Winter is the perfect time to get comfy with your favorite hot beverage and write. For both fiction and nonfiction writers, it may be hard to get started. Here are some winter and holiday season writing prompts to warm your writing brain up!   Fiction/Character Writing Christmas Tree Farm  Write your characters traveling to a Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree.  Snowman Write your characters building a snowman. How do they make it? Do they cooperate well? What does the snowman look like?   Gifts Describe the process a character goes through picking out a gift for thei ..read more

Recently, Dorrance authors have had book events close to Dorrance Publishing’s home of Pittsburgh.   Four of the authors had the opportunity to have a book signing event at a Barnes & Noble in Greensburg, PA, southeast of Pittsburgh. All four are natives to the Western Pennsylvania area.  Bob Fulton (left) and Dan Rose (right) are the authors of Burial at Home Plate: An Oddball History of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Little Boy Blue, respectively. Burial at Home Plate tells the story of Pittsburgh Pirates baseball over the decades through fun, quirky anecdotes. Little Boy Blu ..read more

Dialogue. Some novel writers love it, others struggle with it. If you’re in the second group, here are some tips on how to get started with dialogue this National Novel Writing Month.   Listen to on screen dialogue Watch a TV show or movie, and pay attention to how the characters speak to each other. Use what you observed to help you write dialogue in the future. While writing for the screen and writing for a novel are different, paying attention to how people talk can help get a feel for how you want your own characters to speak. Study plays Plays are almost all dialogue, and they can b ..read more

Sometimes, as you write your novel, it can feel as though you’re just going through the motions and stating what happened. In order to have more vivid and memorable scenes, descriptive language is key. Here are some tips on how to work more descriptive language into your writing. Learn where to put sensory details “Imagery” and “sensory details” are phrases you will come across when searching for ways to add more descriptive language to your writing. But where and when should you use these? And what are they?   Using imagery and sensory details basically means to appeal to a reader’s fiv ..read more

Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month?    National Novel Writing Month, known as NaNoWriMo, is actually a nonprofit organization encouraging people to write that book they’ve always wanted to. According to the official NaNoWriMo website, National Novel Writing Month began in 1999 as a challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people around the world begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. The idea is to hold yourself accountable to writing by completing certain chall ..read more

Not only is fall spooky season, but it is the time when all of our favorite sports return. Football, hockey, and basketball are back, as well as playoff baseball. If you’re a sports fan, here are some great Dorrance titles that might interest you. Curl up on the couch with your favorite warm beverage and enjoy these sports books!     Burial at Home Plate: An Oddball History of the Pittsburgh Pirates By: Bob Fulton About the Book Burial at Home Plate offers a colorful look at the Pittsburgh Pirates, with an emphasis on offbeat moments in team history. Read about the doubleheader comp ..read more

Did you know you can now listen to audiobooks on Spotify?   That’s right – the same place you listen to your favorite music and podcasts can also be the place you discover your next favorite book.    According to a Publisher’s Weekly report, Spotify will be dedicating resources to building authors visibility on the platform alongside users’ favorite musicians and podcasters, via the same recommendation structure that allows discovery of new music and podcasts.   While the feature is still in its early stages, you can find many audiobooks on Spotify. Dorrance Publishing cur ..read more

A literary device is a technique in writing to help enhance the writing or otherwise help authors get their message across in creative ways. Many literary devices are widely known, such as the simile. But there are many you might not know about! Here are some lesser known literary devices to spice up your writing.   Metaphor Metaphor is commonly thought of in the same vein as the simile. While a simile is a comparison using “like” or “as” (ex. Her eyes were blue like the sea), a metaphor is a comparison that does not use “like” or “as.” (ex. Her eyes were a blue sea.) A metaphor might be ..read more

There are so many novels out there – how do you set yours apart? More specifically, how do you set your main character apart? Many popular stories over time have become synonymous with their characters, to the point where they are household names! Here is how to achieve a memorable main character. Character centered or plot centered story? It is one of the first questions one should ask as they embark on the journey of writing a fiction novel – will your story be character centered or plot centered? Are the characters just means of exploring a world and a society, or will you be following one ..read more

As long as people have had pets, they have been a part of our lives. This is especially true for authors, who have gained endless creativity and companionship from their pets. Here are some unique pets had by famous authors of the past.   Ernest Hemingway It is well known that Ernest Hemingway loved cats. This love affair began with one six-toed kitten named Snow White which he received as a gift from a sea captain. More cats followed – many with six-toes. Hemingway may have passed, but the descendants of Snow White live on at his house-turned-museum in Florida. Bambino the cat. Mark Twa ..read more