Today, Janice Hardy shares her revision advice on how to include the right amount of backstory. Too much slows the pace, and too little can leave readers confused. Her tips help us avoid the issue of slow pacing, learn how to hide backstory, and identify when we need more.
Pin It
Read More
Newsletters are an important tool for holding onto our readers from book to book, but how do we want to grow our list? Do we want to go for quantity or quality? Let’s explore the pros and cons of those two philosophies.
Pin It
Read More
There are almost an infinite number of ways we can develop our story. As long as we end up with a finished book, our process works. And just like the variety found in the overall writing processes we might use, we have many options for how to come up with our protagonist’s arc as well.
Pin It
Read More
Over the years, a sharp division has split the writing community into two camps: traditional publishing and self-publishing. However, the current us-vs.-them attitude doesn’t seem nearly as bad as it used to be. When writers research their options for which path they should take, what advice do they encounter now?
Pin It
Read More
Today, Janice Hardy shares her tip for getting unstuck with our plot. Whether we’re plotters or pantsers, working backward from the end can help us figure out our story’s plot. Sometimes we need to shake up how we do things to get the creative juices flowing again, and working backward can be the key we need.
Pin It
Read More
One way we can keep our readers from one book to the next is to start a “new release” newsletter. But first, we have to know the best practices for newsletters.
Pin It
Read More
This year at RWA, I was eligible to attend special published-authors-only workshops geared toward those with more experience, and I want to share some of the highlights from those workshops, as I think we can all benefit from many of the insights.
Pin It
Read More
If we have multiple story ideas, how do we decide which one we should write next? We want to pick one that we feel strongly enough about that when the going gets hard—and it will—we won’t be tempted by a different shiny idea. So how can we avoid second guessing ourselves?
Pin It
Read More
In the quest to come up with unique stories, we’ve probably all explored different situations, characters, and premises. Another way to add more layers of uniqueness to our stories is by exploring different cultures.
Pin It
Read More
One way we can keep our readers from one book to the next is to encourage them to connect with us or our stories. Bonus content on our website is one way to create engaged readers.
Pin It
Read More