Don’t Just Write A Novel, Grow An Author

Back in 2018, Jill Williamson, Shannon Dittemore, and myself were captivated by this idea that we’re not just writing novels, we’re growing authors. We spent the whole year detailing our writing processes. Many of the posts eventually made their way into our book, Write Your Novel.

Here’s the master lists of posts from this series:

Writing A New Story: Where I Start (Jill)

Committing To An Idea (Shannon)

How To Create Time and Space For Writing (Stephanie)

Writing A New Story: Making Lists For Worldbuilding and Characterization (Jill)

The Value of First Thoughts (Shannon)

From Story Spark to Story Blurb (Stephanie)

Creating a Map For A New Storyworld (Jill)

Discovering My Protagonist (Shannon)

How To Effectively And Efficiently Do Research For Your Historical Novel (Stephanie)

What to Do When Your Ideas are in Someone Else’s Book (Jill)

Discovering My Cast of Characters (Shannon)

Ideas for How To Organize Your Research Notes (Stephanie)

When You Need More Research and Worldbuilding (Jill)

Discovering My Setting (Shannon)

The 3 Questions You Need to Answer About Your Main Character Before You Start Your Novel (Stephanie)

Letting First Thoughts Settle Into Place (Shannon)

8 Keys To Opening Your Story The Right Way (Stephanie)

Deeper Character Development: 5 Things to Know About Your Main Characters (Jill)

Discovering People Groups and Backstory (Shannon)

Five Guidelines For A Great Chapter Two (Stephanie)

How To Plot Your Story and Create a Loose Outline (Jill)

Genre Conventions and Reader Expectations (Shannon)

Planning Out A Series (Jill)

Organizing What I’ve Discovered And Writing A Working Synopsis (Shannon)

How to Use Headers in Microsoft Word To Organize Your Novel (Jill)

Discovering Your Theme (Shannon)

10 Tricks For Rocking Your First Draft (Stephanie)

Weaving Theme Into Your Story (Shannon)

Why It’s Important to Understand How Stories Work (Stephanie)

Plot Out The Perfect Ending (Jill)

Drafting A Book One Scene At A Time (Shannon)

How To Break Free of A Writing Slump (Stephanie)

Writing A Synopsis, Jill’s Method (Jill, obviously!)

How To Craft The Perfect Opening Scene (Shannon)

How To Craft High Impact Scenes For Your Book: Part One and Part Two (Stephanie)

How Do You Define Your Reader? (Jill)

How To Identify and Correct Info Dumps (Shannon)

How To Write Back Cover Copy For Your Novel (Jill)

How To Make Sure Every Character Counts In Your Story (Stephanie)

What Do You Do When You’re Stuck After Writing A Few Chapters? (Jill)

Five Promises You Make To The Reader (Shannon)

Writing A Book Proposal (Jill)

10 Tips For Planning A Series In Advance (Jill)

Coming Back To The Page (Shannon)

Writing The Middle of your Story (Stephanie)

How to Get Back on Track When You’ve Been Away from Your Story (Jill)

Story Middles: Finding Cracks In Your Masterpiece (Shannon)

Writing The Middle of Your Story: The Big Midpoint Scene (Stephanie)

Story Middles: Fixing Character Problems (Shannon)

How To Create Strong Obstacles and Plot Twists For Your Novel (Stephanie)

How To Make Good On Your Promise of the Premise (Jill)

Story Middles: Fixing Plot Problems (Shannon)

How to Make a Strong Midpoint Twist and Mirror Moment (Jill)

Story Middles: Fixing Setting Problems (Shannon)

Perfectionism and Writing: How to embrace “Good Enough” so you can actually get stuff done (Stephanie)

All is Lost & the Dark Night of the Soul (Jill)

3 Ways I Totally Messed Up The End of My Novel (Stephanie)

How To Write A Satisfying “Final Battle” When Your Villain Isn’t Darth Vader, Lord Voldemort, or President Snow (Stephanie)

5 Reasons I Don’t Let Anyone See My First Drafts (Stephanie)

The Five Step Finale and Final Image (Jill)

Writing The Final Battle (Shannon)

Filling in the Gaps: Connecting Fragmented Scenes in Your Novel (Jill)

The Denoument (Shan)

What Are Beta And Sensitivity Readers? (Jill)

The Cost of Crossing The Finish Line (Shan)