If you’re a traveling bookworm, Jane Austen’s England will bring the characters and settings in her famous novels to life as you follow her own life story. One of England’s greatest and most celebrated novelists, Jane Austen was born in the late 18th century and grew up in Hampshire in the early 19th century. The […]
I’ve seen a lot of beta reading questions around the internet, and they’re mostly bad. You don’t want to give the same set of questions to every beta reader. It’s best if you hand-select questions for each reader based on what you know about them. For instance, the questions you want to ask a casual […]
It’s incredibly difficult to find beta readers. It’s almost easier to find an editor, because the relationship is transactional. Money = reading + advice. But with a beta reader, you’re asking someone to commit 5 – 10 hours of their life to your brain and story. For free. That’s a huge commitment, and you have […]
I learned about Tertulia, the book recommendation app, from the New York Times article. So I decided to try it out. When I downloaded the app, it said there was a waiting list (uh, oh). But when I signed up, I immediately got an invite (although it went to my spam folder, so I didn’t […]
1. Present Tense This is the default tense of nearly all beginning writers. The trouble is that few established authors use it. It’s more of an exception than the rule. So when you write your book in present tense, it’s like you’re marking it with a giant stamp that screams to every agent, publishers, and […]
Writers can often feel burned out or directionless. Here are 5 podcasts for writers to help inspire, educate, entertain, and get them in the right mindset.
It doesn’t matter what you call it — flash fiction, sudden fiction, micro fiction, short-short — stories under 1000 words offer a quick zing of literary delight. But have you ever wondered whether anyone actually read your flash fiction piece you published online? This list gives you a good idea of how many eyeballs it reached by ranking the […]
I love podcasts for writers. Why? Because I can learn about my favorite author’s writing process while I’m folding towels, and get great advice about creating characters while commuting. Below I’ve categorized my favorite 42 podcasts for writers into five categories: Writing Craft The Business of Writing Revising and Editing Genre Podcasts Author Interviews I’ve […]
Writers hate the term genre. Readers love it. This is because genre creates expectations. Will these characters be able to fly, shapeshift, fall in love? Whether you choose to follow these expectations or not is up to you! But it is nice to be able to explain your story to agents, publishers, and readers using […]
This is a parable of a writer named Austin, and how he found his audience through writing four novels. Austin lived near a major metropolis in the United States, was middle class, and he wanted more than anything to become a writer. He read all the right people, went to all the right conferences, and […]
