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Book Review & Contest Insights from Real Reviews and Submissions
What separates great books from the rest? Below are articles with insights from real reviews and contest submissions—what works, what doesn’t, and how to improve your book. You’ll also find a wide range of articles covering writing, publishing, marketing, and more. Each article has a Comments section so you can read advice from other authors and leave your own.
Why Some Books Win Awards (And Most Don’t) — Insights From Real Contest Submissions New!
What separates award-winning books from the rest? After evaluating contest submissions across a wide range of genres, certain patterns become clear. Some books consistently rise to the top. Others, even with strong ideas and clear effort behind them, fall short. The difference is rarely dramatic—it...
What We’ve Learned From Reviewing Hundreds of Thousands of Books (And Why Most Don’t Stand Out) New!
After reviewing and evaluating books across thousands of submissions over the past two decades, certain patterns become impossible to ignore. Some books immediately stand out to reviewers. Others—even well-intentioned ones—fade into the middle or fall short. The difference is rarely luck. It comes down to...
Stop-Time Technique
Many writers believe that writing about the action must be done with immediacy for pacing. Any scenes with action completed quickly, however, can sometimes appear too hurried. The writer has a poetic license to use a stop-time technique. This technique does not intend to throw...
Incredible Tricks That Can Add Depth to Your Story
Authors often have a hard time finding a pace that works for them. Some authors seem to have the gift of writing and storytelling, while some struggle hard to keep their creativity intact. However, that does not mean authors cannot enhance their skills. There are...
Protect Your Writing Time
Since the writing vocation is non-traditional, most of the time it does not operate on fixed schedules. People are drilled in the traditional eight to five work pattern. Writing is often seen by the misinformed as a passion or a hobby that can be set aside...
Excessive Flashbacks
The writer with the idea that characters must be three-dimensional creates a backstory for his characters. The writer then becomes so preoccupied with excessive flashbacks that he loses touch with the present, which is a more important time for the characters. If the writer cannot...
Writing the Destiny Novel
The destiny novel—a type of novel wherein characters are brought together by fate. There are two possible structures in plotting the destiny novel. The story is the same, but the situations differ. Story: Eight pilgrims aboard a boat are in search of a new homeland. They...
Using Philosophy in Fiction Writing 2: Plato’s Cave and the Revolution of Social Fiction
In this course of articles, we take a cursory view of a philosophical social movement or way of thinking and examine how that movement’s ideas can be utilized to enhance your fiction writing, bringing dynamism and realism to your worldbuilding and character motivation. In this...
Using Philosophy in Fiction Writing 1: Marxism, Dystopia and Beyond
In this course of articles, we take a cursory view of a philosophical social movement or way of thinking and examine how that movement’s ideas can be utilized to enhance your fiction writing, bringing dynamism and realism to your worldbuilding and character motivation. In this...
Avoiding Writing Distractions
You are distracted. It is difficult to avoid distractions in a world that peppers our existence with commercial temptations to prey on our weaknesses. When distraction and the thought of how challenging writing kick in, procrastination ensues. Most of us would instead think about writing rather...
Ways to Make Your Protagonist More Real and Relatable to the Reader
Things have changed a lot in the literary world. Readers now look for characters that are relatable and real. They want to see a part of themselves or the people around them in the characters they read about. It is no longer about just fulfilling...
Gender Roles in Romance
We’ve all heard the stories before, about how brave knights save princesses, how superheroes save damsels in distresses. We’ve seen young women fall in love with dark, troubled men and, through the power of love, change them for the better. We’ve heard the manufactured romances...