by Piper Bayard of Bayard & Holmes For those of us who write espionage or crime novels, knowledge of crime is essential. My writing partner, Jay Holmes, is a 45+ year veteran of field intelligence operations, and he has learned a thing or two about criminal activities over the years. Since many crimes that occur Read more
by Colleen M. Story When the publisher for my latest novel, The Beached Ones, asked me about getting blurbs for my book, I replied, “Sure!” Inside, I was thinking, “Oh no!” Though I’ve published five books so far—two novels traditionally published and three nonfiction books self-published—I had never asked for blurbs. I hate to bother Read more
by Penny C. Sansevieri As someone who writes non-fiction and has a longstanding blog where I release free content, I feel I am a great example of an author that has faced and conquered the challenge of convincing people to buy non-fiction books. There is tons of free information out there, and it can be Read more
by James Preston Remember that great scene in “Jaws” 1 -– no, not “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” — where Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss are showing each other their scars? Well, I’m going to do that in this essay. (Forge on, gentle reader, to see how I’ve taken my lumps and lived to Read more
By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy When your story stalls take heart—it’s not the end of your novel. It stinks, but every writer gets stuck from time to time. Some days, it’s a short stall and you struggle with a single scene for a few hours before figuring out how to move forward. Other days, the problem Read more
by Eldred Bird One of the most effective tools we have at our disposal for getting the word out about our books is social media. There’s also no denying that images get more hits than text alone, and videos garner even more attention. Videos and live streams served us well during the events of the Read more
by Laurie Schnebly Campbell How can you tell when it’s time to stop editing your work and start sending it out? We’ve all been through that question. Sometimes every few days, sometimes every few books. But for just about any writer, there are times when it’s hard to know WHEN the work is ready to Read more
by Tiffany Yates Martin Two commonly misinterpreted canons of story can make rampantly using flashbacks in your story deceptively seductive: “Backstory is the story” and “Show, don’t tell.” Flashback seems to fit the bill perfectly, doesn’t it? Dramatizing your main characters’ past in a “real-time” scene from it surely handily addresses both issues. But used Read more
by Holly Lasky The path to understanding and having creative flow is about knowing the origin of and what to do when you don’t have creative flow. Guess who’s in the driver’s seat of your creativity? What do you do when you’re blocked, staring at an empty page waiting to be filled with your brilliance and Read more
by Sandy Vaile Every second person I speak to believes they’ve “got a novel in them”. It’s getting it out and onto the page that’s the tricky part! Only about 3% of people who actually start writing a book, will ever finish it. Fewer still end up with a story that works because they don’t Read more
