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fan fiction

What Are Your Writing Strengths?

Man hanging upside down while bouldering with text: Do You Know Your Strengths?

In situations where we want to improve—such as writing—we focus our time on analyzing our weaknesses, and that’s necessary to identify how we can reach the next level of expertise. But at the same time, if we fail to recognize our strengths, we might suffer in several ways.

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September 5, 2017

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Reconnecting with Our Passions: Storytelling

A pencil tied in a knot with text: Lost Your Passion for Writing?

In my last post, we talked about struggling to write when suffering from burnout. Maintaining a connection with our passions can help us endure the problems of life, and remembering how and why we have passion for writing might help us recover from burnout.

June 29, 2017

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The New Face of Book Pirates: Plagiarists

Pirate skulls with text: Pirates and Plagiarism

Surprisingly, many authors haven’t bothered worrying about book pirates. They figured a few copies going to readers who never would have paid for them anyway didn’t matter. Heck, some authors even thought book pirates could be good for their career. Spread the word, appeal to more readers who might buy their […]

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July 30, 2013

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Amazon’s Fan Fiction Model: Is It a Good Idea?

Kindle Worlds logo with text: Good Idea? Or Bad Idea?

The internet exploded yesterday with Amazon’s introduction of “Kindle Worlds,” a new publishing model for writers inspired to write fan fiction (fanfic). Everyone and anyone has been commenting on this development, often with gnashing of teeth. Some see this as a win for the fanfic authors, and some see this […]

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May 23, 2013

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The “New Adult” Genre: Why Does It Exist?

Graduation cap with text: The "New Adult" Genre: Why Does It Exist?

Publishing industry news has exploded with stories about a new genre, called New Adult. The New Adult genre is meant to bridge the supposed gap between Young Adult (teen) books and general Adult fiction books. Every news site from the New York Times to Publishers Weekly has been giving their […]

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January 8, 2013

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Fan Fiction to Published Book: A Case Study

Into the Dark cover image with text: ...And the Journey from Fan Fiction to Published Book

Last time, we discussed the different options for publishing a story that had its genesis in fan fiction: name-change-only, reworking, and rewriting. Whether we believe there’s ever a “right” way to publish a story that began as fan fiction (fanfic), authors who completely rewrite their story should be recognized for at least […]

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December 13, 2012

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Can Writers Reuse Their Own Work?

Printer control screen with text: Can We Copy Our Own Work?

On the surface, this might seem like a clear-cut question. Unless we’ve turned the copyright over to another entity, it seems like we should be able to reuse our own work. However the issues surrounding what is sometimes termed “self-plagiarism” are more complicated than they might first appear. Many of us […]

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December 11, 2012

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The Hard Work of Writing: Do You Embrace It?

Woman hugging a tree bigger than she can get her arms around

When you first started writing, did you realize how much work it would take? Or were you like most of us, thinking that you’d written your share of emails, essays, or Christmas letters and that writing a whole story wouldn’t be—couldn’t be—that much harder? But at some point—maybe it’s when […]

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July 3, 2012

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