Guest Post

Academia lets writers get away with stringing together facts, but appealing to a general audience means constructing a compelling narrative.

An excerpt from Michael Castleman’s The Untold Story of Books details the origin of copyright, and how paper innovations created pulp fiction.

Just as you wouldn’t paint a house under construction, you need to revise with an eye on story structure before you dress up the writing.

Brand strategy helps you understand and articulate your value in a world that desperately needs you to show up as who you truly are.

Writing is often a lonely endeavor, but it doesn’t have to be. Your library offers valuable services and a gateway into the local writing community.

A good editor can help a scholar ensure that the complexity of what they are writing about is intelligently and clearly conveyed.

Expert advice is valuable but it’s how you assess it that makes it meaningful and useful, because what works for one writer may not work for another.

As an author, what steps can you take to write a book that the vast majority of readers will want to read all the way through?

Knowing your character’s worldview, carry-in, and carry-over issues will help you build strong cause-and-effect that propels your story forward.

Giving your beta readers structure makes it easier for them, and helps ensure that your specific concerns will be addressed.

Life speaks to us through symbols that help us learn, grow, heal, and create, if we slow down and listen.

Limit telling to between-scene summaries. In-scene, showing is what pulls readers into your story through clear actions and emotions.

Choosing a name, either for a real human or a fictional one, involves a blend of logic and intuition and can feel deeply consequential.

When your writing hits a wall the solution is often to stop for a moment, take stock, and look deeper into what it is you’re trying to write.

As an early architect of the novel form, Austen’s use of a unifying thematic question contributed to the development of long-form narratives.

When executed well, a memoir with a message can touch lives through the power of personal narrative combined with practical wisdom.

Whatever settings you choose, they need to align with your theme, support the plot, and help define your characters.

A writing retreat attendee shares some of the unique benefits that intensive study offers versus conferences and online classes.

If someone has repeatedly hurt you, trying to make them more redeemable on the page might hit your gaslight button. But it doesn’t have to.

We all have limiting beliefs that essentially all say the same thing: you are not good enough so stop writing. They are not true.

When you manipulate spaces in between with intention, your readers will stay intrigued by emotion, mystery, and ambiguity.

Third-party promoters who offer to pad your email subscriber list for a fee might be attracting the wrong type of readers.

When we show our character’s cognitive dissonance—wrestling with conflicting beliefs—readers can’t help but relate and empathize.

Present tense is tough to execute and doesn’t suit every writer or every memoir, but here are a few reasons to give it a try.

Shifting your understanding and approach to book marketing can transform it from a dreaded chore to a rewarding part of our journey.