Raise Your Voice: Only You Can Tell Your Story Your Way
Voice in writing can be elusive. How do you develop your writing voice while also writing characters with their own voices? Lori Mortensen is here to help.
The Submission Train is Leaving the Station | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In my previous post, I highlighted common roadblocks writers may experience when it comes to submitting their work or even thinking about submitting their work. Now that these have been explained and hopefully eliminated, you should be able…
Jump on the Submission Train This Year
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The start of a new year is the perfect time for writers to assess their productivity goals. Many will challenge themselves by making adjustments to their writing schedule; some writers vowing to work nonstop for a solid hour…
Finding Your Time to Write
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Whenever writers list their goals, they’re likely to include, “Write more often,” “Write every day,” or “Schedule more time for writing.” Unless we actually put in the time, we won’t achieve the goals of starting, finishing, and marketing…
Simple Goals that Lead to Writing Success
Small goals take a few minutes a day and can lead to writing success as they can help us improve our craft, complete projects, and gain personal satisfaction.
A SMART Approach For Setting Goals
How do we set goals that can make our writing dreams come true? Many people use the SMART goal approach.
Set Goals for a Successful Writing Year
To get where we want to go as writers, we can set goals and work to achieve them.
NaNoWriMo: The Home Stretch
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Hello NaNoWriMo-ers! You are word writing warriors. The end is in sight. Don’t slow down now. It’s almost over. By the end of today, you should have 40,008 words done on your novel. That’s fewer than 10,000 words…
NaNoWriMo: Synopsis and the Sagging Middle | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Hello NaNoWriMo-ers! You are on the way. You’ve past the halfway mark of the month of November and are heading down the home stretch. How’s that for scary? (Or exciting!) By the end of today, you should have…
NaNoWriMo: Out of the Gate, Getting Into the Zone | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > For NaNoWriMo participants, November 3rd is the day their novel hits 5,001 words. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and it’s when thousands (millions?) of people all over the world pledge to write 50,000 words of their…
Something Wicked, Weird, and Spooky This Way Comes | IFW
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Examples for Building a Supernatural Mystery or Paranormal Mystery Saying a mystery is about something unknown takes on a new meaning when it comes to supernatural and paranormal mysteries. Supernatural means anything beyond our natural world, beyond our…
Things Are Not What They Seem
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In last week’s post, I told you about Catherine Aird’s article “Planning and Plotting the Detective Story.” Here are the points that were lightbulbs for me, and why I think you should pay mind to them. Lightbulb #1…
All Is Revealed
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > In last week’s post, I gave you two clues. With only one accredited class in genre writing under my belt, and a dozen creative writing classes that came nowhere near 221b Baker Street, how did I write five…
Riddle Me This
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Every story ever written contains some element of mystery. We’ll talk about that and a lot of other things over this four-week series. In a mystery novel—a whodunit, a police procedural, a cozy—the mystery is the story. Who…
Writing a Holiday Romance
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > If you decide to write a holiday-themed romance, the first thing you need to do is decide if you want to self-publish it or if you want to go the traditional route. Traditional publishers (the big five: Penguin/Random…
Happily Ever After or Happy For Now
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The key element that makes a novel a romance is the ending. How to conclude your book so it’s satisfying to the genre readers who have set expectations? By ending with the happily ever after (HEA) or the…
Open or Closed Door Sex Scenes
When writing a romance novel, how do you should you handle sex scenes? Tips for writing open and closed-door sex scenes from Jamie K. Schmidt.
Structure 104: The Arc of the Covenant
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > The covenant is the pact writers make with readers, the promise to deliver a riveting story with unforgettable characters and an ingeniously clever plot. The author also promises to tell the story in a smooth, logical, and easy…
Structure 102: Nonfiction
Facebook Twitter We teach our students how to write and get published! View our Course Catalog > Some paranormal enthusiasts believe that a pyramid, simply by virtue of its shape, can preserve food, and enhance meditation and psychic talents. Others believe the Giza pyramids are a giant celestial generator that could power the world if…
Writing Structure 101: It’s All About the Reader | IFW
Writing structure is the way the article or story is organized, the way the author puts the pieces together. Readers usually don’t notice writing structure. As a writer, that’s the way you want to keep it.
