Nick Bailey

Contributor

Nick Bailey writes about anything and everything in the realm of writing and publishing. From articles about honing your craft to launching your book, Nick aims to provide valuable insights and practical tips to the NowNovel community in his posts. Aside from stories, Nick enjoys hiking, electronic music, and filling up his personal cookbook with new recipes.

Recent posts

Writing techniques to polish your prose

Writing techniques make individual authors' styles distinctive. From poetic devices (such as metaphor and simile) to narrative strategies, writers use various literary techniques and in doing so create their (often unmistakable) personal styles. Here are writing techniques you can use to elevate...

April 12th, 2018

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How to build narrative pace using grammar

There are multiple factors that determine narrative pace, the rate at which your story's narrated action unfolds. Tone and word choice are two factors. Yet having a good command of grammar helps too. Try these tips to build better pacing: 1. Master the participial phrase A participle is a ...

April 5th, 2018

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Archetype examples: Write great characters from universals

Archetypes are useful for imagining diverse, interesting characters. Literature is full of jesters and jokers, lovers, warriors, wise sages, and fools. Some of these are literal (the fool is a literal court jester who entertains a king), others metaphorical (the 'class clown' who loves to entert...

March 29th, 2018

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12 international writing contests to enter this year

Writing contests are useful for developing your writing craft and giving yourself a deadline to finish something polished. Often, you receive valuable feedback from experienced judges. It's best to see writing competition prizes as a possible bonus. Treat international writing contests as exerci...

January 22nd, 2018

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Being a fiction writing coach: 5 valuable lessons

Being a fiction writing coach gives daily insights into the common and different struggles aspiring authors face. It also helps us find solutions we can apply to challenges in our own creative work. Here are 5 valuable lessons we've learned through working with diverse writers: 1. Beckett was...

January 4th, 2018

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How to write a character unlike you

In this guest contribution by ESL teacher Ethan Miller, Ethan shares ideas for creating characters who are completely different from yourself. Character creation is a key element of writing a novel. Authors, knowingly or unknowingly, often create characters that borrow heavily from their own...

October 5th, 2017

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