Start Your Story with Solid Narrative Hook – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Feb. 18, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Start Your Story with Solid Narrative Hook
One sign of a good opener is that it makes the reader want to continue with the story. Using a fishing metaphor, a good opener “hooks” the reader. READ MORE

Writing Tips: How to Create Your Story’s Setting
All too often, writers give their story’s setting short shrift. Setting – the place and time of your story – can establish mood, tone and milieu. It can drive conflict in a story and develop your character. It can highlight themes and even be a “character” in your story. My book, Build Your Story’s Setting, aims to help writers think of their story’s place and time in ways that elevate the tale to a new level. It begins by defining setting and its role in a story. From there, it moves on to the craftsmanship of describing a setting. Lastly, it looks at incorporating setting into your story’s plot and using it to reveal character while establishing theme. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Avoid Speeches and Soliloquies in Dialogue
Rarely in real life do people get to give long speeches during conversations. When people talk to one another, there either are frequent questions that “interrupt” or exchanges of brief stories to show the other that you share a similar experience. After all, you’re not really in a conversation if one person is doing all of the talking. And if they are, they ought to be darn interesting to listen to or you’re going to start tuning them out. Likewise, when writing dialogue, you should avoid speeches and long soliloquies lest your reader tune out your story. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Wait to Format Text Until Editing is Done
Formatting when writing, to a small degree, makes some sense. Many authors want to get a feel for what their book will look like in print or perhaps to get a “head start” while waiting for a proofreading to be completed. Almost invariably, though, this actually create more work for themselves. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Start Your Story with Solid Narrative Hook
One sign of a story good opener is that it makes the reader want to continue reading. Using a fishing metaphor, a good opener “hooks” the reader. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Do Kindle DP Pre-orders Help or Hinder Sales?
Indie authors can take pre-orders for their ebooks published on Kindle DP. But do pre-orders make good marketing sense? That depends where you’re at in your career as an author. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “The Merchant Prince” by Helen Huntley
A recent editing client of mine – Helen Huntley – has published her first novel in her new Barriers of Stone series, The Merchant Prince! When love dares to challenge the rigid boundaries of society, it comes at a cost. In a city of power struggles and hidden dangers, their bond will be tested by forces determined to keep them apart. But Robert is a man who never loses—and he’s willing to risk everything for the woman who has captured his heart. CHECK IT OUT

$25 Off Your Next Edit!
For being a newsletter subscriber, please take $25 off your next edit with Inventing Reality Editing Service. When scheduling your edit, be sure to mention you’re a subscriber and give the email where you received this newsletter. Minimum order of $200. Offer expires Feb. 25, 2025. SCHEDULE EDIT

My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of both aspiring and published writers and offers a variety of self-publishing services. During the past 15 years, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of a novel, the Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, four children’s books, more than 25 bestselling hiking guidebooks, and even a book of poetry. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.