Brace yourself. Based on my highly unscientific survey of some fellow writers, there’s a good chance you’ve been formatting your paragraphs wrong. It’s not your fault—you can blame the default settings in your word processor. Although I’ve been writing professionally for many (MANY) years, I only recently learned that editors and publishers absolutely hate when…
Writing advice is everywhere. Good writing advice? Not so much. My sole point this month is to get yourself connected to Collaborist. Here’s your portal: https://collaborist.org/ I highly recommend the YouTube chats. Here. Sample topics: And on and on. The co-hosts are Jason Buchholz and Ben LeRoy. The chat is always calm, low-key, and grounded…
I’ve written numerous blogs on the positive aspects of writing, But writing fiction is obviously not all unbridled satisfaction and joy. At times the process can be frustratingly, agonizingly difficult. So misery-inducing as to inspire lines like Ernest Hemingway’s classic remark: “Writing is easy. All you have to do is sit down at the typewriter…
In the past decade, several serial platforms for writers have arisen, including Wattpad, Amazon Vella, Radish, and Fictionate. This article will interview one author who has garnered considerable success on Vella. You can read more about how Vella works and catch up on my last interview here. Since I also publish regularly on Amazon Vella,…
Inventing a character seems pretty basic. You give him (or her, or it) a name, you visualize a face, maybe even conjure up a voice. Not just a literary voice, but a real one, one you can actually hear. You develop mannerisms, manufacture a backstory, and–then what? Throw your character into a situation, of course….