25 Quotes to Inspire Your Creative Writing
Looking for a little advice or motivation to inspire your creativity? Below, we have put together a list of 25 quotes from famous authors, mentors, and other wise individuals to help you on your writing journey.
Read MoreBrainstorming Fiction: What to Do When Your Story Gets “Stuck”
When writing fiction, there may be times when your creativity stalls and you don’t know which way the story should go. Or perhaps the obvious next step forward seems boring.
In our post, Brainstorming Fiction: What to Do When Your Story Gets “Stuck” we give you a tool that can be used for characters, conflict, plot, setting, or dialogue to unlock your imagination, spice up your acts, and make your story as interesting and engaging as it can possibly be!
Read MoreLearn to Plot Fiction Writing Series: Story Analysis of “Beauty and the Beast”
Many writers believe they can just sit down and write whatever pops into their head. However, most Popular Fiction contains specific components or “Plot Points” that serve to move a story forward from beginning to end.
In our Learn to Plot Fiction Writing Series: Story Analysis of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” we will show you how to recognize each element and provide you with a Free Plot Template so you can draft satisfying, high-quality stories of your own.
Read MoreHow to Plot Your Fictional Novel (with Free Template Included)
Solid Story Structure. What is it? If you wish to write a satisfying fictional story for your readers, then you must learn the specific elements or ‘Plot Points’ that nearly all Popular Fiction stories share. Using our Free Plot Sketch Template, included in our post, How to Plot Your Fictional Novel, you will be able to identify the various turning points in both movies and books and keep your own stories on track from beginning to end.
Read MoreHow to Research a Setting for Your Fictional Novel
Settings. Where does your story take place? Is it a real place?
Even if you choose to ‘make up’ a setting, you may still want to base some of the details off a real place to make it feel real. Researching a setting may also inspire character or plot details.
In our post, How to Research a Setting for Your Fictional Novel, you can come along on a photo-journal research trip and learn a few tricks to create realistic settings for your own story.
Read MoreThe Ultimate Book Signing Checklist: What to Bring to Your First Book Signing
Book signings can help promote books and generate more sales, but have you ever wondered what an author should bring to such an event to make it as easy, efficient, enjoyable, and engaging as it can possibly be?
As a multi-published author of both traditionally published and self-published books, I have attended numerous book signing events and hope Book Signing Checklist for Authors helps you prepare for a successful book signing event of your own.
5 Questions to Create Believable Villains
What is the difference between an antagonist and a villain? What motivates a villain to do heartless, hurtful, vindictive, terrible things? How can you bring the villain in your fictional story to life for your reader in an identifiable, believable, understandable way?
In our post, 5 Questions to Create Believable Villains, we explore the first questions you should ask when you start to brainstorm this type of character for your story.
Why Your Characters Need Story-Worthy Goals
Have you ever been told by an agent or editor, reviewer, critique partner, or reader that your writing was blah because your main character’s goal was weak, not strong enough, that it wasn’t ‘story-worthy?’
What does ‘story-worthy’ even mean?
In the post below, we will discuss what makes a goal story-worthy so that you can write engaging stories that hold your reader’s attention from beginning to end.
3 Levels of Goal Setting for Fiction Writers
Before you sit down to write a book, set yourself up for success by getting clear on what you hope to achieve.
Why do you want to be a writer? Do you have a career plan? What is the purpose for your story? Are your character’s goals strong enough to impact readers?
In the post below, we show you how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals on three distinct levels: Goals for you (the author), Goals for your story, and Goals for your fictional characters.
Fiction Writing: How to Write a Back Cover Blurb that Sells
Do you have trouble coming up with back cover blurbs for your story? Do you wonder what should be included or struggle with the wording?
Writing a back cover blurb can be both overwhelming and time-consuming as you try to summarize a 400-page book in just a few short paragraphs. I know that I have spent endless hours, sometimes days, tweaking the words again and again. Sometimes, I end up with dozens of different versions.
So how is an author to know when they have got it just right?
In this post, we will discuss the needed components and give you a template to construct each paragraph, so that you will have the best chance of writing a back cover blurb that entices the reader and convinces them to buy your book.
Read More25 Quotes, Tips, and Advice from Famous Authors
Are you an aspiring writer who could use some guidance from others while writing your next manuscript or attempting to finish your next big literary project? Let some of these famous authors become your mentors as they deliver their tips and advice below.
Read MoreWhat is an Author Platform and Why Do Writers Need One?
What is an author platform? Why do you need one? These are questions many authors have when starting out. It is a topic frequently discussed at writing conferences with varying different definitions and opinions. When meeting with agents and editors they may ask you about your author platform. But what Is it exactly? In this article, we go over What is an Author Platform and Why Do Writers Need One?
Read MoreFiction Writing: How to Name Your Cast of Characters
Choosing names for the characters in your fictional story can be done at random, like drawing names out of a hat, or purposely planned out to add greater depth and meaning to the tale you desire to tell.
Whichever method you choose, you may want to consider using our top 5 suggestions for Fiction Writing: How to Name Your Cast of Characters to make each name recognizable, distinguished, and easy to remember for both you and your readers.
How to Captivate Your Readers with Scene-Ending Hooks
One of the best lines of praise a writer can receive from a reader is, “Your story was so good I couldn’t put it down!” This is the kind of story that is often referred to as a ‘page-turner.’ The reader becomes so involved in the unfolding events of the story that they cannot stop reading because they do not want to miss out on what happens next. Would you like to write a story like that? If so, keep reading as we outline How to Captivate Your Readers with Scene-Ending Hooks.
Read MoreAuthor Chats: Cara Grandle & Her Path to Publishing Fiction
Debut author, Cara Grandle, tells us what it’s like to pursue a fiction writing career and how she got her first contract with a traditional publisher, published her first book, The Rock, and how she set up her first book signing. Learn valuable tips and gain fresh insight into both the writing life and the publishing process in this fun interactive interview conducted by Darlene Panzera.
Read MoreHow To Create A Google Account For Your Author Platform
Creating a Professional Google Account for your Author Platform is important to any author who wants to pursue a serious writing career.
Read More45 Motivational Quotes for Aspiring Writers
Why do we need 45 Motivational Quotes for Aspiring Writers?
Because creating a piece of written work worthy of publication is no easy task! Day after day we sit at our computers working long hours and sometimes it can take months or even years before we see any results. While all writers need regular doses of encouragement, it is especially imperative that aspiring writers who are still learning or who have not yet been published find ways to maintain their motivation.
Read MoreHow a Mother-Daughter Team Came To Create Children’s Books
There were several factors leading to the creation of the Riki and J.R. Horse Tales books, but the first notion of creating a children’s book series based on our two horses began back in 2013.
Read MoreHow To Set-Up and Install Grow by Mediavine To Boost Your Blog’s Social Media Traffic
This is a step-by-step tutorial on how to set-up and install the Grow plugin by Mediavine. These social media share buttons can easily help boost your blog’s traffic.
Read MoreHow to Create and Set-Up a Professional Author Page On Facebook
This step-by-step tutorial shows aspiring writers how to create and set-up a professional author page on Facebook. Learn how to edit your ‘About’ section, link your page to your website, upload your profile picture and timeline cover, how to invite others to like your page, and so much more. Create Your Page First, you will…
Read More50 Top Resource Books for Fiction Writers
Aspiring Writer Academy recommends these 50 Top Resource Books for Fiction Writers. While there are numerous books available in bookstores and online that offer fantastic teaching, inspiration, and advice about the writing and publishing industry, we have narrowed the options down to help you boost your fiction writing career.
Read MoreScene & Sequel: The Secret to Plotting an Epic Novel (Part 2)
A good story is about a character who ACTS. His actions and decisions drive the story forward. However, many aspiring writers string together scenes that an editor might call ‘episodic.’ What is ‘episodic?’ This is when your character seems to enter a scene without a clear scene goal or intention of pursuing a scene goal, and a random event occurs causing the character to react. Then another disaster happens to this character in the next scene or the character gets more bad news.
Read MoreScene & Sequel: The Secret to Plotting an Epic Novel
Scene & Sequel: The Secret to Plotting an Epic Novel
(Part I)
Ever feel ‘stuck’ while writing or had your story called ‘episodic’ or ‘unmotivated?’ Do you have a hard time moving your story forward in a way that grips the reader?
Learn the individual components of Scene & Sequel to structure your scenes, advance the plot, and increase the stakes with each character decision.
Writing Fiction: How to Develop Your Story Premise
“What is your story about?”
Can you answer that question about your work-in-progress in one, clear, concise sentence?
If not, you may need to take some time to craft your story premise.
A story premise, also referred to as a logline, is a single sentence (sometimes two) that acts as the foundation of your story.
12 Quick Tips to Write Dazzling Dialogue
Dialogue can be challenging to write. It takes time and practice to craft conversations that are believable, meaningful, serve to push the plot forward, and hold the attention of the reader. To help you improve your craft of fiction writing and make your character’s lines sparkle, we have created a list of 12 Quick Tips to Write Dazzling Dialogue.
Read More10 Questions to Ask When Creating Characters for Your Story
You have decided that you want to delve into the world of fiction and write a story. Great! You even have an awesome story idea that you’ve been playing around with in your head. Great! Now…what kind of characters could be in a story like this? And most importantly, who will be the protagonist—the main character of your story?
Read MoreMacro Edits: Looking at Your Story as a Whole
After you have finished writing the first full draft of your novel, you may want to set it aside for a few weeks before going straight into edits to give your brain time to refresh. Giving yourself time to distance from the story allows you to come back to it with a different perspective. This is exactly what you will need for the first round of revision—macro edits.
Read MoreWriting Fiction: How To Keep Track of Time in Your Story
Have you ever read a story where the timeline didn’t make sense?
When writing a fictional story, using a ‘story calendar’ will help you keep track of time between each of your scenes to avoid confusion and keep your story believable and accurate.
22 Great Tools and Resources for Writers
Hey writers! Right here we have gathered together 22 Great Tools and Resources for Writers. Many of these awesome tools and resources we use ourselves on this site and other websites we manage. We only share tools that we trust and believe are helpful for aspiring writers.
Read MoreBasic Story Structure: How to Plot in 6 Steps
Before you sit down to write a story, you must first decide: What do you want to write about? And even more importantly—Why?
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