By Susan A.J. Lyttek One thing I love about writing speculative fiction is the opportunity to imitate my God and create worlds. There are entire books written about how to design your universe. Obviously, I cannot going that far in a blog post. Even so, I will include some basic pointers on the process. Anchor it in reality. Unlike our …
Learning from the Pro Writers without Stalking Them
By DiAnn Mills We all want to be called pro writers and to raise our status to bestselling. In our excitement, we follow the award-winning, best-selling writers whose success make us drool. Their books are read and reread, often with highlights. Their blogs are ingested like candy, and whenever they speak, we’re there. At conferences, we sign-up for one-on-one appointments …
Between You and SME: Resources for Fiction Writers
by Angela Arndt As a corporate trainer for an insurance company, I wrote the curriculum and trained new hires to ensure they used correct procedures. But my degree was in education, not computer programming. How could I teach them when I needed someone to teach me? The answer? A subject-matter expert, or SME (pronounced “smee,” like Captain Hook’s bo’sun in …
When Characters Start Talking
by Ann H. Gabhart Several years ago I had a part time job that allowed me to work from home, one I hoped would give me more time to write. It was a bear of a job. As the substitute coordinator for my county’s school system, I spent hours on the phone scheduling replacements for absent teachers. Okay, so you’re …
How Not to Write a Series
By Linda W. Yezak I usually invite another author to join us when Billy and I work the Blueberry Festival in Nacogdoches, Texas. Having someone to display their covers helps draw readers to our table, but it also gives us someone to talk to during the long periods when nothing is happening. One year, my husband watched carefully as one …
Creating a Crazy-Good Critique Group
By J.A. Marx We fondly call each other critters, and I consider this group of serious writers essential to my writing career. I’m sure online critique groups work well, but I prefer face-to-face. For one, as the facilitator, I like to observe the newbies to ensure they are holding up under the initial shock—reading their story out loud for the …
Self-Editing
by Lynn Hobbs The technique I use on self-editing a novel is different when I self-edit a short story. Seems like it should be the same, right? For many it is. Whatever works best for you is what I recommend. On a short story, I write the first draft, use spell check, and print the pages. I look for repetitive …
Twisting “Write What You Know”
by Gail Gaymer Martin When writers search for plot ideas, seasoned authors often respond write what you know, but I’ve found that this phrase means more than I’d thought. If we stick with what we know, our books could become boring, but one way to write what I know is through experiences. I’ve done this more than once. Being a …
Finding the Motivation to Write
by Susan A.J. Lyttek I love writing. You’d think after that statement that I would jump out of bed and head down to my notebooks and laptop with unbridled enthusiasm each morning. Not so. In fact, I will often putter around and do anything other than write. I will suddenly need to spend a lot of time in Bible study, …
When Social Media isn’t Social Anymore
By Norma Gail Any writer who handles the majority of their own social media is frustrated. Facebook was fun when it was just family and friends. Now that it’s a necessary part of my platform as a writer, I’ve developed an intense dislike for it. I can’t take the sting out of hours spent on social media instead of writing. …