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Hundreds of Helpful Articles

Hundreds of Helpful Articles

We have created hundreds of articles on topics all authors face in today’s literary landscape. Get help and advice on Writing, Marketing, Publishing, Social Networking, and more. Each article has a Comments section so you can read advice from other authors and leave your own.

Finding Character Inspiration at Thrift Stores

Writers, artists, and creatives often find inspiration in the most unexpected places. One such treasure trove of imagination lies tucked away in the aisles of second-hand shops. These unassuming stores have loads of unique and often retro pieces with worn edges that give a character...

The Computer Ate My Manuscript: What to Do When Your Writing Disappears

There’s a universal nightmare for writers: the moment you hit a wrong button, or your computer crashes, and suddenly your manuscript is gone. You frantically search through the desktop recycle bin, hoping against hope that it’s been filed away, but it’s not there. Your precious...

Creating Your Own Home Writing Retreat

A writing retreat is an organized time away dedicated to an all-in immersion of productive creativity. If you've seen the movie Lonely Planet, Katherine and Owen are at a writer's retreat in Morocco. For me and probably the other 99% of the writer's community, that...

A Passion to Write and the Perseverance to Make It Happen

I was hooked from the first time I set pencil to paper. Once I learned enough words to construct a sentence, I was writing. Why writing? As the youngest of a large family full of storytellers, it was always difficult to get a word in...

Weaving Real Life Stories Into Fiction

My grandmother never talked about her daughter and her tragic death at the age of 24. My mother never mentioned her sister. I only knew about her because, apparently, I looked like her, and I was often called Jo after Aunt Josephine, instead of my...

How Old Should Your Protagonist Be?

When I wrote my “Piccadilly Street” series (“Mrs. Murray’s Ghost” and so on), my publisher wanted it to be a Young Adult novel. I had written my main character for Middle-Grade readers. She raised the protagonist’s age, but it still reads like a Middle-Grade novel....

Bizarro Fiction: Literature’s Wild Frontier

Somewhere out on the furthest fringes of weird, but just before entering pure chaos, sits a niche literary genre that has spent the past few years gaining serious traction. It's not called Bizarro fiction for nothing. This is the space where the bizarre isn’t simply...

The Protagonist Who Can Only Speak in Questions—But Still Manages to Be a Leader!

Have you ever met someone whose entire way of communicating feels like an endless game of 20 Questions? Now, imagine that person leading a group of people successfully. Sounds improbable, doesn't it? Yet, this is precisely what makes our protagonist unforgettable. Every sentence they speak...

Conflict – Every Story Needs It!

“Joseph!” she called again. Grabbing her jacket from behind the door to ward off the November chill, she shrugged into it as she jogged across the backyard. “Joseph Alon Tomah! What do you think you are doing?” she demanded, reaching the boy before he could...

The Pros and Cons of Doing Public Readings

You’ve published your first book and are looking for ways to promote your writing and yourself. The first thing that comes to mind is doing a book signing event at a local bookstore. But, how about a public reading? Is your book suitable for young...