• Subplots, ever heard of them? Essential to a good novel, here's how you can incorporate them with ease, and why you need to.

    How to Add Subplots to Your Novel and Why You Need Them

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    While your main plot is solely focused on your protagonist and his or her outcome, subplots serve as side stories to the main plot and tend to focus on secondary characters. Subplots should not overpower the main plot, but instead, strengthen the story and more develop the theme of your novel. The How While short stories or children’s books under 8,000 words rely on a basic, linear plot structure (one plotline), any story over that 8,000-word mark should have one or more subplots (depending on the story’s length) woven into it. Treat each subplot as a mini-story, meaning they need…

  • 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…

  • Writers, Tell Your Story on Instagram

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    The thought of branding and marketing yourself as a person—let alone a writer—can feel like a challenge. With social media’s continued growth, however, it’s easier than ever to create and cultivate your online persona. Instagram, for instance, isn’t even a decade into its existence yet and has 1 billion active monthly users. So, if you don’t have an Instagram account to promote yourself as a writer or published author yet, now is the time to sign-up, create your profile, and start engaging. Not sure where to start? Here are our top tips for creating a great Instagram profile and sharing…

  • 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…