You brainstormed and drafted for months, edited every word to perfection, and read your own scenes so many times over that you started to hate them. But you got there. You have a polished manuscript. Your blood, sweat, and tears are enshrined into those pages. When you then have to hand it off to a beta reader, it feels like you’re sending your vulnerable, newborn baby out into the world!...

There’s something about taking a personality test and seeing if the results actually match up with who you are. Growing up, I would go straight to the quiz section of any magazine (remember holding and reading an actual magazine?), and even now, I can’t resist a Buzzfeed quiz (yes, I want to see if the quiz-maker can correctly identify my zodiac sign based on the way I like my coffee)....

It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of a great story opening for your book. An agent will decide whether or not to request more of your manuscript based on those first pages. Your friends and acquaintances will decide whether or not to finish it or put it down (and hope you don’t ask if they’ve read it). Strangers will carry your book to the literal or virtual checkout counter...

You’ve probably read all the tips on how to construct a mesmerizing mystery, replete with intriguing characters, interesting storylines, and enough red herrings to tickle your sleuthing abilities in a complex whodunit.  But we would like to share with you all the ways you can ruin a potentially riveting mystery, causing us to put down your book and ban you from our reading list forever. Create unlikeable protagonists (self-centered, immoral,...

One thing I’ve noticed as a prevalent thought in the writing community is that one must give “harsh truths” and rip a piece to shreds for it to be rewritten into something better.  I disagree.  Sometimes a project needs a lot of changes, but there are ways to give that feedback where the writer feels energized to make those necessary changes rather than downtrodden. Editing is an integral part of...

As much as we’d all like to deny it, writing isn’t always easy. Ideas don’t always flow. Inspiration isn’t always readily available. Suboptimal life circumstances dampen the creative flow. And none of us are strangers to the dreaded imposter syndrome, when doubts about our abilities assault us so viciously we feel like a fraud even calling ourselves a writer. We’ve all found ourselves in that negative mindspace, but you don’t...

AKA, how to learn to worldbuild, craft compelling plots, and basically write as well as your favorite author! How? Two words: Mentor Texts. First of all, what is a mentor text? Glad you asked! Often, when writers want to learn a new skill or level up in one they’ve already cultivated, they’ll turn to re-reading a mentor text, more specifically, a book they (or the New York Times or the Newberry Prize) really...

Writer and instructor Matthew Salesses said, “The best ‘advice’ I’ve ever heard on revision was from the wonderful teacher and writer Margot Livesey. It was something like this: if you are bored, it’s not because you’ve read that section so many times, it’s because it’s boring.” Welp. I suppose it’s best to leave our delusions and illusions behind and be honest with ourselves. If you suspect your story is boring,...