Archive for the ‘Tips for Beginners’ Category

Creating Aliens

by Deborah Walker

I’ve written a fair few aliens since reading it, always thinking about that advice, but with an added aspect: stealing blatantly from Mother Nature.

How I Remain Productive While Traveling

by Jennifer Brozek When I first attended conventions or traveled for the holidays, my freelance work suffered. Not just during the event but for the few days before and after the event as well. I knew this and scheduled for it. This worked for me for a while. However, as my writing and editing project deadlines […]

Building Strength out of Weakness

by Nancy Fulda

My oldest sister is very wise. Once, long ago, when I was struggling to master a difficult situation, she sent me a letter about strength and weakness. The gist of the content was this: Many strengths are the flip side of weakness.

Guest Post: On Writing: Can You Do It Wrong?

by Cat Rambo

Are you putting words on the page? Then you are doing it right.

You may not be creating publishable words. You may not be creating amazing words. You may not be creating words you like. But by creating words, you are doing something actual, tangible, verifiable. And that puts you ahead of all the people who aren’t writing.

Getting Out of the Pubslush Slush Pile

by Caren Gussoff

We’re on the front lines of the changing publishing industry, and for all the insecurities that encompasses, we have a growing number of tools that help reach out and sell directly to fans. Of these tools, perhaps the one most successful has been the online crowd funding platforms.

Variations of Villainy

by Nancy Fulda

Villains are challenging to write. Make them too heartless, and no one will find them believable. Make them too empathetic, and the audience will end up rooting for the wrong team. It can be difficult to create an antagonist with enough human virtue to be interesting and enough human foibles to be, well, villainous.

To Vlog or Not To Vlog

by Alethea Kontis

Luckily, there are many other outlets for writers to alternately channel their particular brand of creativity: Blogging, podcasting, memes, fan fiction…in this day and age, the possibilities are endless.