Often writing advice comes at a price. You don’t always know what works and what doesn’t unless you actually put it into practice and get results. I’m here to say that every situation is different. So understand that as a writer, it’s up to you to find out what works. Below, I’ve presented 15 alternative … Read more
There’s a question that crops up on writing forums a lot: how do I improve my writing? And quite often, the most common advice is “read and write lots”. Which is perfectly fine advice. Knowing what’s good and practicing your craft are great ways to imrpove. But there’s only so far that advice can take … Read more
My car radio is dead. It doesn’t bother me much yet, because I have a couple things going for me: 1) A love of exercising my mediocre singing voice, and 2) a ton of stories I don’t have enough time to write. While there are no doubt authorial aspirants whose schedules would make my own … Read more
Writing a query letter is akin to going to a job interview. It’s your first chance to make an impression, and often times, it’s also your last. It’s this philosophy, coupled with my experience as a recruiter, that leads me to want to put my best foot forward, knowing that I may never get another … Read more
The key to finding your way as a writer is to discover what kind of writer you are. Are you the type that talks about writing but doesn’t really do it much? Are you the kind that works diligently every day, but always ends up deleting or scrapping the whole manuscript? Are you the perfect … Read more
With self-publishing on the rise, you can now bypass the traditional route, but there are still some of us out there that prefer the “submit, submit, submit” method. So why won’t you get published either way? Well, let me tell you, young grasshopper. It could simply be that you’re not finishing anything. Here are five … Read more
With a few rare exceptions, genre fiction is generally dismissed – even disdained – by “serious” authors and critical reviewers alike. Fantasy book sales are miniscule compared literary fiction; even the other genres outsell it. If you want to get rich, you’re better off writing “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” than “Bonds of Sisterhood.” So … Read more
As writers, we ask ourselves this question at one time or another: How can I tell if my work is good? This is the wrong question. The right question is, “How can I tell if my work is good enough to accomplish my goal?” And that, of course, depends on what your goal is. If your goal … Read more
It’s hard to know how to get started as a writer. Should you write short stories or a novel? Should you stick with one genre, or try several? Should you get an agent and submit to traditional publishers, or try the self-publishing route? The answers to those questions depend entirely on what you want. A … Read more
So you want to write a really bad fantasy novel, eh? You’ve come to the right place. After years of practice, I’ve mastered five ancient techniques for writing shitty fantasy. These methods were pioneered by the elves of the Ethereal Empire during the reign of Xerxian Rhafstorr the Sword-Breaker (in the Twelfth Age), so you … Read more