• There are 2 crucial steps before your manuscript is sent off for editing. The first is self-editing. Here are our top 10 tips for how to self-edit your w...

    How To Self-Edit Your Manuscript

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    A common thought among first-time writers is that once they finish writing their book it’s ready to go straight to a professional editor. However, there are two crucial steps that need to take place before you ship your manuscript off for editing. The first is that you must do a few rounds of self-editing yourself. This is the time to read your book as if you’ve never seen it before. Look for plot issues and other trouble spots that could trip your readers up. Take the time to delete material that doesn’t need to stay, run spell check, look for…

  • Body language not only adds another layer of depth to your characters and writing, but it also provides another level for readers to connect with your ch...

    Body Language Cheat Sheet for Writers

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    A lot of first-time writers skip over portraying body language in their writing. They know it’s missing from their characters’ interactions, but they also aren’t sure how to include it either. To combat this, they try to mistakenly incorporate it into dialogue tags, such as “she smiled” or “he laughed.” But, if you think about it, we can’t smile words, and body language is about a lot more than smiling or laughing. The same experiences we walk through as humans—sadness, depression, jealousy, resentment—should all find their way into books. Why Is Body Language Important? Body language is important in writing…

  • Thousands have credited NaNoWriMo in helping them finish a writing project. Here are 10 ways you can get a jump start and be prepared for NaNoWriMo...

    10 Ways to Prepare for NaNoWriMo

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    We’re a few weeks out from the biggest novel writing challenge of the year: National Novel Writing Month! Every November, writers from around the world dedicate themselves to cranking out a 50,000-word first draft manuscript in 30 days. Tons of writers have gone on to publish their books after the challenge, and thousands have credited the process to help them finish a writing project that’s been sitting on their hearts for years. If this is the year you’ve decided to write your novel, you still have plenty of time to finish the first draft before the end of the year,…

  • There are 2 approaches to writing: writing a lot & writing well. To produce quality writing you must employ both approaches. Let’s dive deeper:

    Writing a Lot Versus Writing Well

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    I think back to some college literature courses I took, and the required length of papers I had to turn in. It wasn’t uncommon to have to produce an eight-page essay, but hitting that page count was hard every single time. I found myself using filler words, expanding my sentences to take up more space. I traded direct and pointed sentences for ones that were way too long and wordy—and sometimes a little redundant. I think that focus to get as many words on paper sticks with us as writers, but it shouldn’t. In fact, when writing a book, the…