• For a book to provide a great experience, writers must build tension throughout the book. Here's how to show character emotions rather than just say them.

    Showing Characters’ Moods and Emotions

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    Whether you’ve been writing for decades or are just embarking on your first writing journey, you’ve likely heard the phrase “show, don’t tell” ad nauseum. It’s one writing rule that applies to every genre because it makes or breaks the reading experience for your end-user—the reader. When we take it upon ourselves to tell readers what happens instead of presenting them with scenes to imagine in their minds, we inevitably strip our writing of the one thing our readers are looking for—an experience. In order for a book to provide a great experience, writers must build tension from the first…

  • 10 Steps to Plotting Scenes Using Index Cards

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    Whether you’re a plotter or a panster, writing fiction or nonfiction, you can benefit from using index cards to plot your book ahead of time. The old-school outlining format we used for research papers in high school isn’t for everyone and can often make it more difficult to rearrange material later on. So, grab a stack of index cards, your favorite pen, a large cup of coffee and spread out somewhere comfortable. We’re going to draft every scene of your book using index cards. On one side of each index card, write names of characters who will be in the…

  • 15 Phrases that Signal Your Writing Went Off Topic

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    Throughout my experience as an editor, I’ve found that nonfiction writers are more inclined to go off topic than fiction writers. I believe passion plays a huge role in writers’ rabbit holes, tangents, and off-topic stories or anecdotes. When writers are angry, allow their personal biases to seep through their work, or let their passions run wild on paper, that is when I see writers jump the tracks from the purpose of their book and digress into uncharted territory. Over the years, I’ve heard writers defend their side topics. “But it adds color to my writing,” they will say, or…

  • How are your yearly writing goals coming along? It's time for your mid-year writing check-in. Don't worry, there's still plenty of time to reset!

    Mid-Year Writing Check-In

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    People all around the world add “write a book” to their list of resolutions at the start of each year. By July many forgot they made that promise to themselves. Life gets busy and responsibilities start to stack up. Dreams of becoming an author slip to the wayside—only to be dusted off at the onset of another new year. Did you promise yourself you would finish a writing project this year and stalled out somewhere between January and now? Don’t worry, there’s still time to focus back in and accomplish your writing goals before 2019 comes to an end. Here…