Okay, true story. Tonight while I was sitting down to edit a short story, two weeks snuck up behind me and hit me in the back of the head. Ack, how could it be time for a new blog post again already? So, I'm kind of cheating. Here's an expanded version of a post I … Continue reading 9 Ways to Find Brilliant Story Ideas
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Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Tips for Querying Literary Agents
One of the things I love about this blog is being able to share with you what I'm learning on my writing journey. Lately, I've been spending a lot of time reading up on how to query literary agents. As you might guess, thanks to my BFF Google, there's plenty to find on this topic. … Continue reading Putting Your Best Foot Forward: Tips for Querying Literary Agents
The Hows and Whys of Critique Partners and Beta Readers
One of the things I love about this blog is being able to share things I'm learning and hopefully help other writers. Today I want to talk about two things that mystified me as a new writer--critique partners and beta readers. It's exhilarating to finish that first draft and type "The End." Then you let … Continue reading The Hows and Whys of Critique Partners and Beta Readers
How to Create a Killer Novel Aesthetic
Hello, friends! If you're a writer who hangs around on social media, no doubt you've heard the term novel aesthetic bandied about by other writers. When I first started on Twitter, I'd see hashtag games asking writers to share an aesthetic, and then a whole string of tweets full of gorgeous pictures. But what is … Continue reading How to Create a Killer Novel Aesthetic
Prologue Pros and Cons: A Guest Post by Meghan Tomlinson
Merry Christmas, dear readers and writers! It's hard to believe, but we're almost to 2018. For my last post of 2017, I'm delighted to share with you a guest post written by Meghan Tomlinson, a fellow writer I met on Twitter earlier this year. Meghan writes NA Fantasy and will hopefully be sending her debut … Continue reading Prologue Pros and Cons: A Guest Post by Meghan Tomlinson
Novel Writing 101: The Finish Line – Now What?
We've come a long way together, friends! Today is our last post for Novel Writing 101, my blog series on how to pre-plan and write the first draft of your novel. If you're anything like me, you're probably not actually done your first draft yet (or, ahem, even close...), but I wanted to wrap up … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: The Finish Line – Now What?
Novel Writing 101: Keeping it Real – Writing When It’s Hard
There's an old adage we writers love to toss around--"You can't edit a blank page." The idea, of course, is that if you want to have something to shape into a book, you have to sit down and write it first. Last week we talked about 5 tips for getting that first draft written; today … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Keeping it Real – Writing When It’s Hard
Novel Writing 101: 5 Tips for Nailing the First Draft
The big moment has finally arrived. You've thought about characters,setting, story structure, and theme. You've created an outline or storyboard or list of scenes. You may even have had moments of panic, asking yourself, can I really do this? (Yes, you can!). Now it's time to tackle the first draft of your novel. And, might … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: 5 Tips for Nailing the First Draft
Novel Writing 101: Building a Story with Scenes
Today's post, as promised, will look at how we can come up with scene ideas to fill in the gaps in our novel outlines. But first, a quick review... What, exactly, is a scene? Simply put, scenes are the building blocks that make up a story. They may contain dialogue, action sequences, narrative, exposition, or … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Building a Story with Scenes
Novel Writing 101: Outlines – Pulling It all Together
We're in the home stretch of pre-planning, dear writers and readers! In our series so far, we've looked at characters and character arcs, loglines, setting, plot structure, and theme. Hopefully you've got lots of notes, full of little gems of insight into different facets of your story. Now what? How do we pull it all … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Outlines – Pulling It all Together
Kellie Michelle Parker 