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Learn how to successfully publish your book.
Learn how to successfully publish your book.
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
Read post...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
Read post...Good character flaws are key to a believable character. Flawed characters create suspense - we wonder whether their flaws will get the best of them. The imbalances in their natures may create weaknesses that give others the upper hand. Here are tips to create flaws for antagonists or villains (i...
March 22nd, 2018
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Plot structure or narrative structure is a key element of story. Even the most simple children's stories have story events that relate to each other, showing intriguing cause and effect, action and reaction. Here are tips for shaping your story so there is satisfying connection between scenes an...
March 19th, 2018
Read post...Character flaws serve multiple purposes. Often, they're the faults and shortcomings that create conflict between key players in a story. Yet flaws are also useful for creating attraction between characters. Without them, characters feel wooden, 'too perfect'. Without them, attraction might ...
March 15th, 2018
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Foreshadowing is one way to connect scenes in a story across your longer story arcs. Here are examples of how to use foreshadowing in a sentence, along with related foreshadowing tips: 1. Foreshadowing characters' fates in exposition Foreshadowing (literally 'showing before') is usefu...
March 12th, 2018
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Writing a good book is something every fiction writer aspires to. When writers ask for help writing a book, a popular question is 'Is my idea good enough?' Having a great story idea to start with helps. Yet a satisfying novel is a combination of many key components. Here are 10 ingredients that ...
March 8th, 2018
Read post...Novel idea generators and writing prompts are some tools for finding ideas for a story. Yet once you have your central idea - the single sentence that encapsulates the key, interesting details - you need to expand this so you're ready to draft. Here are tips for finding interesting plots, sub-pl...
March 5th, 2018
Read post...What is a synopsis? It's a summary which provides, in one quick read, the unique and compelling aspects of a story. How do you write a synopsis that you can submit with confidence to publishers? Read on for summary-writing tips and examples. First: Beyond defining a synopsis - what should a s...
February 26th, 2018
Read post...The opening chapter of a book needs to hook your reader. How? By creating intrigue, suspense, lovable (or at least compelling) characters and interesting setting or action. Writing chapter one is a challenge, yet for many authors writing chapter two is the stumbling block - how can you develop f...
February 19th, 2018
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The Oxford dictionary defines dialogue as 'a conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or film' (OED). Yet the 'or more' (dialogue between more than two characters) is often confusing to write. How do you write and format dialogue well in a scene involving more t...
February 12th, 2018
Read post...There are two sides to learning how to start a book: Deciding on a process for starting and finding the beginning of the story itself. Here are tips for both aspects: How to start a book: Refining your process It's key to have an idea of how to start writing a book before you wor...
January 29th, 2018
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