Reading Time: 6 minutes Audiences celebrate artists whose works spring to life. But giving ‘life’ to inanimate objects requires immense skill and attention. In a writer’s case, it’s words on a page. But how can life spring from little lines of ink? Here’s 11 ways to bring your characters off the page to lodge themselves in a reader’s imagination. … Read More
6 Tips to Get Readers Emotionally Invested in Your Book
Reading Time: 6 minutes Writers of all sorts are constantly on a quest to craft a story that encourages readers to invest in their writing. Whether it be a news story, a report, or a novel, writers are always in a battle to gain and maintain a reader’s attention while they present the tale they want to tell. There … Read More
From Passive to Active: How to Jumpstart Your Novel with Active Voice
Reading Time: 5 minutes Passive voice. If you write, chances are you’ve used it or been plagued by it. While it may up your word count when writing a tedious essay, too much passive voice can suck the action out of your writing and lead to repetitive words and phrases. If you’re a little foggy on what passive voice … Read More
8 Tips for Creating Protagonists and Antagonists Your Readers Will Love
Reading Time: 6 minutes Ever read a book or watch a movie and find yourself hating a protagonist almost more than an antagonist? In short, it’s awful. Who are you supposed to root for if the main character isn’t even likeable? As you begin planning your novel, it’s never too early to begin thinking about how to make your … Read More
How to Structure Your Novel
Reading Time: 7 minutes Part of writing a novel includes making some decisions about how to structure your novel. Here are some suggestions.
5 Tips to Boost Your Writing Speed
Reading Time: 6 minutes As writers, one of our most precious resources is time. Using a computer can significantly improve your writing speed over handwriting, but what if you’re a slow typer or prone to distractions? Or maybe you’re constantly rereading and editing your writing while you’re getting words down? Maybe you haven’t been hitting your deadlines, you have … Read More
Query to Contract
Reading Time: 6 minutes You have written a great novel. Proudly, you shared it with others to get their feedback, and they feel it is brilliant. Now you have visions of being on television news shows, talking about your book. Then you sat down and weighed the options for getting it published. Do you want to self-publish? Pay to … Read More
How the Five Drafts Method ends Non-Stop Rewrites
Reading Time: 6 minutes When writing a novel, the amount of rough drafts created during the process can feel endless. Two rough drafts can quickly turn into three, four, or even twenty drafts, and by the time you’re on that twenty-fifth draft it can begin to feel like the final draft is only just a myth. Luckily, the five … Read More
From Planning to Publication: Novel Factory’s 16 Step Writing Method
Reading Time: 8 minutes Ready to write your novel and looking for a method to guide you from outline to publication? Look no further, Novel Factory has devised a sixteen step method to help you from planning to publication. Write out Your Premise All stories begin with a premise, and this method begins no differently. Novel Factory stipulates that … Read More
7 Tips to Push through Writing Tough Scenes
Reading Time: 6 minutes Except for a select few, writing takes heaps of work. Effort upon effort. So when writing a scene turns to a sinking quagmire in your brain, it’s time to take a breath. Writers all experience the rush of a story writing itself…until it doesn’t. How you navigate losing steam when stuck in a scene can … Read More