Writing Motivation: An Outline is to a Story What a Map is to a Road Trip
Most published writers agree that inspiration is overrated. After all, inspiration can generate a story idea, a character, or even a scene, but it rarely generates a complete story. READ MORE

Writing Tips: How to Overcome Writer’s Block
There are many reasons people get it – their mind is preoccupied, the environment they’re writing in isn’t conducive to creating, the idea they’ve come up with isn’t particularly good, a lack of imagination or skill to develop the story, coming to the laptop with no idea to write about, and many more. My new book Overcoming Writer’s Block helps you understand the cause of your writer’s block then goes into detail on strategies for overcoming each one. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: How to Come up with Characters’ Names
One of the most important decisions you’ll make as a storyteller is the names of your characters. If the names don’t ring right with readers, it can wear on them despite that the rest of your story is exceptional. READ MORE

Writing Course: 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 plotting. Understanding story structure – i.e. plot – is extremely helpful in developing a story. 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 parts 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 penning in any of the escapist genres from romance or science fiction to mystery or fantasy. Length of course: 17 lesson readings and quizzes, 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tip: Selecting Paper Quality when Self-Publishing
Ever read a paperback novel and find the paper tearing, as you turned the page a little too roughly? Or maybe while reading you wrote a note in the margins only to find you’ve left indentations on the next page? Fortunately, as going through the self-publishing process you can save readers of your book from such annoyances because you get to select the quality of the paper. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Ways Your Main Character can Ultimately Succeed
When reaching the climax of the story, the main character usually overcomes the main problem that he set out to solve. Still, this penultimate scene tends to play out differently from story to story so that no two tales that are truly original seem alike. That’s because there are a number of ways that the character might succeed. 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 take advantage of it. A lot of businesses and institutions carry and promote “local” products or those about their region. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Fair to Midland” by Tommy Adamo
With all of the talk of civil war depending on the presidential election results, what if one came to be? My recent editing client, Tommy Adamo, tackled that topic in his novel Fair to Midland, which I edited a couple of years ago. From the back cover: “Within the confines of a confessional, an old man recounts the sins he committed during The War of Texas Secession in the late 21st century. … Warren, a recently discharged veteran of The War, shares many of the sentiments his fellow Texans possess and, much to the objection of his wife, joins a local militia. He begins his tale speaking of God, family and country, but as Warren describes the suspicious and unfortunate ends of those around him, the priest recognizes a more insidious nature to the old man and realizes they never stood a chance against Warren’s lethal vainglory.” 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 Oct. 15, 2024. 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 350 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.

Writing Motivation: The Lightning Bolt Leading to Every Great Story is Born in a Brainstorm
If you’re putting your pen to paper or fingers to keyboard for the first time on a story, you really aren’t starting it at all. You probably “started” writing the piece some time before – in your head. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tips: How to Design Your Ebook Cover
Most potential readers of your ebook will first encounter it as an online image, specifically the book’s cover. If that thumbnail doesn’t cause viewers to take a closer look at the accompanying text descriptions of your book, you probably won’t make a sale. So how do you create a captivating ebook cover? My book Design Your Ebook Cover answers that question. Using easy to understand and short explanations, it describes what software/apps you need, moves on to the cover’s various elements, and finally looks at uploading it to a print on demand company like Kindle Direct Publishing. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Build Character by Looking at His Values
Successfully building a character in a story almost always is the one challenge a writer absolutely must get right. It’s also often the most difficult problem facing any writer. READ MORE

Writing Course: Overcoming Writer’s Block
Writer’s block is quite real. There are many reasons people get writer’s block. This course helps you understand the cause of your writer’s block then goes into detail on strategies for overcoming each one. Length of course: 12 lesson readings and quizzes, 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tips: Keep Budget to Guide Your Self-Publishing Efforts
Indie authors should create a budget to manage their money for writing. You don’t want to lose track of your spending and profits. In addition, a budget ensures you think hard before purchasing a service, preventing you from wasting money. A budget also helps you get the best return on investment for your dollar. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Don’t Overstuff Story with Packing Peanuts
Knowing when you’ve overstuffed a box is easy enough. The sides bulge, and the lid won’t close. Sometimes writers overstuff their stories with packing peanuts as well. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Create Video Diary of Writing Process
One great way writers can sell books is video diaries. A video diary takes the viewer through your writing process on a manuscript, from outlining to researching and writing, from revising to self-publishing and even promoting. The diary consists of several videos made over a number of months. Think of it as reality TV for writers. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Irish Jesus of Fairview” by Sammy Juliano
A couple of year ago, I had the pleasure of editing Sammy Juliano’s debut novel, Irish Jesus of Fairview. Set in 1950s-1960s New Jersey suburbs, a nocturnal assault tests the familial bonds of three brothers. Sammy has a sequel coming out in a just a few weeks, so check out the first in the series to get the whole story! 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 Oct. 1, 2024. 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 350 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.

Writing Motivation: The Amount of Writing I Have Done and My Skill as a Writer Grows Every Day
Push your inner critic out of the thoughts. Yes, writing is a lot of hard work and doesn’t always go as planned. But you have a vision, one of yourself as a published writer whose books are loved by readers and snatched up by eager fans. Keep a clear vision of what awaits you, and your motivation levels will rise. READ MORE

Writing Tips: How to Build Your Story’s Setting
All too often, writers give their story’s setting short shrift. Yet, setting – the place and time of your story – can create a vivid world that pulls in your reader. It can establish mood, tone and milieu. It can drive conflict in a story and help 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: Downgrade Your Minor Characters
Not all characters in your story are created equal. Some are of the utmost importance while some are fairly insignificant. Which ones should be those minor characters? READ MORE

Writing Course: Mastering Show Don’t Tell
Do you want to write more vibrant stories? My online course Mastering Show Don’t Tell teaches how to identify and fix all the places where telling – or exposition – rears up in your writing and dulls it: backstory; info dumps; backfill; vague descriptions; irrelevant character details; emotional states; motivational tells; narration; summarizing; poorly written dialogue; and more! Length of course: 15 lesson readings and quizzes, total of 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tip: Should I Copyright My Manuscript?
You’ve just put the finishing touches on your book and are about to send it off to an editor, a literary agent, or maybe even a publishing house. Seemingly countless hours of thought and sweat went into your novel or nonfiction book, and it’s pretty good stuff, if you do say so yourself. But then a dreadful thought comes over you: “What if some slimeball tries to steal my work and pass it off as his own?” READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Three Alternatives for Your Story’s Climax
At the climax of a story, the main character typically overcomes the problem that she spent much of the tale attempting to resolve. For example, if the story was about a treasure hunter obtaining a priceless, ancient artifact, then she would do so in the story’s penultimate scene, also known as the climax. Following that achievement, the story essentially is over with only some loose ends to tie up. Of course, the main character doesn’t have to succeed. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Offer Valuable Content to Increase Sales
When promoting your self-published book, consider offering additional valuable content. This tried-and-true technique can drive readers to a service you provide or to other books you are selling. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “The Marks of the Feather” by Imee C. Nudas
Earlier this year I had the privilege of editing multiple drafts of Imee C. Nudas’ fantasy long poem, The Marks of the Feather. Imee came up with a winner! Written in decasyllabic quatrain, the story of Maximus and Layna begins tragically when they are cursed by a dark spell. While their lives seem forever changed and their fate determined for the worst, nothing would prepare them for when their paths cross. Suddenly, they find themselves enthralled in a magical world bewitched by each other’s wondrous gifts and indelible mark. But will the mark be powerful enough to alter their fates and vanquish the dark spell they are under? 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 Sept. 17, 2024. 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 350 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.

Writing Motivation: Not All of My Writing is Perfect – Neither was Every Step I Took as Learning to Walk
Ever hit a moment of frustration when you just can’t seem to get a sentence or a passage to sound right? The result is brain freeze. You keep working at the line only to suffer through the penning of seemingly even worse lines or passages, or you can’t even think of what to write next. The problem likely is that you are overly judgmental of your own work. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways you can overcome perfectionistic tendencies when writing. READ MORE

Marketing Tips: How to Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads
Most indie authors are nervous about buying ads for their books. They wonder if the ads really will work or if it’s just dumping money into a bottomless hole. They even have been told not to buy them. I used to think that way too. Then I began to hear from a small number of authors that they actually were having good luck with Amazon ads. A lot of tweaking was necessary, but eventually they figured out a formula that worked. So I gave it a try. Within weeks, I was earning twice as much as I spent on ads, and my sales tripled. My book Sell Your Book with Amazon Ads is all about how the ad system works, how to build an ad, how to read Amazon’s ad reports, how to optimize your ad, and more. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Your Story’s Main Character Must Fail
Typically a story is about a single character who overcomes some problem. This player in your story is called the main character. To write a truly great tale, your main character must frequently fail when trying to overcome the story’s central problem. READ MORE

Writing Course: Write Your Story’s First Page
The first page of your story is its most important page. Those opening lines draw readers into your story, hook them on it, make them want to read on, and even allow them to put up with a scene they later find dull. Many readers won’t give you more than the first page to engage them in the story. This course looks at the 11 must-have components of your story’s first 250 words. Length of course: 11 lesson readings and quizzes 2-3 hours. Homework is up to the student. CHECK IT OUT

Self-Publishing Tip: Getting Rid of a Line of Dots that Won’t Go Away
Sometimes when typing or formatting a manuscript in Microsoft Word, to indicate a change of scenes, you might center a group of three to five asterisks between paragraphs. Then you hit return. And the darndest thing happens: The asterisks turn to a whole line of them, and no matter what you do – highlight and delete them, cut and paste them to Notepad then cut and paste that back to Word – you can’t seem to delete the line. Here’s how to fix this problem. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Consider Structuring Story with “Plot inversion”
Several variations of a standard plot (inciting incident-rising action-climax-falling action-denouement) exist in storytelling. One you might use is called a plot inversion. This type of story generally tells readers the outcome of the plot before the action leading to it is presented. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Promote Your Book with Radio Interviews
As writers, we often limit our thinking of press coverage to what we read – newspapers, magazines, online reviews. But broadcast mediums such as radio interviews also are an excellent way to promote your book. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Castooli County to DC: Monster Hunt” by Mark Policinski 
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of editing this political thriller story, which would make for a perfect election year read. Mark Policinski’s Castooli County to DC: Monster Hunt tells the story of two different worlds. One is the hard life of Capitol Hill, where Joe Hickcock, top aide to the next President of the United States, is dogged by an evil that is with him every day and who he knows excruciatingly well. The other world is a bucolic county in Michigan where Sheriff Arthur Bract must confront and solve a most hideous murder. The two worlds are not disconnected. 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 Sept. 10, 2024. 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 decade, I’ve helped more than 350 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.