Guest Post

The key to creating successful content as an author-creator lies in the same ingredients that make your stories so great.

Your audience won’t remember the chapter where your hero took a breather. What’s memorable are the forces of antagonism, and how your hero reacted.

Before spending time on a story that doesn’t work, ensure you’ve addressed the critical questions of character, plot, goals and motivations.

Three editors discuss the types and stages of editing, whether publishing industry experience matters, hiring guidelines and much more.

Even with an excellent query and opening pages, you’ll still get rejections. A lot of them. Success comes to those who refuse to give up.

If we were to reposition blurbs as affirmations as opposed to marketing tools, would that also shift the way we traffic in them?

More than just a tool to sell your book, your synopsis is a roadmap to making the next draft of your manuscript much stronger.

Here are four ways to help create the mindset that we can realistically accomplish something we’ve never tried before.

To build an audience, close the gap between your offline-self and online-self by showing up with consistent value on your core topics.

It might not be essential to impose a standard arc structure on a character who’s non-traditional or isn’t affected by the story’s actions.

We writers know that critiques are an integral part of improving our work. But we rarely learn how to receive feedback or what to do after.

The author of dark- and paranormal romance discusses negative attitudes toward the genre, why sex scenes are the hardest to write, and more.

Central to most of Michael Lewis’ works are larger-than-life characters who find themselves at the center of major industry or societal shifts.

When completing a readable draft left one author exhausted and overwhelmed, these three steps helped him start writing again.

If your subject already has a large existing fandom, how can you quantify that audience, using the data to impress agents, publishers, and editors?

Whether you’re a planner or a pantser, this brainstorming document can take your story to places it might not have gone otherwise.

A prologue can open the door to your story and entice the reader in, or throw up a barrier that delays or prevents their engagement.

A great villain character should have complex motivations and be able to evoke sympathy from readers.

The writers who get their books into the world are those who find a middle ground between refining their work and endlessly tinkering.

Science says these three techniques can draw your readers in, keep them engaged, and provide them with a compelling experience.

If your agent or publisher wants to pitch your book to Hollywood, they need to know the rules—or at least, the rules of the day.

You can mine the first paragraphs of well-written novels for four critical components that keep readers hooked.

What makes a good writer? Relentless internal drive, a thick skin for editorial feedback, and reading voraciously across many genres.

From appealing to short attention spans to offering no-fuss ways to play in another sandbox, short story writing has many benefits.

Writing a book with multiple authors requires trust, vulnerability and patience. But done right, group writing has some surprising benefits.