Plotting Your Book: Always Start Your Story in the Middle
An old but essential writing adage is “Start your story in the middle.” That is, rather than give background information about how the story’s main conflict came to be, instead start it by dropping the reader right into the hornet’s nest. READ MORE

Writing Advice: Mastering Point of View
For beginning writers, point of view often is the most difficult element to master. Without really understanding the role point of view plays in storytelling, aspiring authors frequently select the wrong one. Sometimes they prefer to write or read a specific point of view, so they just go with that, even though it’s not the best choice for their story. My book Mastering Point of View addresses those and many other issues writers face with this element of fiction. It examines the three main points of view – first, third and second – and the different forms each one can take. It looks at when using a specific point of view is to a story’s benefit and when it’s to the story’s detriment. It also discusses how to select your viewpoint character and why a consistent point of view is vital. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Select Your Viewpoint Character with Care
Every story is told from someone’s perspective. This someone is known as the viewpoint character. How do you decide who will be the viewpoint character? READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: What Goes on Your Book’s Copyright Page
When self-publishing your book, you’ll need a copyright page. The copyright page lists important information about your book for libraries, academicians and book distributors. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Follow a ‘Process’ when Writing Your Book
When writing, you probably follow a process – that is, you go through a series of steps from the proverbial germ of an idea to (hopefully!) its publication. Of course, very few people actually follow these steps in a precise, military drill order. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Make First Book in Your Series Permanently Free
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing self-published writers is getting their name and book title in front of people. That’s especially difficult when hundreds of books are published every day. One long-term solution to help overcome this problem is to make the first book in your series permanently free. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Stolen Diamonds, Lost Rubies” by Dr Q
A recent editing client of mine – Dr Q  – has published her first book of poetry, Stolen Diamonds, Lost Rubies! This collection of poems explores the perceptions and realities of those of a lesser social standing, those torn apart by violence yet feel there is no way out, the plight of the marginalized, and those with mental illness. This collection is an exploration of hope, redemption, resilience, and the enduring human spirit – it’s a gritty observation of the forgotten souls who dwell in neglect and isolation, the umbrage of society. 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 March 11, 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.

Plotting Your Book: How to Introduce Your Story’s Protagonist
Among the many musts of a story’s opening page is introducing the protagonist. This “greeting” should provide just enough information that the reader feels the protagonist is interesting to follow. Since you have only a few lines to do this in, what to leave in and leave out presents a challenge. READ MORE

Writing Tips: How to Create Your Story’s Characters
Successful stories require characters who face some challenge or conflict. While coming up with such story ideas is easy enough, many writers struggle with ensuring their characters are interesting so the reader will want to follow them on their journey. My book Create Your Story’s Characters is all about making that process easier for writers. It examines how characters fit among a story’s basic elements then discusses the different kinds of characters. Next, it hones in on those types of characters that make great protagonists – three-dimensional, dynamic characters who gradually grow so that by the end of the story they are better, wiser people who can overcome the challenge they face. Lastly, it looks at some common pitfalls that beginning authors stumble into when creating characters. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Make Your Reader the Protagonist
One rare point of view that you might consider using is second person. In this point of view, the reader becomes the protagonist and decides how the story will turn out. Authors typically use words like “you” and “your” in such tales. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: How to Link Your Ebook’s Table of Contents
When reading a paperback, the table of contents gives you page numbers so that you can easily locate each chapter. Ebooks don’t have page numbers, but you can set up links in its table of contents so that with the tap of a screen, readers can go directly to the beginning of that chapter. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: How to purchase an ISBN for your book
Every book that is printed for sale needs an International Standard Book Number, aka an ISBN. This is a 13-digit number given to each book; no two books have the same ISBN. So how do you get one? LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Update Your Email Signature
Every personal email you send out can include an unobstrusive ad for your books. Simply utilize your email signature as a promotion. After all, you probably email a number of people beyond friends and family; some of the recipients of your emails may never have heard of your books yet might be interested in them. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Live Your Life and Forget Your Age” by JP Luce
A recent editing client of mine – JP Luce  – has published her first book, the self-help Live Your Life and Forget Your Age! Reinvention does not require youth, precedents, or adherence to society’s expectations. You don’t need anyone else to have done it before for you to do it—whatever “it” may be. Similarly, if it has been done before, it hasn’t been done by you. What reinvention does require is the courage to break free from social constraints or age-related restrictions, empowering you to pursue your passions with enthusiasm and purpose. At any point of your life, there is power in embracing who you are and living fully and unapologetically. Live Your Life and Forget Your Age aims to inspire you to think outside the proverbial box, challenge convention, and forge your own unique path—whether you’re in your twenties, fifties, or beyond.
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 March 4, 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.

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.

Plotting Your Book: Create a Riveting Opener for Your Story
A vital part of your story is the opening lines, also known as the inciting incident. In this section of your story, we learn who the main character is, the central problem facing him and a little about the setting. READ MORE

Make Sure the First Page of Your Story is the Best it can Be 
My writing guidebook Write Your Story’s First Page looks at the 11 must-have components of your story’s first 250 words. These include starting in the middle of your story, writing a killer first line, introducing your protagonist, and more. Being aware of what readers need and expect from the first page of the book – even though they often aren’t aware themselves of those elements – is vital to ensuring you make the most of your story’s opener. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Show Don’t Tell When Writing Story Dialogue
All too often, new writers fall into the error of telling instead of showing. This occurs, for example, when the narrator states how character feels rather than using concrete details from which the feeling can be inferred. So instead of saying, Suzanne was feeling naughty infer it by writing Suzanne ran finger along his arm. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Five Tips for Taking a Book Cover Photo
The truth is you’re probably a better photographer than you realize. We live in a very visual society, and with the advent of avatars, selfies, and Instagram, we constantly take photos. Still, there are some basic guidelines that professional photographers follow that you’ll want to consider. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: How to Come Up with an Awesome Story Title
Selecting a title marks one of the most important decisions you’ll make about your story. The title blares across a novel’s cover and is listed in a magazine’s table of contents. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Being an Indie Writer Means You’re a Business
Among the best things about being an indie writer is control. You control when your book comes out, you decide what the cover will look like, you determine if a chapter will be edited out, you select where you’ll go on any promotional tours. In short, you are the publisher. And that makes you a business. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “First Awakening: A Spiritual Memoir” by John Roger Barrie
An editing client of mine, John Roger Barrie, has published his third book, First Awakening: A Spiritual Memoir! In 1974, a teen overturns his car on Sunset Boulevard in front of a statue of Jesus. Three months later, his life is forever changed. One young man’s mystical journey in the autumn of 1974 turned his world upside down. In this riveting narrative, Barrie recounts a ninety-day transformational spiritual experience. His fascinating quest, filled with inner discoveries, insights, and revelations, unfolds as he searches for his soul. 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. 18, 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.

Plotting Your Book: Questions to Ask Yourself when Plotting a Story
When developing a plot for your story, there are several key questions you ought to ask yourself. Here are four of them. READ MORE

How to Devise Your Story’s Plot
When writers come up with a great story idea but don’t know how to develop it, usually the problem is one of plotting. Understanding story structure – i.e. plot – would be extremely helpful in developing their tale. My book Devise Your Story’s Plot is all about understanding the basic rules for constructing your story. It examines plot’s role in storytelling, the importance of conflict in plotting, and the five traditional elements of a plot. It also looks at some common plot pitfalls. The structural guidelines outlined in the book work for any genre, whether you’re writing a serious literary piece or in any of the escapist genres from romance or science fiction to mystery or fantasy. By the end of this book, with a little imagination tossed in, you should be able to construct an impressive plot. The title is available in paperback, audiobook and Kindle ebook. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Advantages of Using Third-Person Multiple POV
Sometimes writers structure their book so that the third-person limited point of view alternates from scene to scene between major characters in a book. However, within each scene, only one of those characters’ point of view is used. This literary device is known as third-person multiple or third-person rotating limited. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Add Glowing Reviews to Your Book’s Front Matter
Sometimes after the title page and before the copyright page, authors will place excerpts from a number of positive reviews about their book. The idea is to give readers thinking about your book another sales pitch to help them make a decision. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Avoid using weak pushbutton words in story
Sometimes rather than finding a truly evocative term, writers get lazy and use pushbutton words. Pushbutton words attempt to evoke an emotional response from readers without appealing to their critical faculties or intellect. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Harness Your “Local” Status
One of your biggest selling points, especially if a novelist, is that you’re “local.” While that can only take you so far, you’d be foolish not to fully harness it. A lot of businesses and institutions carry “local” products or those about their region. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Looking Back: A Psychologist’s Memoir of Life and Work” by Janice Westlund Bryan
A recent editing client of mine, psychologist Janice Westlund Bryan, has published her memoir, Looking Back: A Psychologist’s Memoir of Life and Work. She recounts 30+ years of counseling patients. You will meet a woman who has lost a baby and one who lost a young adult, parents with a disturbed child, a teen and woman sexually abused in childhood, a young boy whose mother died in a car accident, a young mother with bipolar disorder, a male cross-dresser, a woman accepting her lesbianism, the wife of a veteran with P.T.S.D., and a man struggling with depression. In many ways, the book is less memoir than an examination of the human condition and the strength of those struggling to heal. 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. 11, 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.