Finding Your Target Market
Who is your target market and where can you find them? Kristin Dawson shares insight on finding just the readers who will resonate with your stories. Let’s go!
Listening To the Voices
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > I recently asked a group of published writers for examples of advice they would give their unpublished selves, looking for insight into the things that might speed up our writing journey. As…
Defining Your Author Brand Part 2
Let’s continue to define our author brand as we narrow down your brand values, reflect on what makes you unique, and finalize your new branding.
Author Platform: It’s About Name Recognition | IFW
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > One of the most alarming things to tell a new writer is that he or she needs platform. Most of us don’t know what that is when we’re early in our career…
Defining Your Author Brand Part 1
What is a platform for writers and how do you build one? Kristin Dawson breaks down how new and experienced writers can start building their author brand.
From Real Life to the Written Page: Inspired by People You Know or Have Met
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “Writers, do not wait for inspiration. You need to arm yourself and track inspiration down and mount its head over your fireplace.” – Erin Bow This quote makes me laugh. It’s a reminder to open my eyes and…
Self-Care Matters
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Writing never happens in a vacuum. It’s always something we’re throwing into the stewpot of life, hoping that the writing isn’t overwhelmed by the other ingredients. But in order for that to…
From Real Life to the Written Page: Using Your Emotions and Beliefs
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > “For sale: baby shoes, never used.”* That gets an immediate reaction from me. It implies sadness, loss, grief in only six words. We want our readers to react emotionally to our writing as well. But where do we…
Specific Requirements of a Publishable Real-Life Account
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Sometimes the real world inspires us to write. When that happens, we often take real life and twist it, turn it, plump it up, pare it down, and patch it with fiction…
From Real Life to the Written Page: Using Others’ Experiences Along With Your Own
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Ever read a story that felt unrealistic? I sure have. And I’ve seen it too many times to count in TV shows and movies. For example, the unconscious patient with the hospital bed rails down. Right. I’m sure…
How to Use What You Remember
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In real life you can find constant fuel for your writer’s imagination. I’ve written articles, essays, and books triggered by things I’ve seen on television or read in magazines. I’ve used my…
From Real Life to the Written Page: Using Where You’ve Lived
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The old adage “write what you know” definitely has value, especially when you use places you’ve experienced. Lived in a dry climate? You know the feel of grit blown into your eye and the scent of freshly rain-dampened…
Setting the Stage for Nonfiction Success
Nonfiction is a deep market, popular with readers, and well worth considering. Today we chat about what it takes to be successful in nonfiction for kids.
Hooking the Reader
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > With all the competition from Kindle Unlimited, self-published books, and traditional publishing’s blitz of new releases and re-releases, getting and keeping a reader’s attention has gotten difficult. You need to entice the reader from the very first line,…
Setting the Stage: More On Props
Using props in your setting can give your character interesting things to do and what your character chooses to do will tell the reader about their personality.
Setting as a Character
Write a setting so integral you can enhance your characters’ experiences, drive home your theme and mirror the characters’ journey through the novel.
Choosing a Point of View
Share on facebook Facebook Share on twitter Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > All stories are told by someone. Sometimes it’s a chorus of voices as the writer dips into the consciousness of more than one character, revealing their thoughts. More often it’s told by…
Editing Descriptions to Move Your Story Forward | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Is your pacing too slow? Need to pull out your writer tools to increase story pacing? This is Part II of my “editing description to move the story forward” article. Part I focused specifically on scene imagery. This…
Elements of Setting
Lengthy descriptions of setting can feel slow and gratuitous, but we mustn’t throw away this essential, tool. Let’s talk about how to do setting well.
Editing Scene Imagery to Move Your Story Forward | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you’re looking to increase the tension and keep readers turning the pages, become a master of story imagery. We’re told to have sensory details, and imagery descriptions to create a well developed setting. But imagery runs the…
