word is slowly being phased out in favor of video, right now we are writing more than ever before, both in general communication and in sharing information through content. But very few people are actually taught to write the type of copy that we have to produce these days.

I write a lot. I write books, blog posts, magazine articles, newspaper columns, and much more. I’ve learned a lot, to the point where now I teach people to write and publish everything from books to blogs.

The following 12 tips have really helped me over the last 20 years, and they might prove helpful to you.

 

1. Always visualize a person who is your ideal niche whenever you write

For example, when I am writing an article for a small-business audience, I put a picture of three small-business owners whom I know on my computer and I write as if I were sitting and talking to them (in fact, as if I were sitting and having a cup of coffee with them).

 

2. To keep continuity with your writing voice, at the beginning of each session, go back and read what you wrote last time

This is a great tip to ensure that your writing style and voice stay constant. Great writers and popular columnists have a consistent voice and your writing will develop the same style if you follow this tip.

 

3. Don’t waste a whole session on a piece that isn’t working

 

Read the full post on Inc.

 

Fighting With Both Hands

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This post by David Gaughran originally appeared on his Let’s Get Digital site on 4/17/15.

This blog has been quieter than usual lately and I thought I should let you know what I’ve been doing.

I’m going to prattle on for quite a while; you might want to get comfortable (or head off to Tumblr).

So…

It’s good to do a bit of soul searching now and then, to look at what you have achieved, where your career is headed, and to decide if you are on the right track.

My goals and dreams have changed a lot since I started self-publishing in 2011. I haven’t been a big success, but I’ve been able to tick off little career milestones along the way. Some months my sales are wonderful, some months they are terrible – generally a function of how long it is since I released or promoted something. Overall, the good months more than outweigh the bad and I’ve been scratching out a living for a while now.

Dream: achieved.

But the sales maw, as all writers know, is insatiable. So I’ve been noodling ways to take my career to the next level.

I feel like I’ve got a good handle on the publishing/marketing side of things, but I’m still serving my apprenticeship as a writer – especially as a writer of fiction. Non-fiction comes naturally to me. I find it quicker and easier and (much) less of a brain-melting puzzle. Whereas, fiction is much more of a challenge – probably why I find it ultimately more satisfying.

My goals tend to focus on aspects of the craft, rather than some notional sales number. There is always something particular I want to achieve (that’s a euphemism for “work on”) with each book, aside from the general desire to make it better than the last one – and I think that’s something most writers do.

But, perhaps partly because of the above, I wasn’t necessarily selecting my projects with my “career” hat on. I gave an interview to Simon Whistler at Rocking Self-Publishing last September, during the launch of Digital 2 (disclosure: he subsequently became my narrator for the audio edition).

Simon asked why I wrote all over the map: short stories, science fiction, literary fiction, historical fiction, non-fiction, and asked if that was something I would recommend to others.

 

Read the full post on Let’s Get Digital.

 

9 Tips for Writing an Insane Character

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This post by Tiana Warner originally appeared on Indies Unlimited on 9/30/14.

Nothing beats a good insane character. They’re unpredictable, obsessive, totally spellbinding … and hard to write. Their arcs and motivations can differ completely from ordinary characters. Saying you’re going to write an insane character, however, is like going to a steakhouse and ordering a beef and a wine. You need to get specific. There are about a million types of crazy.

I spent two years studying some of the best crazy characters in order to understand what works best. I even took a university class on abnormal psychology. (Yeah. I went there.) Through it all, I came up with nine ways to intensify the character. For those of you looking to lose your fictional marbles, let me share what I’ve learned.

1. He is a man-vs-self conflict

This character is his own antagonist. Take everything you know about the relationship between protagonist and antagonist, and apply those rules to the sane and insane parts of the character.

For example, we know the antagonist should share a lot of qualities with the protagonist, except for a key moral difference. What flaw is splintering your character’s sanity? Is it alcohol abuse, as in The Shining? Jack’s descent into madness literally changes his character from protagonist to antagonist.

 

Read the full post on Indies Unlimited.

 

Top 105 Blogs and Websites for Writers and Authors

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This post by Hiten Vyas originally appeared on e-Books India on 4/13/15.

Are you a creative writer looking to improve your skills? Maybe you’re a beginner novelist looking to pen your first book. You might be a blogger wondering how to make more money from your blog. Whatever type of writer you are, the Internet has some wonderful blogs and websites that provide advice, tips and inspiration to help you. This article takes a look at 105 of the top blogs and websites for writers and authors.

The blogs and websites have been categorized using the following headings: (1) Writing, Publishing, Sales and Marketing, (2) Freelancing, (3) News, Industry Analysis and Advice, (4) Blogging and (5) Writing Platforms and Communities.

There are of course more blogs and websites relevant to writers and authors. If you think you’re blog or website should also be included in this list, please do comment in the comments box at the end of the article and let us know about you, your blog, what it is about and how it helps writers and authors.

Without any further delay, let’s move onto the 105 blogs and websites!

Writing, Publishing, Sales and Marketing

1. Sameer Kamat

Sameer Kamat is a bestselling author of two books; namely Business Doctors, and Beyond the MBA Hype. He also has a website, which has a list of great articles that Sameer has written based upon his own experiences of writing books and ebooks. You can find advice on both self-publishing and on the traditional route. Many of the articles Sameer has written are geared to helping writers get published in India. These in particular, are great reads.

2. InstaScribe Blog

InstaScribe is an online app designed to help authors create professional looking ebooks. There is also the InstaScribe blog, which provides articles about ebook publishing, writing in different languages, and latest news from across the world in the areas of books and publishing. The InstaScribe blog also has some eye catching visuals in the form of inspiring quotes, and infographics in the areas of writing, and publishing ebooks. You can also read an interview with the founder of InstaScribe, Jaya Jha here.

3. Writers Helping Writers

The Writers Helping Writers blog is run by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. The blog is packed with great articles that help you to improve your fiction writing. In particular, articles at the blog about how to create different types of characters and how to give them various personalities, traits and skills are extremely useful. Interested authors can also submit guest posts to Writers Helping Writers.

4. Nathan Bransford

Nathan Bransford is a former literary agent and author. He also runs an extremely popular blog. He writes articles giving authors advice on how to improve their writing craft, on editing, formatting and get published; both through self-publishing and traditional publishing (and its associated requirements, writing query letters, synopses, finding literary agents etc.).

5. Write to Done

Mary Jaksch is Editor-in-Chief of Write to Done (WTD), which is a huge resource for writers whose archives date back to 2008. The website is updated regularly and contains expert opinions and actionable advice on all aspects of writing including blog writing, writing sales copy, freelancing, writing novels and non-fiction. If you happen to be new to WTD, the blog is well worth a visit.

6. The Procrastiwriter

The Procrastiwriter provides articles that share writing tips to help you to improve your writing, on motivation to inspire you to write, and on how to deal with self-doubt of your ability to be a successful writer. The blog is run by Shanan Haislip.

 

Read the full post on e-Books India.

 

What Is A Story?

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This post by David Baboulene originally appeared on his The Science of Story on 11/3/14.

When I first started my research degree in story theory, the thing that surprised me most was that there is no single definition for the term ‘story’. At least, not one that all the authorities agree, and certainly not one which would cover all the examples that you and I would intuitively agree are ‘stories’. 2,300 years since Aristotle and even the dictionary isn’t right.

Of course, like every other narratologist, I have come up with my own definition, but for this blog post, I won’t be trying to sell you that. I thought I would use this space to capture the top lines that most story boffins DO agree. The common elements that comprise the mainstream and which are useful to know if you are a writer of fiction. Please note the scope I’m setting. I’m not trying to include ‘the story of medicine’ or a poem or a recipe or an argument or the story of ‘last summer’ or Japanese Kishotenketsu conflict free narratives, or all the myriad other things that may or may not be stories. I’m talking about a definition that will help an aspiring writer do good things for their story telling by understanding where the centre of the mainstream flows.

So, let’s look at the simple contents of a generally ‘good’ story:

 

Read the full post on The Science of Story.

 

What Are Pinch Points? And How Can They Make Your Book Easier to Write?

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This post by K.M. Weiland originally appeared on her Helping Writers Become Authors site on 3/29/15.

You may have heard of these little darlings called “Pinch Points.” Of all the important structural moments in your story, they’re the most likely to be neglected. They get lost amidst all the excited chatter about their bigger, flashier brethren: the Plot Points. But Pinch Points–two of them, both occurring in the Second Act–are crucial to your story’s structure.

I realized I’ve never written a proper post on Pinch Points, so today I figure it’s time to remedy that. After all, there is a lot of confusion swirling around the subject.

What are Pinch Points?

How do they compare to Plot Points?

Where do they belong in the story?

What do they do?

And what happens when you neglect them?

Let’s find out!

 

Read the full post on Helping Writers Become Authors.

 

Sordid, Unprofitable, Unrewarding: On ‘New Grub Street’ and Cynical Literature

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This essay by Sam Allingham originally appeared on The Millions on 4/7/15.

In today’s publishing world, it pays to be a doomsayer. We have an inexhaustible appetite for reports of literature’s demise. Go ahead, dust off that article on how the novel is dead for the thousandth time — only make sure you add that the whole industry is dying with it. Are you a publisher, the sort of person who purports to sell books? Give interviews with leading periodicals in which you admit that publishing is “at a crossroads,” and that we have lost the necessary magic to accomplish the nearly 600-year-old trick of turning printed matter into gold. Bring on the articles by journalists that remind us how journalism as we know it is passing away! Algorithms write our articles, videos replace text as the primary medium of communication, and soon all media will consist of an endless feed of indistinguishable information, which our children will scroll through lazily while they suck a ground-up mixture of kale and insects through a straw.

There’s something flattering about all this hand-wringing. It provides us with a sense of self-importance, to imagine we live in unprecedented times. One nice part about the apocalypse is the way it soothes one’s existential crisis. People who write, publish, and criticize literature have never been a particularly self-confident bunch, and the current climate — in which more than 300,000 books are published in America every year, not counting self-published titles — can encourage feelings of irrelevancy. Why write yet another review of yet another novel, when you can proclaim the absolute end of literature? Better to be a prophet than a drudge. Even authors can take comfort in the idea of a post-literary age, where the fact that all the great novels have already been written relieves us of the responsibility of writing our own.

 

Read the full essay on The Millions.

 

How to Deal With Writing Distractions

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This post by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen originally appeared on The Adventurous Writer.

These tips for dealing with distractions as a writer are inspired by a parable about James Joyce, and will help you develop the productivity of a writer like Stephen King. Learning how to deal with writing distractions isn’t just about turning off the internet or writing in pomodoros.

In Writing Habit Mastery: How to Write 2,000 Words a Day and Forever Cure Writer’s Block, S.J. Scott describes how to establish a productive writing routine and environment and find time to write – even if you have a full-time job. You may not have the natural discipline it takes to write every day; you need to learn how to minimize distractions and interruptions, create a mental mindset that inspires you to write, and deal with lack of motivation that distracts you from writing.

The following tips on dealing with writing distractions are inspired by a story about James Joyce, told by Stephen King in his famous memoir On Writing. I featured his book in 7 Writing Tips From Stephen King – but I neglected to mention his parable about the late great James Joyce.

 

Read the full post on The Adventurous Writer.

 

10 Characters to Put Out to Pasture

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This post originally appeared on Mysterious Matters on 3/10/09.

The challenge in genre fiction is always to balance the tried and true (including “stock figures”) with the new, interesting, or exciting. Too much tried and true = boring and formulaic; too much new, interesting, or exciting = nerve-wracking to publishers, who can’t easily classify it and/or don’t dare push the envelope too much for fear of unsold books sitting in the warehouse and getting remaindered or destroyed.

While I recognize that certain types of characters are a staple of our genre (sassy heroine, sexy-and-stoic noncommunicative cop), it seems that a lot of the manuscripts I’ve been reading lately — as well as published works — are using the same characters over and over again, and I’m getting a bit tired of them. So, herewith, the top 10 characters I’d like to see retired.

1. The pill-popping, alcoholic, cold society woman. Yes, it’s an easy stereotype because there are a lot of them in reality. (I see them not infrequently in life.) But aren’t there any society matrons who don’t drink a fifth of gin each day, who don’t treat their daughters cruelly, and don’t spread vicious gossip?

2. The overly garrulous neighbor. This character is the lazy novelist’s dream come true. He or she, by virtue of being a true busybody, gives the investigator a true information dump, making the sleuth’s job much, much easier. I like my P.I.’s to have to work a little harder for their information.

3. The bitchy teenage girl. Somehow our society seems to have fallen in love with the positively evil alpha high school girl who ruins the reputations of rivals and leads smear campaigns against those who look at her the wrong way. While my own daughter certainly had her moments of ill temper as a teenager, neither she nor her friends ever behaved remotely like a character in Mean Girls. I really think the proliferation of this type of character is doing young women a disservice.

 

Read the full post on Mysterious Matters.

 

Fifty Shades of Lit.

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This post by Andrew J McKiernan originally appeared as a guest post on Alan Baxter’s Warrior Scribe on 3/17/15.

It has been almost six months since Alan asked me to write him a guest blog post. He knows I’m fairly passionate and opinionated about the “Literary vs. Genre” debate, and that’s what he suggested I write about. That’ll be easy enough, I thought. So I agreed.

Turns out, it wasn’t so easy after all. So, instead of trying to create some kind of logical argument — as I was originally intending to do — I’m just going to wing it. Trust my instincts, follow my heart, and just lay it all on the table.

First, let me paste two comments I recently found accompanying articles re: the Literature vs Genre debate. They demonstrate why I get a bit angry when the topic comes up:

EXHIBIT A: User comment on article on whether Crime Fiction is real Literature [see Note 6 below]

“crime fiction has more in common with the crossword puzzle than with literature”

EXHIBIT B: User comment seen on Facebook:

“To me, literary fiction is just another genre, and today it means ‘realistic fiction written by professors, for professors.’”

[I can’t remember who said this, but I think the position is common enough amongst Genre readers and writers that the specifics aren’t important.]

Now, I’m not a professor and I ain’t had no fancy learnin’, but that sounds like crazy talk to me. Both comments based on a misguided and narrow view of what Literature and Genre might actually mean. And, though there’s been a lot of great work in breaking this ridiculously false barrier down, both sides still maintain a strong core of stubbornness and, to me, it seems a horrible prejudice.

 

Read the full post on Warrior Scribe.

 

Keys to Writing Books for Very Young Readers

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This post by Olivia Snaije originally appeared on Publishing Perspectives on 3/25/15.

PARIS: Within a program of events celebrating French publisher l’école des loisirs’ 50th birthday, the cherished children’s book author, Grégoire Solotareff, gave a talk on Monday about how to transform an idea for a book into reality. In the tradition of Maurice Sendak or Leo Lionni (both of whom are published in translation by l’école des loisirs), Solotareff’s 200+ books for children, which he has been writing and illustrating for 30 years, continue to dwell in a magical and quirky universe. For the past 20 years he has also been the editor of an imprint called Loulou & Cie for children ages 0-4 where he has overseen the production of 400 books. It was in his capacity as both author and editor that he gave the following talk, loosely translated and edited here:

In 1985 I started publishing my books. It was lots of work at the beginning. I wanted very quickly to be published by l’école des loisirs because of its reputation. I presented my books to [co-founder] Arthur Hubschmid, and since then there have been lots of books.

One shouldn’t create books just to make them. You need to be passionate about it. At first you are shy and afraid of rejection. You’re not always confident. But you do need to be convinced about your work, you need to like it and want to do it. This is the first quality you need when you present a book to a publisher and say “This is what I do and what do you think?”

 

Read the full post on Publishing Perspectives.

 

Navigating the Forest of Feedback: 8 Ways to Recognize Helpful Criticism (and How to Ignore the Rest)

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This post by Elizabeth Law originally appeared on her Elizabeth Law Reads site on 3/5/15.

Recently, on a flight home from vacation, I met author Randi Hutter Epstein and we we were talking about her work. She said “After about three days of writing, I don’t know if what I have is good, or crap. I’ll ask anyone their opinion!”

Exactly.

If you’re a writer you need feedback, whether you’re a novice or an author with 30 books under your belt. And there are a lot of people out there who are only too happy to give it to you. But how do you know what comments are useful, anyway? What should you take, and what should you toss? Here are some good things to consider when asking for, or getting, feedback:

#1) What are my manuscript reviewer’s credentials and experience?
Has he published books for the same age category as I’m writing for? Or is she perhaps less far along in the process, but still experienced in reading and listening to manuscripts, and in giving thoughtful feedback? Maybe he is at the same place as I am and we can learn together?

Because you don’t need to hire an experienced editor to get good feedback.  For example, critique groups probably help their members more with their works in progress than any other class, editor or method out there.  But do keep in mind who is telling you things.  If they are fellow writers, do you admire or like their work? Do they share your ability to learn and grow?   Or are they one of those types who seem to have all the answers, until you find out they’ve never actually published anything?

 

Read the full post on Elizabeth Law Reads.

 

5 Cheeky Tips For Bloggers Embarking On The A-Z Challenge

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This post by Tara Sparling originally appeared on her blog on 3/31/15.

April is a month when thousands of bloggers embark on what’s called the The A-Z Challenge: where people blog on 26 near-consecutive days (every day except Sundays) – on a theme of their choice. It’s a fantastic exercise. It can get the blog blood flowing, prodding bloggers either out of a pit, or into a routine; and it’s a sure-fire way to either increase your audience, or get one in the first place.

Well, I’m not doing it. You’ll thank me later, when you realise how much blogging content increases next month, that I’m not going to be adding to it. I’ll be slow blogging as usual, but reading and cheering all challenge participants loudly from the sidelines.

And yet I’m going to do one bolshie post on this whole lark anyway. How dare she make pronouncements when she’s not even participating, you cry!

Because it never stopped me before, that’s why.

And so, as I sharpen my mouse in readiness to click on the content of others, here are a few tips from one of the people who might be reading you in April.

1. Use the opportunity to do something you wouldn’t usually do.

 

Read the full post, which includes further elaboration on the first tip plus four more tips, on Tara Sparling’s blog.

 

Friday Five: Discworld's 5 Best Supporting Characters

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This post by Graeme Neill originally appeared on Pornokitsch on 3/27/15.

The warmth of tributes to Terry Pratchett’s passing – from Neil Gaiman’s sadness at the death of a friend to Nick Harkaway’s exploration of his comedic chops – showed just how loved he was. Broadly ignored by critics and awards, Pratchett was content to write deeply intelligent, complex and hilarious novels that sold and were adored in their millions. I’m sure he coped.

I loved Pratchett as a teen before stupidly putting him to one side for ‘Grown Up’ books. For the past six months I have been making up for my teenage idiocy by reading the Discworld from the start and writing about each book in publication order here. Because Pratchett was the line that links my childhood reading with what I love as an adult. It was time I started looking at that.

There is a myriad of things to love about Discworld but among the best is how it feels like a real place. Even his supporting characters are written with a care and attention that demonstrates his strength as a writer. By way of tribute to Pratchett and his Discworld, I want to put the spotlight on my favourite background players.

1. Cheery Littlebottom

First on the list is easy. It’s CSI: Ankh-Morpork. Cheery is a dwarven forensic expert first seen in Feet of Clay, a character we quickly learn is a woman. Female dwarves have beards and adhere to masculine cultural rules. Sex is, well, confusing. Cheery’s exploration of her femininity, experimenting with heels, make-up and jewellery, could be played for quite offensive laughs.

Pratchett is much better than that. Why Feet of Clay is an amazing book, one of his best, is that it’s about acts of rebellion, from the golem who cannot cope with gaining its own agency and murders as a result, to Vimes, Captain of the City Watch, who refuses to let his butler shave him. Through Cheery looking to break the gender roles dictated to her and the emotional and societal difficulties she faces in doing so, Pratchett humanises the golem’s own struggle and makes the book that much more complex and better as a consequence.

 

Read the full post on Pornokitsch.

 

10 Things Freelance Editors Shouldn’t Do for You

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This post by Lynette Labelle originally appeared on her blog on 2/17/15.

I’ve talked about readers’ expectations and agents’ expectations, but what about writers’ expectations when it comes to hiring a freelance editor? Of course, you’ll want her to be professional, knowledgeable, courteous, respectful, etc. But there are a few things that people have asked me over the years that tell me they don’t really know what to expect from a freelance editor.

Freelance editors won’t (or shouldn’t):

 

-Submit your manuscript to agents or publishers: We can help you improve the work, but it’s up to you to approach agents and publishers with a polished manuscript and hook them.

 

-Guarantee your book will sell after we’ve edited it: Again, we can help you improve the work, but we don’t know how much (if any) of our suggestions you’ve implemented. We don’t know what an agent or publisher is looking for at any particular time or what’s hot in the market. I follow agents’ blogs and industry articles, so I have an idea of what’s selling and what’s not, but this business is very subjective and the market is constantly changing. Agents meet with editors (online or in person) on a regular basis to get to know them and their personal tastes. Freelance editors don’t.

 

Read the full post on Lynette Labelle’s blog.