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Novice writers often possess a good understanding of how to write a great description of a story’s setting and of how to present evocative details. Indeed, the ability to create beautiful imagery through words often is a skill that encouraged many aspiring writers to aspire to write a book in the first place. Unfortunately, sometimes novice…

“Any fool can take a bad line out of a poem; it takes a real pro to throw out a good line.” – Theodore Roethke “Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits.” – Carl Sandburg “With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion.” – Edgar Allan Poe “One merit of poetry few…

To pump up the suspense in your story – nay, to even have a story – you will want to ensure your character experiences a “lock in.” A lock-in occurs when a character cannot escape a situation because the stakes are high and doing nothing carries such dire consequences that trying to resolve the problem is…

At the climax of a story, the main character typically overcomes the problem that he spent much of the tale attempting to resolve. For example, if the story was about a treasure hunter obtaining a priceless, ancient artifact, then he would do so in the story’s penultimate scene. Following that achievement, the story essentially is over…

If uncertain how to advance your story, you may want to employ a plot device. Also known as a plot mechanism, plot devices are any element that moves a story forward. For example, if the main character must locate a magical orb that will give him the power to stop an malevolent force from taking over…

“Most people use twenty verbs to describe everything from a run in their stocking to the explosion of an atomic bomb. You know the ones: Was, did, had, made, went, looked… One-size-fits-all looks like crap on anyone. Sew yourself a custom made suit. Pick a better verb. Challenge all those verbs to really lift some weight…

When promoting your book, you always should have a website, send out press releases to bloggers and mainstream media, and arrange book readings/signings to ensure the title is properly promoted. But those aren’t the only things you can do. In fact, they may not be enough. One marketing effort you might want to consider is discussing…

If this set of spelling errors could be placed anywhere, it ought to be in other people’s trash cans. Yet some writers continue to wrongly use the terms while acting as if they are correct. There refers to place: He’s going to Los Angeles. While there, he will meet with studio executives. Their means that more than one person…