Inventing Reality Editing Service

Which is Best: Character- or Plot-driven Stories? – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 23, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Which is Best: Character- or Plot-driven Stories?
Generally, stories can be classified as either character- or plot-driven. One is not necessarily better than the other, though readers usually respond more positively to the former. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Everything You Need to Know to Self-Publish Your Paperback
You’ve written a book and want to publish it as a paperback. But how do you do that? Maybe you’ve watched a video about it, but your self-publishing house keeps rejecting what you’ve created. Or maybe they’ve accepted it, but its appearance is a bit ugly when compared to all of the other books out there. My book Self-Publish Your Paperback Bundle addresses all of those problems and more. A collection of guidebooks in the popular Storytelling 101 Quick Read series, this bundle includes Format Your Paperback, Design Your Paperback Cover, and Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP. The three titles take you through the entire self-publishing process. They answer all of your questions in a brief, easy to understand format and cut to the chase by providing practical, useful information that can be followed step-by-step. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Rotate Third-Person Limited to Avoid Issues
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 rotating limited. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: When Formatting, Establish a Paragraph Style
When formatting your paperback to be self-published, you need to determine your paragraph style. This is a major decision to make, as the style you choose signals readers that a new paragraph has begun. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Avoid Shifting Point of View in Your Story
Novice writers often are tempted to shift the point of view in their stories. While a few published writers do so in their novels and short stories, this generally is uncommon, and you probably are best not to do so either. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Try Pulse-pricing to Boost Book Sales
Once you set the price of your book, it need not remain that number forever. In fact, keeping a static price actually may hurt book sales. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “The Necromancer’s Choice” by C.S. Sydney
A recent editing client, C.S. Sydney, has just published her latest novel, The Necromancer’s Choice. The novel tells the story of Nadya, who sealed her fate by resurrecting a man with a Lalovian artifact that should be hers by rights. Now she must protect a tyrant who’s only earned her hate. The king seeks to employ her, use her necromancy powers for his own gain – and he’s not the only one. The court despises her until they need her services. Nadya is pulled in every direction but one, back to the home she knows and loves. The man she saved is the catalyst to her loss of freedom, a fact Nadya struggles to remember as his ocean eyes pull her into their tide – one that will surely drown her. If he wants her heart, he’ll have to win her soul first. She already owns his. Note: My wife owns a bookstore and her two copies of this book sold immediately! 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 Dec. 30, 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.

Avoid Writing Gimmick Stories – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 16, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Avoid Writing Gimmick Stories
Sometimes what seems at the outset like a great story idea really isn’t. Such is the case with the gimmick story. This is a story in which character development takes a back seat to a big reveal or a shocking twist at the tale’s end. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Advice: How to Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP
For those new to self-publishing, uploading your paperback often is a complex and frustrating process. Unfamiliar terms are used, questions that you as an author have never thought of answering are asked, and when errors occur there’s no real explanation as to how to fix them. And while online “tutorials” are offered, the articles either state the obvious or appear to have been written by software engineers rather than someone who actually understands your plight. My book Upload Your Paperback to KindleDP corrects all of that. The explanations in this book make the process easy to understand and to follow. After all, you just want to get your book uploaded so it’s up for sale, not wonder if you wasted your time writing it because of error messages! SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Writers Must be Comfortable with Failure
No first attempt at a short story, novel or nonfiction book will be perfect. In fact, it probably will be more awful than good. The challenge is to learn from the experience – to identify what can be improved and how to do so, and then to try again by writing another draft. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: What to Name Your Publishing Company
Should you decide to create your own publishing company when self-publishing, you’ll need to come up with a name for it. How do you do that? READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Give Readers Sleepless Nights with Narrative Drive
Ever read story before bed and find it so gripping that you stay up far later than you should just to find out what is going to happen? If so, you’ve been a “victim” of narrative drive. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Tips to Avoid Stage Fright in Book Presentations
For many writers, public speaking – even if it’s just reading from one’s book – is a daunting experience. Fortunately, there are a number of steps you can take to dampen your apprehension. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “World War II Veteran in the Army of Peace: Biography of Paul Cornelius Ferrant,” by Verena Ferrant Harp
A recent editing client has published her first book, a biography of her father, a World War II gunner who became a preacher. “World War II Veteran in the Army of Peace: Biography of Paul Cornelius Ferrant,” by Verena Ferrant Harp, tells the story of how her father completed fifty-seven combat missions over France and Germany. He gathered lethal war memories and a Good Conduct Medal to bring back to his strawberry farm in Louisiana – but then his new Commander-in-Chief orders him away from the farm after he joins the Army of Peace. The book is available in ebook, paperback and hardcover at Amazon. CHECK IT OUT

Avoid Writing Bifurcated Story – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 9, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Avoid Writing Bifurcated Story
Does your story belong in therapy? Perhaps one portion of it appears to be in conflict with another portion, maybe over tone or theme. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Advice: How to Design Your Paperback Cover
Most potential readers of your paperback will see its front cover before anything written about it. It may be the thumbnail of your book cover that’s online or the cover facing forward on a bookstore shelf. If that cover compels them to read the book blurb or opening lines, you are a step closer to making a sale. How do you create a great cover for your book? My book Design Your Paperback Cover answers that question. It starts with what software/apps you need to design a cover, 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: Avoid Microwaving the Soufflé in Your Story
In real life, achieving a goal and obtaining a possession usually is more satisfying when a lot of hard work went into it. The delay in gratification as the desire for and anticipation of success grew simply results in a greater release of emotion and tension. Storytellers are wise to utilize this strategy in their fiction. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: 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. You can find it near the barcode on the book’s back cover and also on the title page. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Limit Number of Key Characters in Story
Can your story have too many characters? Probably not – but your story can have too many key characters. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Steps in Organizing a Book Presentation
When organizing a book signing, reading, or other presentation related to your title, you might want to break down your effort into several smaller steps. Doing so will allow you to better tackle what is a much larger endeavor that most imagine. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Soul Therapy” by Tamika Oneal
A recent editing client has published her second book, a collection of poetry. “Soul Therapy,” by Tamika Oneal, contains two dozen poems about setting free and cleansing the soul, and about acknowledging and expressing our suppressed feelings and thoughts. The book is available paperback or ebook at Amazon. CHECK IT OUT

Utilize Literary Dream Device with Caution – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Dec. 2, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Utilize Literary Dream Device with Caution
The purpose of our nightly dreams remains unclear, for they appear to be void of any consistent meaning. In literature, however, dreams are quite the opposite. Chock full of symbolism, they can help define the character and advance the plot by foreshadowing events. This device in fiction is known as a literary dream. READ MORE

How to Format Your Paperback: Easy to Understand, Practical Tips
Your paperback needs to look good. Readers depend upon a clean, organized structure in your book to more easily navigate it. If your book looks unprofessional, readers are apt to think that your writing also is disorganized and incomplete. My book Format Your Paperback covers how to use Microsoft Word to format your self-published paperback and is good for both fiction and nonfiction titles. Using easy to understand and short explanations, it describes how to create a copyright page, a table of contents, the main text, page numbers, and much more. SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Outline Your Scene When Stuck on What to Write
When stuck writing your story, you may want to borrow a technique from screenwriting by making a scene outline. This is a blow-by-blow description of the story’s events. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Products/Services You Can Build Around Your Book
If looking to increase your income, writing a book that leads people to purchasing your services or products is a great idea. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Delete Laugh Track from Your Story
Another way to tighten your writing is to leave out the laugh track. In comedy television shows, fake recorded laughter often is added to suggest that an audience is present – and to suggest to viewers at home that they also should find a joke humorous. In your story, a laugh track is present when you also give readers hints about how they should react. LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: How to Make Your Press Release Newsworthy
Some mainstream media will ignore your release because they deem it as less news than an advertisement for your product. Indeed, an announcement that your book will be released or that it has been released usually won’t cut it. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “Opereight” by Truitt Wieland
A recent editing client has published his first nonfiction self-help book. “Opereight,” by Truitt Wieland, is the story of a burned-out 44-year-old juggling chaos to becoming a disciplined man doing hundreds of burpees a day. What started in a gym in a small corner of his garage reshaped his body, rebuilt his confidence, and pulled him out of autopilot into full ownership of his health, habits, and future. Find out in this book how me made this journey and how you can too. The book is available in paperback, ebook and hardcover at Amazon and assorted other outlets. CHECK IT OUT

Sharpen Manuscript by Using Stronger Verbs

Your manuscript boasts interesting characters, an action-packed plot, and descriptions of fascinating places, and yet the story still feels a bit flat and vanilla. The problem likely is your verb selection.

Verbs are the words in your sentences that that show an action (such as “ran”), occurrence (“develop”), or state of being (“exists”). Every sentence requires a verb, unless you’re writing fragments for rhetorical purposes.

Usually the biggest issue with verbs in a manuscript is that they are passive, meaning they show a state of being rather than being action verbs. For example, instead of writing “forested areas are coming into view” (“are coming” is the verb) instead write “forested areas came into view” (“came” is the verb). It’s a shorter, crisper sentence.

Even getting rid of all the passive verbs may not greatly improve your manuscript. That’s because many active verbs are also weak verbs. These are dull, overused verbs that lack nuance. For example, instead of writing “She turns on the faucet and places the kettle under it” (“turns on” and “places” are the weak verb) write “She draws water for the kettle” (“draws” is the verb). The sentence now flows better simply because a single, less used verb appears.

Some writers wrongly try to hide their weak verbs by sticking adverbs next to them. Adverbs can’t do the heavy lifting that a strong, active verb does, however. For example, instead of writing “‘Oh no, not again,’ he says jokingly” (“jokingly” is the adverb propping up the weak verb “says”) instead write “‘Oh no, not again,’ he jokes” (“jokes” now is the verb). Using the right verb tightens the sentence, and “jokes” is a more specific verb than “says.”

A side issue that can occur with verbs is when authors constantly switch back and forth between past and present tense, sometimes within a paragraph itself. For example, instead of writing “He pulls out a chair and told her to sit” (“pulls” is present tense but “told” is past), instead write “He pulls out a chair and tells her to sit” or “He pulled out a chair and told her to sit” (“pulls/tells” is present tense and “pulled/told” are past tense). Shifting the verb tense disrupts the text’s flow and is a bit disorienting. You want to select one tense and go with it through the entire piece.

Before you take the time to reconstruct a story’s plot or reinvent characters or even spruce up the descriptions of your settings, take a hard look at the verbs you’re using. Odds are, those passive and weak verbs or pesky adverbs are the problem.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer 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 the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Don’t Let a Rhinoceros in the Room Smash Your Plot – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Nov. 25, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Don’t Let a Rhinoceros in the Room Smash Your Plot
When describing the setting in your story, be careful not to place a “rhinoceros in the room.” This term is some item or attribute that is obvious to everyone except the people closest to it. READ MORE

Everything You Must Know to Self-Publish Your Ebook
You’ve written a book and want to publish it as an ebook. But how do you do that? Maybe you’ve watched a video about it, but your self-publishing house keeps rejecting what you’ve created. Or maybe they’ve accepted it, but its appearance is less than adequate, especially compared to all of the other books out there. My book Self-Publish Your Ebook Bundle addresses all of those problems and more. A collection of guidebooks in the popular Storytelling 101 Quick Read Series, this bundle includes Format Your Ebook, Design Your Ebook Cover, and Upload Your Ebook to KindleDP. Those three titles take you through the entire self-publishing process, answering all of your questions in a brief, easy to understand format. SEE EBOOK

Writing Tip: Avoid White Room Syndrome when Writing
Rather than fully imagine a world for a story, some writers instead create a quick, unformed facsimile of their own. For example, they start the story with the line, “She awoke in a white room.” The white room is the white piece of paper facing the author. This is known as white room syndrome. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Why You Should Turn Your Book Into a Business
Rarely can an author make a living solely on book sales. However, authors can achieve their dream of independence by building a business around their books. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: How to embed fonts in a pdf of your manuscript
Sometimes when uploading a pdf of your formatted book to a print on demand company, you’ll get a warning message that fonts are not embedded your file. Most of the time, this won’t be a problem. But there are other times… LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Try Bluesky for a Saner Social Media Experience
Don’t feel like you’re reaching many people on Xitter (X/Twitter) anymore? Tired of your Xitter feed being filled with mean-spirited political propaganda? Then come over to Bluesky for an invigorating, friendlier experience with fellow writers. The new social media platform works like Xitter used to function before the Russian bots took over and you-know-who bought it. So far, we’re at 40 million plus users and growing. Yeah, that’s still small compared to Xitter, but with every person who joins Bluesky after leaving Xitter, the larger we grow and the smaller they get (See how that works?). GO TO BLUESKY

Client Spotlight: “Adventures in the School Drop-Off Line” by A.S. Huffman
A recent editing client of mine has published her second children’s book! “Adventures in the School Drop-Off Line,” by A.S. Huffman, tells the story of a school’s morning drop-off line runs perfectly. Move. Stop. Move. Stop. Move. Stop. Everything in perfect timing. Then one day a family slows the line with antics that get wilder and crazier with each passing morning. Can the principal, Mrs. Tack, get this family to behave so that the line moves again in an orderly, efficient manner? The book is available in paperback at Amazon. CHECK IT OUT

Great Writing Quotes by Author Emily Rooks

I’ve always craved that dizzying spell you find yourself under when reading a good story. I wanted to feel the power of creating such stories too.

The act of writing is powerful, an opportunity for self-reflection, personal growth, and connection. It’s like good sex.

The first story I read entirely on my own, outside of the classroom, was Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham.” How those letters could mean so much and bring such joy – it felt like magic!

I must have more than a thousand story ideas – so if the tale I’m working on doesn’t inspire me, I move on to the next one on my list.

With erotica, you can explore ideas previously off limits to literature, namely sexuality, which is such a natural core component of being human.

Don’t waste your talent on writing male porn; instead, add to our understanding of human sexuality.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Common Plot Pitfalls to Avoid – Inventing Reality’s Newsletter for Nov. 18, 2025

Plotting Your Book: Common Plot Pitfalls to Avoid
New writers, usually due to a lack of writing experience or because they haven’t had their writing critiqued, often will make some journeyman mistakes when plotting their story. If you’re just writing for yourself, there’s nothing wrong with any of these errors; the pleasure of writing alone overrides the need to follow a writing “rule.” But if you hope to have a magazine or publisher purchase your story or don’t want readers to leave bad reviews of your self-published book, you’ll want to avoid these five plot pitfalls. READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tips: How to Upload Your Ebook
For those new to self-publishing, uploading your ebook often is a complex and frustrating process. Unfamiliar terms are used, questions that you as an author have never thought of answering are asked, and when errors occur there’s often no real explanation as to how fix them. And while online “tutorials” are offered, the articles either state the obvious or appear to have been written by software engineers rather than someone who actually understands your plight. My book Upload Your Ebook to KindleDP corrects all of that. The explanations in this book make the process easy to understand and to follow. After all, you just want to get your book uploaded so it’s up for sale, not wonder if you wasted your time writing it because of error messages! SEE BOOK

Writing Tip: Use Confidant to Reveal Hero’s Inner Turmoil
Sometimes to reveal the protagonist’s inner conflict, he shares his thoughts with another character. This character who the protagonist trusts is referred to as a confidant (or a confidante if a female). READ MORE

Self-Publishing Tip: Guidelines for Designing Your Book’s Front Cover
Given that the most important part of your cover is its very front – as that’s what potential readers will see when they consider purchasing your book in a store or online – you’ll want to spend some time thinking about and working on it. READ MORE

This Week’s Podcast: Should You Ever Co-write Your Book?
Sometimes you come up with a great story idea with another person. Or your discussions and critiques of one another’s works are inspiring. So you decide to co-write a book. Is it a good idea? LISTEN TO PODCAST

Book Marketing Tip: Five Magic Words that Sell More Books
When writing a blurb for a nonfiction book, there are certain words that can be used to increase the odds of purchase. In fact, five words – you, free, instantly, because and new – have more sway than others, if used in the right context. READ MORE

Client Spotlight: “A Prayer for Judgment” by Dennis Blanco
A recent editing client has published his first novel! “A Prayer for Judgment” by Dennis Blanco, tells the story of Jeremy and Ray, who are kidnapped on Thanksgiving Eve and taken to a remote cabin in the Virginia mountains. Their mysterious assailant is armed with intimate knowledge of their family. Jeremy’s mother, wife, and sister are compelled to watch a livestream as he and Ray are forced to unearth buried memories. They confess secrets to a gallery of unknown and handpicked spectators, who surreptitiously have come in contact with the family in the recent past. In the crucible that is the mountain cabin, Jeremy battles to find a way of escaping their captor, save his family, and keep the darkest secrets from shattering their world. The book is available in paperback and ebook at Amazon. CHECK IT OUT

Great Writing Quotes by Author Marianne Moore

One writes because one has a burning desire to objectify what it is indispensable to one’s happiness to express.

A man is a writer if all his words are strung in definite sentence sounds.

…baseball is like writing. You can never tell with either how it will go.

Writing is an undertaking for the modest.

When a thing has been said so well that it could not be said better, why paraphrase it? Hence my writing, is, if not a cabinet of fossils, a kind of collection of flies in amber.

Any writer overwhelmingly honest about pleasing himself is almost sure to please others.

Conscious writing can be the death of poetry.

I see no reason for calling my work poetry except that there is no other category in which to put it.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks:

Great Writing Quotes by Poet Billy Marshall Stoneking

What monster sleeps in the deep of your story? You need a monster. Without a monster there is no story.

Originality has nothing to do with producing something “new” – it is about seeking the source, the primordial ground from which you draw and have always drawn your being. It comes about when one works from one’s origins, it is the dance of the eternal return… and is as ancient as the Dreamtime.

The story writes you as much as you write it. And the process of re-writing isn’t so much a quest to re-write the story as it is to re-write the writer.

We speak for those who cannot speak. We have a duty to tell the stories for those who do not have the advantages that we have to tell stories. We must not speak falsely.

Poetry is the struggle against the simplification, codification, and mummification of language, it serves as a constant redirect – moving us to the experience to which the words point.

From the writer’s perspective, audience is always an act of the imagination.

There’s a chasm between writing about yourself and writing about your personal life. A lot of young writers want to turn their lives into stories, into films, books, because they feel their lives are somehow significant. But really, it’s not their personal lives that matter, but their own, hard-fought-for ideas. Not just anybody’s ideas, but the ideas that they have paid for with their suffering and their sacrifices and their love of their fellow humans.

The ending of a story tells us what it means.

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Check out some of my writing guidebooks: