Your greatest challenge as a writer is to keep readers engaged. Your job is to keep them with you page after page to find out what happens. Inject tension into your work to enthrall readers. What is Tension in Writing? Tension is anything in your manuscript—fiction or nonfiction—that causes readers to anticipate.  Anticipate what? Literally anything. This tension doesn’t even have to be dramatic or eerie, though it certainly can be—and isn’t that fun?  But tension can come in any form at all that keeps readers with you—guessing what might happen next. Sure, in fiction it can relate t ..read more

One of the toughest nuts for you to crack as a novelist is where to start. Two-thirds of my more than 200 published books are novels, so I’ve faced this dilemma more than 140 times. Trust me, starting never gets easier, no matter how many times you’ve done it. But there are common errors to avoid. I know because I’ve made them. And I’ve also asked agents and editors what mistakes they see in beginners’ manuscripts. Ready for one of the most common errors? Starting by describing the setting of your story. Don’t get me wrong — settings are important. But we’ve all been sent napping by novels who ..read more

A Guest Blog by Jodie Hurst   The age of Artificial Intelligence is here, and you may be confused as to how you should feel about it. Should you feel happy that super-efficient tools can aid your writing?  Or should it alarm you that AI can produce in seconds what it takes you hours or even days to write? Will AI make you dependent and affect the originality or integrity of your work?  The Importance of Adaptation  To stay relevant, and to truly connect with readers, you need to grow with the changing trends, market demands, and technological advances. Adaptability allows y ..read more

Fiction and nonfiction are separate genres, but though their labels imply otherwise, they are not wholly opposites. While the first is created from your imagination and the other pulls from real life, both require creativity and vivid expression to become compelling.  Ironically, the definitions of the two genres could almost be flip-flopped. Fiction works best when it’s believable, and the best nonfiction seems unbelievable and is most effective because the reader knows it’s true. If your nonfiction reads flat, maybe even boringly, it could be because you’ve failed to use fiction’s liter ..read more

Writing a book can take a lifetime. But realistically, how long should you expect yours to take?  If you’re trying to balance a full-time job, a family, or every other priority life throws in your path, where will you find the time—and how much time do you need? Your book should serve as a way for you to say something important.  Breaking it into small chunks makes it doable.  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. But again, where and how do you find the time for those bites?  You don’t. You can’t. You won’t find the time. You must make the time.  What does t ..read more

Writing a novel can be thrilling. You may picture an author as a wizard, magically writing page after page as if overwhelmed with inspiration. Therein lies a myth. Novelists especially must be inspired to write from their passions. Rarely is the writing itself magical, and it’s hardly EVER easy. The fact is, writing done well is work. In fact, I find it grueling, and I’ve been doing it for half a century. I’m blessed and humbled to call it my career, but I’m even on record that I don’t love writing itself. Oh, I love BEING a writer, love that I have proved I can do it, love being known for it ..read more

A guest blog by Sarah Rexford   Book rejections are more than a dreaded aspect of traditional publishing. For many authors, they are part of the process. Have you ever wondered how many books are rejected each year?  Neil Gordon, formerly an acquisitions editor for Penguin Random House, reveals that publishers reject over 99% of submissions. If that seems mind-blowing, stay with me.  That same editor, actually helped an author—whose work he himself had rejected—land not just one, but two offers from book publishers.  What did she change in her book proposal? How did she go ..read more

“Write what you know” is one of the first pieces of advice many aspiring fiction writers hear when they embark on their journey to become an author. (And if you’re a nonfiction writer, stay with me.) On the one hand, the idea of writing what you know makes perfect sense. If you’ve ever read a book on a subject with which you’re wholly familiar, you knew immediately when the author moved outside their area of expertise.  On the other hand, writing what you know seems a rule often ignored. Who among us has rocketed through space or captained a pirate ship? I have not yet endured the end tim ..read more

Timeless, beloved fictional characters have flaws that make them accessible and believable. Even superheroes. And while a lead character’s flaw or weakness might be major, it doesn’t have to be. It could be a simple lack of patience or an annoying sense of self-importance. Indiana Jones had a major aversion to snakes. In short, you want flaws with which readers can identify. Such blind spots and weaknesses can do more than just round out characters and make them more realistic. They can also create depth, reveal personality, disposition, temperament,  and give your hero realistic motivati ..read more

You’ve written your first few chapters, and you even have your killer ending planned. Then you hit the middle of your book manuscript, and all of a sudden it’s as if you’re running in sand. Most who fail at finishing their books tell me they lost their writing motivation somewhere in what I like to call the “Marathon of the Middle.” If your opener takes up approximately the first quarter of your manuscript and your ending the last quarter, the marathon comprises the middle half. Yes, it’s hard. It still is for me—every time—and I’ve been doing this for 50 years. If it were easy, anyone could d ..read more