Monthly Archives: February 2023
Genre Tips: How to Write Fantasy – by K.M. Weiland…
on Helping Writers become Authors:
Genre is an important consideration for any writer.
Not only can identifying your story’s genre (and perhaps subgenre) help you create cohesion and resonance amongst your plot, character arcs, and theme, it will also be a crucial piece of information when it comes time to market your story to readers.
Today, I’m opening a five-part series examining major fiction genres, beginning with, “How to write fantasy?”
Continue reading HERE
How to Develop Your Creative Writing Process – by Melissa Donovan…
on Writing Forward:
Writing experts often want us to believe that there is only one worthwhile creative writing process. It usually goes something like this:
- Brainstorm
- Research
- Outline
- Rough draft
- Revise (repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat)
- Edit, proof, and polish
This is a good system — it absolutely works. But does it work for everyone?
Continue reading HERE
A meme for those who enjoy writing…
WRITERS AND BETA READERS
Hi SEers! Denise here to talk about using beta readers once the story is written and given a polish.
I wrote my first couple of books with no feedback other than editing. That left a lot of work for the editor and me when I had to go back and fix things readers noticed.
You can lose readers when they are the ones who find a plot hole or blue eyes in one chapter and brown in another. Yes, an excellent editor might find the eye discrepancy, but what about the plot hole? Those little things can get passed over easily.
Beta readers differ from critique readers, who read your story in small chunks and offer suggestions, while beta readers get the complete story and can see the entire picture. I recently sent my story collection to beta readers. I have the same nervous feeling as I do when waiting…
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How to Use Prologues, Part 12, Summary
Hi SErs! It’s a day of Harmony here at Story Empire 🙂 Today, as promised, we’re here to close up this series on prologues with an easy, at-a-glance summary of the whole topic. For your convenience, I’ve created an A4 downloadable jpeg, which you can save and print if you want to. It details the salient points on prologues. Here’s a link to the previous post on Prologues & Epilogues.
The Downloadable jpeg:
To save the jpeg, simply ‘right-click’ and choose ‘save image as’.
TOP TIP: When you write a good prologue and/or epilogue, and have a valid reason for using one, it will enhance your story rather than detract from it.
Remember: There are NO hard-and-fast rules. You can do anything you want, as long as you do it well and with good reason.
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Fighting Attraction in Romance (Body Language Help) – by Angels Ackerman…
on Writers Helping Writers:
Emotion is the heart of any story, and there is no genre where this holds more true than romance.
Readers look forward to a romantically tense roller coaster ride (how’s that for alliteration) that feels authentic and satisfying as characters are drawn together.
Often though, characters fight this attraction.
They might have goals or responsibilities they believe require all their focus or have something to prove and so are determined to remain independent. And of course, many try to avoid entanglements because their past has shown them that love leads to emotional pain.
Continue reading HERE
Things to consider when querying your novel #amwriting
Hi there, thanks for popping onto my blog.
You will be glad to know a few weeks ago I swan dived into the querying pool with my latest romcom. At the bottom of this blog post is an image of me in the querying pool, chilling and thinking about querying. For noting I am the cool one with the shades.
In my experience querying a draft novel with agents can be a reflective time for the writer.
It’s a process which will make a writer question everything- their creative purpose, their own writing, their writing dreams, their writing life since primary school and ALL the astrologers who predicted that something BIG and WONDERFUL was on its way for their star sign.
If you ever feel like doing six months of intense soul searching – write a novel and query it!
Here are some things to consider when swimming in the…
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Writing the End – Part IV
Greetings Storytellers. Diana here today. I’m back with more thoughts on how to end our books. So far, in this series of posts about Endings, we’ve covered:
In this post, we’re going to browse through the elements that contribute to a satisfying ending for our readers.
I’ve gathered 14 tips/guidelines for you to think about as you plan the awesome conclusion to your story. Not all of them will apply to every ending or to every writer’s approach, but I hope you find some inspiration! Today I’m sharing the first 7 of them, and next month I’ll wrap up the series with the last.
Tips for Writing an Awesome Ending (1-7)
1. Know how your book will end
Every chapter and scene in a book feeds the end of the…
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5 Super-Popular Tropes in Romance Fiction and Why They Work – by Rose Atkinson-Carter…
As a genre, romance is more about the journey than the destination. One of the key promises it makes to the reader is that there will be a happily ever after (sometimes abbreviated as HEA) where the couple rides off together into the sunset. The question readers want to see answered is how they get there.
Often, authors answer that question by using tropes, in other words plot devices that recur. Despite the fact that these elements are used over and over again, they don’t lose their shine. Romances can really be defined by the tropes they use, rather than the subgenre they belong to. What people really come for are specific plot elements they know they enjoy, like love triangles. In this post, I want to explore some of the most popular tropes in romance and dig into why they work so well.
1. Enemies to lovers
First up…
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Jeanne Owens, author 