Category: Writing Tips
-
Defining Point of View: Pros and Cons of Six POVs in Fiction
Point of view is one of the most important decisions that a writer makes when writing a story. Point of view dictates how close the reader comes to the characters as well as how the narration is related to the reader. It is trendy these days to get as close as possible, so that the…
-
Self-Publishing Vs. Traditional Publishing
The question of whether to go with a traditional publisher or to self-publish has become a popular debate since the advent of digital books and e-reader devices. In the past fifty years self-publishing was mostly through vanity presses or was used by those who sold industry books to a select audience. If you were on…
-
Should A Writer Start A Blog?
Sometime in the last few years you’ve probably had a friend, professor, or family member tell you that you need to have a blog. If you’re anything like me you nodded your head while thinking, “I’ll get right on that as soon as I finish reading War and Peace.” Still, that friend was right. Writing…
-
Publishing Without New York By John Scherber
So you’re ready to publish your great novel, the one that took you eight years of agony to write, but no one’s interested. You even have an agent. Signing with her made you feel like you were really on your way, but now she rarely returns your calls, and you don’t know exactly what…
-
Understanding Vantage Point In Writing By Nathan Feuerberg
Often, first time writers pick up a pen because something has happened in their life that they believe others should know about. Maybe they have just finished the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous or possibly they watched a friend bleed to death in Iraq and they’ve decide they need to write a memoir or novel…
-
How to Write What You Know By Nathan Feuerberg
It is common to hear people advise writers to, ‘Write what you know.’ Everyone from granddaddies to customs officials will hand out this bit of information to aspiring writers as though it is the answer to everything. And in a way it is. Whether the advice giver knows it or not they are pointing out…
-
Writing the Query Letter
So, you’ve finished you’ve novel. Now what? Well, most writers would start by tracking down a literary agent or a publishing house that is right for them. They would get a subscription to the Writer’s Market, browse through the agencies or publishers, and then choose about fifteen to send off sample pages and a query…
-
Defining Point of View: Pros and Cons of Six POVs in Fiction
Point of view is one of the most important decisions that a writer makes when writing a story. Point of view dictates how close the reader comes to the characters as well as how the narration is related to the reader. It is trendy these days to get as close as possible, so that the…
-
Writer’s Work Groups By John Scherber
Author, John Scherber, was nice enough to take time off from writing to send us an excerpt from his new book, Writer’s Notebook: Everything I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Starting out, a nonfiction book filled with writing tips about character development, plot, point of view, and more. Writer’s Work Groups Over…
-
5 Steps to Submitting Your Fiction to Magazines
You’ve spent months writing drafts of a short story. You’ve spent even more time fine tuning your work. Now your tale is ready to be submitted to magazines, but you’re not sure where to send it or how to go about sending it. Part of you wants to hand it over to your friend Dave…