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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...
The Plotter's Post-It: Using Post-It Notes to Map Out and Rearrange Your Plot
Organizing the plot for a compelling novel can be overwhelming, with numerous factors to consider. However, writers have an advantage as Post-It notes provide them with a straightforward and efficient method of arranging their ideas. This article explores how these vibrant adhesive squares serve as...
The Character Casting Call: Holding Auditions for Your Characters to Explore their Depths
Rich and dynamic characters are the lifeblood of compelling storytelling, much like the perfect casting for a successful film. As writers, we embark on a thrilling journey akin to a casting call, where we 'audition' our characters to unveil their depths and complexities. This process...
The Writer's Challenge Jar: Filling a Jar with Writing Challenges and Drawing One Each Day
Imagine a simple jar filled with slips of paper, each one holding a unique writing challenge. Every day, you draw one slip and complete the prompt or task written on it. A Writer's Challenge Jar can work wonders, magically turning your writing routine into a...
The Character's Playlist: Compiling Music that Your Characters Would Listen To and Writing to It
Have you ever tried writing to music? If you've ever found yourself listening to a song and thinking, 'This is precisely what my character would listen to,' then you're ready to build a character playlist. It's a customized music collection that brings your character's powers...
The Writer's Potion Cabinet: Creating Elixirs for Character Transformation
Characters are not just the heart of the narrative; they are its pulse. To keep readers engaged, characters must be dynamic, evolving authentically and intriguingly. The most effective way any writer can achieve this is by having a metaphorical potion cabinet—a collection of transformative elements,...
The Fictional Fashionista: Dressing Your Characters for Success on the Page
In the world of writing and literature, slight details, from places of narration to expressions portrayed, matter. Somewhere in between falls the fashionable side of characters and what they wear, conveying their personality, status, and even plot points. The dress sense of the fictional characters leaves a...
Writing About Food
Have you ever considered writing about food? Perhaps you have some special, unique family recipes you can share with the world. Or an underused food that might spark some interest. Or you just love to eat and want to share the passion of enjoying a...
The Eccentric Encyclopedia of Fictional Phobias: Creating Characters with Unusual Fears
As human beings, we are somehow constrained by certain kinds of fears. Some common fears, like spiders, heights, and even darkness, are merely explored in tales and described by writers. There is a new realm of phobia that is waiting to be unraveled – the...
The Mythology of Motivation: Unearthing Ancient Wisdom to Inspire Your Writing
"Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. It has been well said that mythology is the penultimate truth--penultimate because the ultimate cannot be put into words." - Joseph Campbell Writers employ various techniques to seek inspiration in the vast realm of creativity....
The Truth About Writer's Guilt
We all know the feeling of writer's guilt—that intense pang that strikes when we're not writing, especially for those who can only write part-time. It's like we're committing a writing sin, a feeling that's all too familiar. But let's be clear: This isn't about procrastination—that...