Raise your hand if you write (or want to write) stories in the first person? It’s hard for me to guess the exact percentage of you who are holding your hand high in the air. I have lots of students who tell me they’d love to give it a try but feel it’s too difficult….
Category: Writing Tips
Anthologies-Ideal for Beginning Writers
I’m often asked for suggestions about markets that are more willing to consider new writers. There are a lot out there. Some will pay you a small amount while others will pay in copies. One market area I had a lot of success with was anthologies. In fact, I think being published in four anthologies at the…
Get To Know Your Character
One of the first questions I ask students is; what do you remember most about your favorite books? I always know that at least 99 % are going to tell me about a character they fell in love with, cheered for, and turned the pages just to see what happened to them. Don’t get me wrong,…
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Tell a non-writer you’re an author and the first question out of their mouth is usually, where do you get your ideas? Sometimes it’s a puzzle for writers too. What happens when the story idea bank runs dry? When I began writing, one major issue I had was one too many story ideas. They’d…
Rory’s Story Cubes
About five years ago I wandered into a store that sold ‘brainy games’ and stumbled upon something I knew was perfect for me, the writer. The game is Rory’s Story Cubes and if you’ve ever worried you’ll run out of ideas for new stories then you definitely should check them out. With the roll…
Conflict and Emotion-Keys to A Great Story(and getting published)
Thank you for your submission but we’re sorry it’s not suitable for us… On my journey to becoming a published author, receiving letters with that opening line became a weekly event. Sometimes I’d sit down and cry while other times I’d just get angry. These are great characters I’d tell myself. Are all these…
Five Tips for Improving Your Synopsis
One thing lots of writers struggle with is writing a synopsis. It’s a necessary evil because most of the time it’s all publishers will let you submit. They base their first decision on how well you’ve done conveying your sometimes 70,000 plus word story into two or three pages. I’ve been teaching a class…
How Writers Pick Their Genre and Theme
Today’s guest blogger is Bob van Laerhoven. Bob is sharing with us a ‘conversation’ he had while riding his horse, Archimeda. Ideas for stories, even what types of stories we like to write, can appear from out nowhere or in Bob’s case while out riding. – Listen, Master, listen… – Archimeda, for the thousand time, don’t…
Keep On Writing
I’ve been sorting through some of my old files and I came across this short article I wrote for, well, I can’t remember because it’s been that long. Best thing is it’s still relevant and fits in with the summer writing challenge so here it is… Raise your hand if you’ve begun writing a book. Now…
Greeting Card Market and a Poetry Contest
Have you ever thought about putting your writing skills to work for the greeting card industry? I know a couple of writers who’ve had lots of success in this niche. Here’s my interview with Ingrid Heffner who’s the editor at Blue Mountain Arts… This Writer’s Life (TWL)-Tell us about Blue Mountain Arts and what you…