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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...
8 Simple Steps to Developing a Story Idea for Beginners
So, you want to write your first story, and you are wondering how to go about it. Well, there are no hard and fast rules to fleshing out a story idea. Some writers prefer to map out every slight detail before writing, while others just...
10 Major Elements A Mystery Story Should Have
Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, Jessica Fletcher, Thomas Magnum, Philip Marlowe. These characters have entertained us with tales of their exploits in solving hard crimes. Their mystery stories have become many fans' favorites over the years, and you might want to add yours to the never-ending list. For...
The 5 Types of Characters Based on Quality and Development
In crafting a compelling character, you need to determine what kind of character you want them to be. Are they going to be characters that change over the course of the story, characters that remain the same throughout the story, or characters that represent a...
7 Character Roles in a Story
The foundation of every great story lies in the characters. What makes a story interesting, pulling readers to continue flipping the pages, is how compelling these characters are; hence, the need to make them riveting and realistic. The first step to achieving this is defining...
12 Popular Character Archetypes in Fiction
Characters in a work of fiction can be classified based on archetypes. Conforming a character to a particular archetype doesn't mean they have to be two-dimensional and stereotypical. The archetype can serve as a base for who they are at their core; you can then...
Journal Prompts for the Modern Witch (or anyone, really)
I incorporate a lot of my writing into my witchcraft practice and celebrations, usually when I am writing spells or rituals to perform. But often now I find myself doing a lot more on the down-low and writing more in my journal. Remembering the past harvest...
Why and How to Eliminate Filler Words
“Write like you talk” is common instruction to new writers, and it’s good advice—to a degree. The axiom is intended to make the written word sound natural, which it should. But an issue arises when writers take the suggestion too literally. For example, if we’re speaking about our...
Let's Talk Micro Poetry: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
What is micropoetry? "Micropoetry is a genre of poetic verse which is characterized by its extreme brevity. In other words, a micropoem is a short poem." (Quote pulled from Micropoetry.) Think of modern-day poets like Rupi Kaur, Amanda Lovelace, and R.H. Sin who all write some form of micropoetry or instapoetry. The Good: I...
Writing/Journal Prompts (Poetry Edition)
My book In the Mid-Hours comes out in less than a week, and I feel too busy with promoting it and just feeling all the nerves as the release day approaches closer so writing anything new has been sort of difficult for me. So to...
How to Benefit from Your Writing App’s Error-Catching Features
I teach writing courses at a university, and I’m sometimes astonished that my students submit stories that contain spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes. I realize they’re learning to write and that they, therefore, make mistakes—that’s why they’re called students. But the amazing part is that...