How much backstory is too much? You may have heard it said that prologues are falling out of favour in the publishing industry. Like just about every rumour of its kind (“Publishers and agents are fed up with first-person present-tense narratives!” or “Young Adult dystopian fiction is on its way out…”) this one isn’t really […]
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How to make sure your protagonist’s character arc is doing what it needs to do When writing your story, one of the most crucial elements is your protagonist’s character arc. Readers want to see growth, transformation, and evolution—it’s part of what turns a series of interconnected events into a narrative. So… how do you make
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How to find your author voice When I start working with a new class, I get them to do an exercise in our first session. It’s a deceptively simple writing task: I ask them to describe, in no more than two or three sentences, the room that we’re sitting in. I use this exercise to
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Stop Self-Rejecting: How to Get Past Self-Doubt and Start Submitting Your Novel Once upon a time, I was an unpublished author with a story that meant a lot to me, but wasn’t getting any traction no matter how many places I submitted. Then one evening, my mother handed me a page she’d torn out of
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How to Know When Your Novel is Ready to Submit to Agents and Publishers They say that art is never truly finished — it’s only ever abandoned. Sometimes, the moment of abandonment evolves naturally as the final revisions conclude and the creator takes a deep breath, steps away from their creation, and nods with tired
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The Final Read-Through: A guide to catching sneaky typos before hitting “submit” So, you’ve finally done it. You’ve completed the final draft of your shiny new manuscript. You’ve fought off self-doubt and writer’s block; you’ve conquered plot holes and procrastination. Your protagonist’s character progression forms a perfect arc, your narrative beats are as tightly choreographed
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Learn how to incorporate feedback from beta readers and editors when you’re editing your novel or short story – and how to know what critique to leave out.
Editing from Feedback: How to Incorporate Critique Read More »
Discover 10 of the best free and low-cost resources for emerging authors. From Scrivener to Reedsy, find budget-friendly tools to make your writing life easier.
10 Budget-Friendly Resources for Emerging Authors Read More »
Don’t let perimenopause get between you and your creativity – discover how to nurture your inner author in the face of brain fog and fluctuating energy levels.
Perimenopause and Creativity: Nurturing Your Inner Author (Even Through the Brain Fog) Read More »
Want to sharpen your writing? Discover tips to edit your novel or short story for clear, engaging storytelling. Eliminate the fluff and make your words shine!
Cutting the Fluff: The Art of Ruthless Editing Read More »
