Blogs on writing topics for new writers
I’ve created a series of posts intended to help new writers by sharing my self-publishing experiences after writing fourteen novels and two series. After navigating the self-publishing world, I’ve learned a few things and my goal is to help the new writer avoid some of my mistakes. I’ll list a few highlights here and follow …
You have an idea for a novel. You know it will be great. Everyone will love it, but where do you start? The simple answer is: start typing on the keyboard or take out a notepad and spread some ink. Get busy. Stop thinking about what to write and write. Remember, you can edit later. …
You’ve decided to search for a new book, so you go to your favorite e-book publisher and enter a search. After a quick scan, your eye is drawn to a particular choice because of the title and cover, and you like the description. It appears to be exactly what you want, so you click on …
You may have heard the term ‘cinematic writing style’ and thought, how is it different than traditional writing? The simple distinction is the writing is visual-scene based instead of the traditional story narrative. You’ll recognize it as having substantially more dialogue and less description. The push toward cinematic is based on demand since many readers …
Many writers have difficulty learning to write dialogue, but you can follow a few simple rules to make it work. Dialogue is essential, and I’m a believer in using dialogue to do the heavy lifting of the storyline. There is so much more you can do with dialogue beyond a simple narrative. An example. In …
No matter how compelling you believe your story to be, if it’s not tied to a lead character or protagonist, it goes nowhere. The story is about the characters and their struggles. The scenes are the place where it happens. Your novel is about all of it. I suggest developing characters through dialogue and situational …
Are you naturally a funny person? If so, consider yourself lucky. Humor adds more than you realize in your writing. No one likes boring. Humor can make a mundane event in your book a hilarious moment and entertain the reader while providing the necessary background for the storyline. Probably no one was better at this …
What differentiates the practiced professional from the newbie? A significant indicator is word choice. A quick keyword search can tell an editor the level of sophistication in the manuscript they are about to eviscerate. Consider the following example: Tom didn’t know that John was coming over. Do you see a problem? Your editor could suggest …
What makes a good conspiracy thriller book? Conspiracy thriller is a subgenre of thriller. A thriller keeps you on the edge of your seat and turning the page as the plot thickens. What makes the conspiracy thriller work is the timing. You learn how deep the rabbit hole goes along with the protagonist who didn’t …
How much research you should do depends on the requirements of the book. I am specifically referring to fiction. Non-fiction is another thing entirely. In my Organized Crime and Corruption series, each book required in-depth research for the series to be interpreted as credible writing, and that’s the key: sounding credible. You’re not writing a …
Are you ready to publish your first e-book? How hard can it be? That’s what we thought. First the Good News. You don’t need to purchase an ISBN, unlike a paperback or hardcover. The publisher, such as Amazon, assigns a product number, and you’re ready to go. The cover design can be less expensive as …
Congratulations! You’ve published your book and are wondering when the magic will happen. The truth is, it won’t happen on its own. You have to make it happen. You must tell the world you have a book for sale, and you thought the hard work was over. The work has only begun. The first item …
I prefer to ask the question: Why not self-publish? What do you have to lose? You may have heard that if you self-publish, the big publishing houses will snob you. Well, they will snob you anyway. As always, I can only speak from personal experience. I attempted the traditional publishing route at first. I did …
As a new writer, I strongly suggest putting audiobooks off the table for a while. Don’t let that be the primary focus of your efforts until everything else is in place first. If you’ve been at it for a while and have three or more novels published, perhaps audio is the next step. I will …
You may have wondered what it’s like to be a full-time writer? A major benefit is you get to organize your day as you want. The problem is you have to self-organize, and that takes discipline. I write on average six to eight hours a day and try to hit that mark every day. Don’t …
If you envision writing a series, you should consider that at the beginning. In my humble opinion, it’s easier to end the first novel as a stand-alone than to extend a single novel into a series, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do either. When planning a series, the first novel must have a conclusion, …
The better question to ask is, do people listen to you when you tell a joke or a funny story? You know the answer. You can learn to write. Editors can fix grammar, but can you create a work of fiction that people will want to read? Many people want to be something because they …
Should you join a writer’s club? Let me first accurately define the term. A writer’s club is a group of people who talk about writing without actually writing anything. The list of characters varies, but for the most part, it’s a social club for rich people who want to think of themselves as writers because …
As a writer, you should always view yourself as a work in progress. The better you get, the more you realize how much better you could be or how bad you were. The Dunning-Kruger effect suggests we all suffer from a cognitive bias where we will overestimate our abilities based on a lack of subject …