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Practical Tips

How to Supercharge Your Novel by Infusing It with Color and Sounds

Editor’s note: Today’s post is a guest post by C. S. Lakin, a multipublished best-selling novelist and writing coach. She works full-time as a copyeditor and critiques about two hundred manuscripts a year. She teaches writing workshops and gives instruction on her award-winning blog Live Write Thrive. Her new book—Shoot Your Novel: Cinematic Techniques to Supercharge Your Writing—is designed to help writers learn the secrets of cinematic technique. You can buy it here in print and as an ebook.

The famous writing instructor Sol Stein said in his book Stein on Writing: “Readers, transformed by film and TV, are used to seeing stories. The reading experience . . . is increasingly visual.”

How to Supercharge Your Novel

9 Tips on How to Tell the Scariest Story Ever (Halloween or Any Time)

written by Bryan Hutchinson

I got a call from a friend a couple days ago, and he wanted to know how to tell a story that would scare the heck out of a few friends who were coming over to his place for Halloween.

“No problem.” I told him. “I’ve got the perfect advice for telling a spine-chilling story. We’ll get ‘em good and scared.” He came over a few hours later and I proceeded to horrify him with a story of my own…

How to tell a very scary story.

What I Learned From Screwing-up My Book Cover Design

written by Bryan Hutchinson

Book cover design is not rocket science.

It’s simple: You need a cover that instantly grabs one’s attention and describes what the book is about in a single glance.

Woman reading a book

9 Ways to Promote Your Writing Without Being a Jerk

written by Bryan Hutchinson

I bet you’ve heard (real or imagined) that self-promotion is creepy, despicable and well, just plain wrong. Don’t do it. How dare you even consider it?! Don’t!

And two stamps of the left foot for extra measure.

My answer to such assertions against self-promotion is, quite simply, capital B – friggn’ – S! And I’ll tell you why…

Your work matters

Words of Advice for The Aspiring Writer

written by Warren Adler

Note: This is a guest post by Warren Adler. Warren is the author of The War of the Roses, his masterpiece fictionalization of a macabre divorce turned into the Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated dark comedy hit starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. Be sure to check out Warren’s latest thriller Treadmill.

Advice for Aspiring Writers

Portrait of a Writer

For the aspiring writer in the middle to late 20th century the goal, however fantastical and mythical, was to write The Great American Novel.

What this meant was that we passionately burned to be recognized as a kind of literary phenomenon. We wanted our books to be bestsellers, have our novels adapted into films, and were somewhat schooled in the reality of the marketplace and the odds against realizing such a dream…

Why Writers Self-destruct and 5 Ways To Thrive Instead!

written by Bryan Hutchinson

In The Color of Money, the only movie for which Paul Newman ever won a Best Actor Oscar, there’s a scene near the end where he’s playing against the once infamous real-life pool player Steve “The Miz” Mizerack, and after Steve loses to Paul, Steve says, “I didn’t deserve that.”

And without the slightest hesitation, Paul’s character, Fast Eddie Felson, replies, “Yes, you did.”

The reason Fast Eddie said, “Yes, you did.” is the same reason too many writers the world over self-destruct, fail and quit writing.

How to be a confident writer.

5 Kick In The Pants Tips About Guest Blogging You Need To Know

written by Guest Post

Note: This is a guest post by Jennifer Brown Banks, she is an award-winning blogger, ghost writer, and popular relationship columnist. She enjoys cooking, karaoke, and reading. Visit Jennifer at Pen and Prosper.

It’s certainly no secret to today’s writers that guest blogging provides a great way to build their platform and amplify their “voice.” Top bloggers like Leo Babauta of Zen Habits and Darren Rowse, in fact, highly recommend it.

Still, very few writers reap the potential benefits of guest blogging, due to their approach and a lack of awareness of how to “work smarter, not harder.”

With this in mind, today I’ll share a few ways to increase your blogging I.Q. and ultimately your bottom line.

guest blogging tips

6 Ways to Enjoy the Editing Process (Seriously)

written by Shanan Haislip

Writing’s easy; editing’s hard. Getting lost in the fun and the discovery of putting down words can make up for the times when the words don’t come easily. But it’s during the editing process that you’re forced to look at the flaws in your creation.

How could that possibly be any fun?

editing-writing

9 Tips On How To Totally Crush Writer’s Block

written by Bryan Hutchinson

I’ve read far too many times from some authors that Writer’s block doesn’t exist. And I’ve even read from a few who stated that because there wasn’t a word for it before the 1900’s it can’t exist. You know, I’m sure there was a time when there wasn’t a word for “Fire” but that didn’t stop “it” from burning down forests after lightning struck.

Writer’s block exists. Let’s get that out in the open before we delve into how to totally crush the heck out of it. If you’ve ever been stuck, unable to write, or at a loss for words, you’ll want to read this.

writers-block

6 Quick Tricks to Help You Tighten Up Your Writing

written by C.S. Lakin

Note: This is a post by C. S. Lakin, she is a multipublished novelist and writing coach. She works full-time as a copyeditor and critiques about two hundred manuscripts a year. She teaches writing workshops and gives instruction on her award-winning blog Live Write Thrive. Her new book—Say What? The Fiction Writer’s Handy Guide to Grammar, Punctuation, and Word Usage—is designed to help writers get a painless grasp on grammar.

Writers often think about tightening their writing. Just what does that mean? And how is it done? Is there a way that writers can tighten up their writing without losing their voice or compromising their writing style?

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