You can write an amazing book, create a beautiful cover, and choose the perfect title—but if your book description does not grab a reader’s attention, they may never click the Buy Now button. Your book description is one of the most important pieces of marketing copy you will write for…
Writing
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How to Use Save the Cat Beats for Your Novel
**This post contains affiliate links. By clicking on a link in this article, I may receive a commission at no cost to you. Writing a novel can sometimes feel like trying to find your way through a maze without a map. You may know how your story begins and have…
Writing
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How to Revise a Novel Without Feeling Overwhelmed
Finishing the first draft of a novel is an incredible accomplishment. You’ve spent weeks, months, or maybe even years creating characters, building a world, and turning an idea into an actual story. Then comes revision. Suddenly, instead of feeling proud of the manuscript you completed, you may find yourself staring…
Behind the Scenes
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Behind the Scenes: Inspiration for the Operation books
When it comes to inspiration, I simply look and listen. The truth is the inspiration for the first book in the series came from an actual event that made its way into the first book. The scene in the diner? Yes, that actually happened. Someone started talking to my son…
Writing
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The 3-Act Structure Explained for Fiction Writers
If you have ever reached the middle of a novel and wondered, What happens next?, you are not alone. Even writers who begin with a strong premise and interesting characters can struggle to keep a story moving from beginning to end. One of the simplest tools for creating a solid…
Writing
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10 Things to Cut From Your Manuscript Before You Publish
Finishing a manuscript is a huge accomplishment, but typing “The End” does not mean the book is finished. One of the most important parts of editing is learning what to remove. Writers often focus on what they need to add—more description, deeper emotion, stronger dialogue, better world-building—but sometimes the best…
Writing
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How to Self-Edit Your First Draft Without Losing Your Mind
Finishing the first draft of a book is an incredible accomplishment. You made it from a blank page to a complete story, and that alone deserves to be celebrated. But once the excitement settles, another question usually appears: Now what? Before you send your manuscript to beta readers, an editor,…
Works in Progress
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WIP Wednesday: What I’m currently working on
This particular project has been one that has been on the backburner for quite some time now. I wrote The Larsen Strain back in 2007 to 2008. The idea started in the early 2000s after a conversation I had with my brother. We were talking about UFOs and the new…
Writing
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Traditional Publishing vs. Self-Publishing: Which Is Right for You?
Finishing a book is a major accomplishment, but once the manuscript is complete, another big decision appears: How are you going to publish it? For today’s authors, there are two primary paths—traditional publishing and self-publishing. Both can lead to successful writing careers, but they offer very different experiences when it…
Writing
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Plotting vs. Pantsing: Which Writing Method Works Best?
Every writer has a different way of getting a story from the first spark of an idea to the final page. Some writers cannot imagine beginning a novel without a detailed outline. Others would rather discover the story as they write it. These two approaches are commonly known as plotting…