by Jill Williamson | May 17, 2023 | Brainstorming, Creativity, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, World Building
I’m a storyworld first author. This means, I must spend time creating my world before I can start writing. For me, this process usually starts with drawing a map. It’s no secret how much I love book maps, so I’m going to post about them for the next...
by Shannon Dittemore | May 10, 2023 | Author Life, Encouragement, Time Management
About a decade ago, following the release of my third book, I found myself in a very strange season. After a year and a half of drafting and editing and blog tours and book releases and marketing endeavors, my first publishing contract had run its course. The Angel...
by Stephanie Morrill | May 3, 2023 | Encouragement, Getting Published, Writing Life
Save the date! The 100-for-100 writing challenge starts on Monday, June 12th! This is the most popular event we host every year, and I’m very excited to bring it back. If you’re unfamiliar with the 100-for-100, this is a community challenge to write 100...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 26, 2023 | Creativity, Encouragement, Practicing, Writing Life
There are pieces of the writing life that get easier the longer you’ve been on your journey. Writing a synopsis, for example, used to be a multiple-day process with lots of grumbling. Now I’ve learned what makes it enjoyable for me (doing it before the...
by Jill Williamson | Apr 19, 2023 | Dialogue, Editing, Punctuation, Tips From Editors
As I’ve been mentoring my Blood of Kings Legends authors, I’ve found myself going back to some of the things I learned from my first few editors in the publishing industry. These were the people who taught me many of the hard and fast “rules” of writing that I missed...
by Shannon Dittemore | Apr 12, 2023 | Author Life, Characters, Creativity, Discovery Writing, Writing, Writing Life
Writing a novel isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s work. And that’s exactly as it should be. Every story starts with the shimmer of an idea. Close enough that you can see its potential, and far enough from realization that you have to chase it down....
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 5, 2023 | Author Life, Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Writing Life
Art is subjective. We all know this. It’s why there are award-winning books that you think are terrible. Or why you loaned a book to your best friend because it was the best thing you’d ever read, and she read two chapters before declaring it was boring....
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 29, 2023 | Author Life, Encouragement, Learning from Other Authors, Writing Life
For many years, I’ve envied those who pursue careers with well-defined paths. If you want to be a teacher, you go to college, you get your degree in education, you log your student teaching hours, and then you start applying for teaching jobs. None of that is...
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 22, 2023 | Editing, Theme
Whenever I teach about how to accept feedback from others regarding your work, I always say something along the lines of, “If it’s just one persons opinion, weigh that differently than if multiple critiquers are saying it to you.” So a few months...
by Jill Williamson | Mar 15, 2023 | Getting Published, Learning from Other Authors
(A version of this post was originally published September 24, 2012) Query letters often feel daunting and mysterious, but they really haven’t changed much in the past dozen years. Roseanna White wrote an excellent post that you can check out...
