I’m excited to have award-winning author Elaine Marie Cooper with us today, and I have a surprise for you at the end. Be sure to keep reading. Elaine is the author of 5 books. Her most recent historical fiction, Fields of the Fatherless, has won 3 awards: 2014 Selah Award, YA Fiction; 2014 Next Generation…
Marketing. Most writers dread it. Because, after all, we’d rather be writing. But gone are the days when the publisher handled ALL the marketing of a book for their authors. And the truth of it is, even in the “old days” traditional publishers didn’t allocate equal marketing dollars to every book. Whether you are traditionally…
As discussed in “6 Steps to Story Development,” a story needs conflict. In fact, without it you have no story. So let’s take a closer look and see how you can make sure you’re developing the conflict in your story. James Scott Bell, in his book Conflict & Suspense, defines conflict this way: “a clash between…
Do you have a book releasing soon, or one already on the market? Doing local radio station interviews is a good way to get the word out about your book. These local interviews also help you break into the public speaking arena on a more comfortable level. You’ll gain experience and practice that will help…
When you get right down to it the major goal of the fiction writer is to keep the reader reading. And like the performer who spins plates at the top of a stick, writers must spin several plates too—characters and character arc, plot and plot development, conflict, dialog, show vs. tell, and pacing. If we focus…
I have a delightful interview in store for you today with author Elizabeth Noyes. Bookmark this page because you’re going to want to come back to her advice at all stages of your writing journey. Imperfect Wings, published by Write Integrity Press and released August 1, 2014, is Elizabeth’s first full novel. She is a…
I’m blogging over at the Palmetto Christian Writers Network today. Come join me for 5 Steps to Capture and Keep the Editor’s Interest.
The first thing we as writers must accomplish with our story is to hook our reader. But if we merely hook them, the reader can get away. So we must also then compel them to read on to the middle and then right through to the end of our story. We spur our reader to the…