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Dan Brown: 10 tips for writing bestselling suspense
Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code among other books, is one of the top-selling authors of all time. What can aspiring authors learn from his success? Plagiarism scandals aside, Dan Brown's global publishing success garnered endless publicity. The linguist Geoffrey Pullum called Brown on...
July 31st, 2013
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How to start writing a memoir: 10 secrets
Knowing how to start writing a memoir is important if you want to write autobiographical books that hook readers. From humorists like David Sedaris to more serious memoirists, the best memoir writers know how to treat their personal stories with the creativity of a fiction author. 10 tip...
May 23rd, 2013
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5 classic books every teen should read
Look around for recommendations for books that are perfect for teens and chances are you will come across the same three answers over and over again: the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and the Twilight series. Chances are you (if you are a teen) or your teen(s) (if you are a parent), just like most ...
May 7th, 2013
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What The Hobbit characters teach us about character development
If J.R.R. Tolkien knows how to do one thing, it's create characters that readers love. Luckily, he also knows how to create wonderful worlds and engaging plot twists, too, but it's the characters who really stick with you after reading one of his books. In the first book in his history of Middl...
April 23rd, 2013
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5 ways using morning pages will help you finish writing a book
'Morning pages' is a concept popularized in Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way. Using morning pages is a system Cameron describes as something that will 'provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand'. Here are 5 ways writing morning pages daily wil...
April 22nd, 2013
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Who Chekhov was, and why modern writers should care
Anton Chekhov. The short story writer named by nearly every great Western twentieth century writer as a significant influence, who shaped the modern short story as we know it, was this nineteenth century Russian writer. Writers of every genre should be familiar with the work of Chekhov because o...
April 16th, 2013
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What is purple prose? Definition, examples and how to avoid
What is purple prose? It describes sentences that are too mannered and stylized. The Oxford English Dictionary defines purple prose as 'writing that is too elaborate or ornate'. How can you distinguish between good writing and purple prose? Read tips to avoid purple prose in your o...
April 11th, 2013
Read post...Editing tips from Raymond Carver
There are at least two versions of Raymond Carver’s collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. This gives us a unique opportunity to compare the writer’s original work with the edited stories. What lessons about editing are there? Read on for editing tips from Raymond Carver ...
April 9th, 2013
Read post...Tips from Ernest Hemingway's short stories
In novels such as For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms and short stories including “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” American writer Ernest Hemingway explored such themes as restlessness, war, loss and death and became an enormous influence on...
April 2nd, 2013
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How to copyright your novel: Protecting your IP
Wikipedia aka ‘Big Brother’ tells us that copyright is a legal concept, giving the creator of an original work, exclusive rights to it. It could be images, poems, audio recordings, designs, movies … and your book of course. From your point of view, if you consider the blood, sweat and sometim...
February 15th, 2013
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How to write a book proposal: Compelling pitches
Knowing how to write a book proposal or pitch is crucial for hooking publishers' interest. The tips below will help you craft a better proposal: 1. Learn the elements a book proposal should include Your novel's elevator pitch is like a logline. It should give publishers' editors a fast, cl...
February 6th, 2013
Read post...Top 10 writing contests: Prestige and prizes
One of the best ways to get recognised as a writer is to enter a writing competition. Of course you are not guaranteed to win, but if you do you will be able to use that to add to your credibility once you are ready to publish – it is also great practice! The Writer’s Digest: This well-...
January 17th, 2013
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