Category: Writing Tips

Save Money on Professional Edits—6 Easy Ways to Clean Up Your Own Manuscript

Over my career I have literally edited thousands of works, most of them written by emerging writers. My greatest frustration always was (and still is) when I couldn’t even GET to critiquing the deeper story elements because I was too distracted by these all too common oopses. Good editors are NOT cheap. There are also many editors …

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Unpacking the "Character-Driven" Story—How to Make Your Story Sizzle

Often what will separate the forgettable detective book from, say a Harry Bosch book, is this added layer of character depth that just gives the story this delicious je ne sais quoi that leaves us wanting more.

How to SELL Your Book—First, What IS It?

So once we have an idea for a story this is not enough, unless we are just writing for a hobby. If we actually one day hope to sell what we are writing we need to ask the hard questions.

The Single Largest Problem of Most First Time Novels

All righty. So we have spent a couple of posts talking about getting our head right when it comes to doing this writing thing. Once we get our heads in the game, then the practical How To advice gets a heck of a lot more mileage. Today we are going to talk about the writing …

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Psychology of the Hater—Using our Naysayers to Fuel Greatness

If everybody loves us we are doing something wrong. We are blasé. We are the mediocre middle and nobody cares or even notices the mediocre middle.