• row of books with ebook reader on top; writing the beginning of a book

    The Best First Lines of Fiction

    - By 

    By your side is a ratty notebook, bruised black and blue with the smeared ink of furiously scribbled ideas that came to you at midnight, dotted with translucence from the epiphany you had about your villain, while still wet from a shower.  You’ve finally decided to write the story that has been stirring around in your heart and mind—now what do you start typing on that blank page facing you? How do you introduce readers to the crazy, beautiful world in your head?  Starting a novel is tricky, but those first few lines are vital to your book. The characters, setting,…

  • two little girls and little boy in a tent decorated with fairy lights and reading a children's book; how to write a children's book

    How to Write a Children’s Book

    - By 

    Writing a children’s book may be the most fun a writer can have, but there’s a lot more planning and research that goes into children’s books than you might think. From deciding on your reading audience to making the story age-appropriate and dialing in your story to the right Flesch-Kincaid reading level, we’re covering everything in this article that you need to know about writing a great children’s book. There are five things every children’s book writer should keep in mind: 1. Decide On the Audience for Your Children’s Book Sometimes the book idea comes first, and the idea will…

  • a little boy and little girl reading a children's book in a tent at night surrounded by white fairy lights

    How to Write for Kids When You Aren’t One

    - By 

    To write for kids, while often thought of as easy, is more complex than writing a book for adults. The reason for that is due in large part to the specificity of each reading level. A picture book with less than five hundred words will occupy a toddler, but a first grader will better interact with a book that is considered an “easy reader,” and shows signs of a plot and loveable characters. By the time children are in second or third grade, they’ll have graduated to early chapter books, which will need stronger plot points and easy to read…

  • mountain laurel in the sunset; finishing your novel

    The End: Finishing Your Novel

    - By 

    By the time writers find themselves writing the ending to their story, they are 80,000 words—if not more—into their story. After months or years of getting their story on paper, writers may feel burned out, ready to be done, and wanting to be onto their next project. The downside of that, however, is that a novel’s ending needs a lot of attention to avoid leaving readers dissatisfied or thinking the writer took an easier route to tie the plot points together. That’s why finishing your novel on a strong note is important. The ending needs to be just as strong—or…