Three Ways to Up the Ante in Act 2
August 1, 2023
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Sol Stein once said, “The function of suspense is to put the reader in danger of an overfull bladder.” When suspense is properly implemented in
Category: Devil in the Details
Everything the Only Child Needs to Know to Write Realistic Siblings
June 1, 2023
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Writing Realistic Stories about Siblings The author Leo Tolstoy famously wrote in his book Anna Karenina, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is
The Truth About Writing Trans Characters
March 1, 2023
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Should You Write a Transgender Character If You Don’t Identify the Same Way? In 2017, the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu) included LGBTQ+ content in
Hello, My Name Is …
February 1, 2023
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Why Authors in Every Genre Need to Consider Their Characters’ Names Carefully A character’s name can often make or break a book. How well would
How Your Characters’ Needs Can Make Them More Human
January 1, 2023
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I opened the revisions file from my editor on my latest work in progress and was surprised by the number one item on her list.
Watching the Clock: Foolproof Methods for Keeping Track of Time in Your Writing
December 1, 2022
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Whether your manuscript is an epic saga or spans the length of an hour, it’s easy to get lost in your own world and lose
Broaden Your Book’s Horizons with IAM’s Guide to Convincing Bilingual Characters
November 1, 2022
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So you want to include a character in your story that’s part of a culture you’re unfamiliar with or who knows a language you cannot
Food for Thought
October 1, 2022
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Add Flavor to Your Fiction with These Techniques for Writing about Food Jenn Mitchell Adam and Eve had their fateful apple. Tales of the Old
Travel the World with the World Wide Web: Research Tips for Writing about Real Places
September 1, 2022
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Angie Martin When it comes to choosing a location for a novel, short story, or script, many authors stick with what they know. Stephen King’s
From the Mouths of Babes: How to Write Kids Dialogue
August 1, 2022
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Let’s face it: Kids are a lot of work. No one would argue that point in the real world—no one who’s spent time around them,
Why Texas Might Be the Perfect Setting for Your Next Book
July 1, 2022
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Texas: It Really Is Like a Whole Other Country When you think of Texas, a few images might come to mind: cowboys, hot prairies with
Does Your Writing Suffer from the ‘Wandering Body Part’ Problem?
June 1, 2022
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“Your eyes touch me physically.” —“The Warrior,” performed by Scandal, written by Holly Knight and Nick Gilder Oh, the amazing wandering body parts. The absolute
It’s a Cinch: The Fact and Fiction of Corsets
May 1, 2022
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Valerie Steel begins her study The Corset: A Cultural History claiming, “The corset is probably the most controversial garment in the entire history of fashion.”
Need-To-Know Details to Write Criminal Justice By the Books
April 1, 2022
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In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police, who investigate crime; and the district attorneys,
Devil in the Details: Emergency Medical Services
March 1, 2022
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As authors, we put our characters through a variety of dangerous situations and often end up with some injured or ill. When we do this
Medical Mixups: What Common Mistakes Authors Make When Writing Medical Details
February 1, 2022
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People get sick or injured all the time and seek medical care in a doctor’s office or hospital emergency room setting. When story characters encounter
The Balance of Magic
January 1, 2022
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Using Feng Shui to Frame Your Magic System Sine Mairi MacDougall Magic systems can be one of the most fun parts of world building. Readers
Hold your horses
November 1, 2021
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How and why to put equine misconceptions out to pasture Few things transcend genres quite like horses. Historical novels incorporate them to set scenes or
All Fired Up: Firearm Basics for Fiction Writers
October 1, 2021
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Our characters often need weapons to carry out plot lines, but how does an author accurately portray the use or description of a gun when
Maintaining Historical Accuracy Without Slowing the Narrative
September 1, 2021
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You’ve written a rollicking good story set in eighteenth-century France, and now you want to add some killer details. It’s time to immerse yourself in
Are we there yet?
August 1, 2021
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A guide to determining travel time in your stories An old scene ends. A new scene begins. And if the characters now find themselves in
Representation of Disability in Fiction
July 1, 2021
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When a movie adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches was released in October 2020, viewers weren’t just upset by a change to the story; they
Kill or Cure?
June 1, 2021
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Alfred Hitchcock famously said, “I think everyone enjoys a nice murder, provided he is not the victim.” In reality, there is no such thing as
How to Write Accurate Fight Scenes
May 1, 2021
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You’ve decided that violence is the answer! In your story, that is, but now what? What makes a good fight? There are a lot of
Creator Economy for Authors: A Guide to the Future of Publishing (New Age of Publishing Book 2)
Michael Evans’s Creator Economy for Authors delves into the significant shifts occurring in the publishing world. Highlighting the movement from traditional platforms to communities spearheaded
Editor’s Letter- September 2023
To anyone who thought the discussions around AI might be quieting down, let this past month be an assurance: among authors, at least, the debate
Hacking the Algorithms to Popular Social Media Sites
What Indie Authors Should Know to Ensure Their Posts Are Seen Until the late twentieth century, town criers were used to spread the word about
