WRITING TIPS

To those of you who partook in NaNoWriMo last month, congratulations! Even if you didn’t reach your goal, you made considerable progress...

Writers, publishers, and English teachers have been annoyed by passive voice for years. And yes, I know I just used it. I could have...

Writing contests—they’re stressful and exciting at the same time. They’re a way to see how your writing compares with others, they can...

Research is one of those parts of the writing process that nobody thinks about. Nobody, that is, except writers. It’s so essential but...

A new month is just around the corner, and for writers, there’s something exceptionally special about this one. November is National...

For most writers, a journal is their most prized possession (I may or may not be exaggerating). Some writers have twenty mostly empty...

The old mentor, the quest, the secret heir… These are all examples of common tropes in fantasy. If you’re an avid fantasy reader, you can...

For those of us in the United States, we are now about a month into the school year. High school is a transformative and enjoyable...

When I began writing four years ago, I knew nobody who shared the same hobby—especially not anyone my own age. It took a while for me to...

You are always changing. The things you do and the people you surround yourself with make you who you are. Writing, too, can change the...

Near the end of July, I joined the board of The Young Writers Initiative (TYWI), a fiscally sponsored nonprofit organization dedicated to...

Writing a novel is an incredibly rewarding experience. The ability to say, even if only to yourself, I sent characters on the journey of...

I recently wrapped up final edits on The Prisons of Magic, so I thought this post was in order. From the moment you realize you’re almost...

All writers are readers at heart. For most of us, our love for storytelling spawned from the joy of reading stories. Readers look at...

Importance As Andrew Grant said, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” This applies to the manuscript you submit to...

If you’ve been a part of the writing community for any length of time, you’ve probably been told a million rules. Here’s the thing:...

Last week’s post focused on literary elements, the large aspects of a story that come together to form a novel. This week, we look at the...

Literary elements are the foundation of all stories. Plot, characters, setting, theme, and style define a novel. They are what readers...

Fillers are curious things. They don’t add anything to the sentence and getting rid of them doesn’t affect anyone. However, we naturally...

At heart, books are defined by the decisions of their characters. That’s why it is essential that characters have a clear moral code....