🎉 NowNovel has a new look! Allow us to introduce ourselves.
The unreliable narrator: Creating surprise in your story
The unreliable narrator is a useful fiction device for creating surprise in your story and avoiding predictability. Here are some ways that unreliable narrators can be used to shape a novel’s form or to surprise and build tension in the reader: What is an unreliable narrator? What is ...
September 7th, 2015
Read post...
How to end a story: Write satisfying closing chapters
If you have ever found a book spoiled by its ending, you know it's important to learn how to end a story well. Here are 8 pointers on how to end a novel. When you've written a draft ending, submit it for writing critique. 1. Decide the type of story ending you want Ending yo...
September 3rd, 2015
Read post...
Writing a novel: 8 writing tips from Ursula K. Le Guin
The esteemed fantasy and science fiction writer Ursula K. Le Guin has often provided great advice for writing a novel. In interviews, public speeches, essays and her writing manual Steering the Craft, Le Guin provides many insights into how to write better and master your prose. Here a...
August 31st, 2015
Read post...
Writing a fantasy novel: 34 must-visit websites
Writing a fantasy novel involves many considerations: Worldbuilding, avoiding clichés of the genre, using popular elements such as magic originally and more. These 34 must-visit fantasy writing resources will help you with every aspect from creating fantasy maps to naming your fantasy ...
August 30th, 2015
Read post...
The writing process: 7 steps to structure and success
'The writing process' - this is a term you might hear often, but how do you put in place a set of writing approaches that will help you finish your novel? Every writer has a process that works for them, and discovering the time, place, tools and other aspects of writing that work best ...
August 20th, 2015
Read post...
How to write a novel: Story beginnings, middles and ends
Learning how to write a novel involves mastering many skills - description, narration, crafting believable characters and more. Understanding how to writing engaging story beginnings, middles and endings is also key. Here are key tips on writing each of these three important parts of a book...
August 17th, 2015
Read post...
Creating fantasy worlds: Social critique
Creating fantasy worlds can be an excellent means for social critique because writers have the opportunity to imagine worlds that are entirely different from our own. This allows highlighting its quirks and issues through contrast and similarity. Here’s why it is important for writers to do so a...
July 30th, 2015
Read post...
Writing for all ages: why do adults read YA novels?
Depending on which survey you read, adults buy anywhere from 55 to 80 percent of YA novels, and they make a substantial number of those purchases for themselves, but why is YA fiction writing for all ages? Here are a few reasons along with writing tips that writers of all types of fiction can ta...
July 27th, 2015
Read post...
Writing confidence: Silencing the 'You can't write' voice
Like most writers, you may sometimes struggle with self-doubt. Yet step one in learning how to write a novel entails learning to differentiate between constructive (self) criticism and unproductive criticism. Even if you are critical of your own work, here are tips to boost your writing confiden...
July 21st, 2015
Read post...
How to pace a crime novel
If you want to write gripping, gritty police procedurals or other crime fiction, knowing how to pace a crime novel is essential. An effective crime novel must keep the reader turning pages while revealing enough information to make the narrative flow at a cracking pace. Here are some suggestions...
July 15th, 2015
Read post...
How to write believable characters
Knowing how to write believable characters is vital for any fiction writer. A character that seems like a stock character - the hero, the villain, the orphan, the unwilling savior - can easily become too predictable. So how do you create a great character? There are several ways to make sure tha...
July 13th, 2015
Read post...
Writing a novel: Why it will increase your happiness
Finishing a novel can have many benefits, but can it also increase your happiness? Even though there is a stereotype of artists, including writers, as tortured, unhappy souls, there are plenty of ways that finishing your book can make you a happier person: Writing leads to flow which leads to...
July 9th, 2015
Read post...
