by Lisa Norman “I am a warrior, so that my son may be a merchant, so that his son may be a poet.” This quote, often attributed to John Quincy Adams, stuck in my brain the first time I heard it.… Read the post The post What Is The Perceived Value Of A Writer? first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Sarah "Sally" Hamer For most of my writing career, I have been called the "Fifty-page Wonder" by my critique group because I could come up with a story idea, flesh out the main two or three characters, and pull fifty pages out of my hat with relative ease.… Read the post The post Going Beyond Those First 50 Pages first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Penny Sansevieri We hear this a lot, of course – the “things” every author needs to do to be successful. But a lot of times, it varies by genre. Which is understandable, because different readers resonate with different things. But across the board, there are deal breakers and that’s what we’re digging into today.… Read the post The post 10 Things Every Author Must Do to Be Successful first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by James R. Preston Let’s take a ride, shall we? We’ll drive south down Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach, and turn right on Pacific Coast Highway. We’ll use some artistic license and stop in at a bar that’s not there anymore, and we’ll connect all of these dots to assign some meaning for your writing.… Read the post The post Rules for Artistic License in the Information Age first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Laura Drake Compellingly showing thoughts is a topic I don’t see addressed often, but it’s done wrong so much that it’s become a pet peeve of mine. It’s like a cheese grater on the nerves. Once you see the difference between smooth, essential thoughts and "throw away" thoughts, you won’t be able to unsee them.… Read the post The post What Were You Thinking? Compelling Ways To Show Thoughts first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Gale Leach Months ago, Ellen Buikema invited me to submit a post for Writers in the Storm. Honored, I agreed and began thinking about a suitable topic. Because I lack a history with this group, each time an idea surfaced, I’d search the WITS website and find it—posts on this site are very comprehensive—leaving me hunting for something else. Later,… Read the post The post What’s stopping you from writing? Embracing Imperfection first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Lisa Hall-Wilson Backstory – how much of what’s happened before our stories take place, do readers really need to understand our characters? Many newer writers fall into the trap of using too much backstory, with the author voice summarizing and explaining.… Read the post The post 4 Tips To Master Backstory In Deep Point Of View first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Kris Maze Summer is the time when many writers slow down the pace of publishing and focus more on simply writing. This has been my secret sauce over the last couple months, working on a fun manuscript and making the magic happen.… Read the post The post Top Ten Ways to Enjoy a More Productive & Writerly Summer first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

by Jenn Windrow Today in the indie-publishing series, we are going to talk about where to publish your books. So, once you are all done with your novel, it’s edited and pretty, and perfect, well as perfect as it is going to get, you know where to place them.… Read the post The post Where oh Where do I Publish my Books? Here are 8 Ways. first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more

We talk a lot about planners versus pantsers versus plantsers but we rarely talk about the process of writing. In the long run, whether you outline or discovery write doesn’t matter. What matters most is getting the words on the page.… Read the post The post Understand Your Writing Process for Better Results first appeared on Writers In The Storm ..read more