by Shannon Dittemore | Sep 13, 2019 | Mailbag, Writing
I have something new for you all, but REALLY, you helped create it. Yesterday, in a desperate attempt to come up with a blog topic, I sent out a call for writing questions on Instagram. Boy, did you all respond! THANK YOU for that. Many of the questions felt like they...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 11, 2019 | Book Club Posts, First Drafts, Learning from Other Authors, Story Beginnings
We are in week two of the Go Teen Writers Book Club. I’m enjoying this book so far and hope you are too. Let’s jump right into things today, shall we? Story Trumps Structure, Chapter 2: Orientation Chapter Recap: Mr. James is talking about story openings in this...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 9, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Self-Publishing
Two weeks ago, I gave an overview of the traditional publishing process, and today I’ll focus on self-publishing, also called indie publishing. I don’t consider myself a self-publishing expert at all, but I did choose indie over traditional for three of my...
by Shannon Dittemore | Sep 6, 2019 | Author Life, Mailbag, The Craft of Writing, Writing, Writing Life
It’s another Go Teen Writers Mailbag! And today we have a heartfelt question surrounding an issue many of us have pondered at one point or another. Charlie asks: Do you have any tips on writing deep, moving scenes in your novel, while avoiding being preachy or...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 4, 2019 | Book Club Posts, First Drafts, Plot, Story Structure
Today kicks off the first day of the Go Teen Writers Book Club. I’m so excited to read a craft book with all of you. First, a couple items of business. The winner of a copy of My Day at Disney is Adaline Griffiths. Congrats! Also, I haven’t given you a Jill Report in...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 2, 2019 | 100-for-100
We are so excited about this list of finishers for our annual summer 100 words for 100 days writing challenge. While every summer feels fun, this one felt particularly exciting as email after email rolled in about how many words were being written and discipline that...
by Shannon Dittemore | Aug 30, 2019 | Author Life, Productivity, Writing, Writing Life
Did you all see this tweet from author Erin Morgenstern? When it popped up in my feed, I almost choked. People have been tagging me in complaints about my books being slow so often lately I've decided to start taking it as a compliment. — erin morgenstern...
by Jill Williamson | Aug 28, 2019 | Guest Posts, Learning from Other Authors, Self-Publishing, Writing
Jill here. A couple things before we dive into today’s interview. First, congratulations to Jerah Winn, who won a copy of Story Trumps Structure by Steven James from the blog giveaway. Yay! For those of you joining the book club, today is your first reading...
by Stephanie Morrill | Aug 26, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Writing
Since we frequently get questions about publishing, I thought it could be beneficial to see the traditional and self-publishing processes at a glance. I’ve talked about the traditional path once before in my post Publishing 101, but it’s been a few years,...
by Shannon Dittemore | Aug 23, 2019 | Brainstorming, First Drafts, Plot
I’m not an outliner. The very idea of making decisions on behalf of my characters before I hear their voices in my head makes me itch. I write to find these things out. To do it any other way feels like planning out all my rest stops on a road trip–a waste of time....
