My Novel-Writing Journey, Part 2: The First Draft
…research file rather than trying to go back and incorporate the new knowledge into anything I’ve already written. I’d say I spent a few days on the preliminary research, and…
How to Bring Your Characters Into Focus
Today’s post is written by Susan Bearman, a semi-finalist in the Write It Sideways regular contributor search. Thanks, Susan! Are you a visual thinker? Quick, take this test. Open a…
How People-Watching Makes You a Better Writer
The recent search for two paid contributors to Write It Sideways has yielded wonderful results. I received more applications than I could have imagined, and had the enormous challenge of…
Use Your 5 Senses to Gauge Your Book’s Potential
…your topic will suit their palate? A quick visit to Google Trends can give you insight into the hottest topics and search queries of the moment. Don’t see yours? Don’t…
Use a Nonlinear Format to Grab Your Reader by the Eyeballs
…to experiment with a nonlinear story format, essentially dishing scenes in the order that provides the greatest story benefit. The term flashback becomes a misnomer because as flashbacks accumulate, new…
Three Easy Copywriting Strategies that “Sell” Your Fiction
…eBook How to Be Rich, because getting rich happens for many seasoned investors when they choose the right small businesses to allocate capital towards long-term. What did the title change…
11 Tips for Writing Short Stories Lit Mags Will Want to Publish
…writing is a long-term relationship. Besides, short stories rarely pay well. If you’re writing them, you’re doing it for the satisfaction and credibility it provides, not trying to make quick…
An Interview and Reading with Marion Agnew, Author of “Reverberations”
…I approached Susan Olding, an award-winning Canadian writer whose collection Pathologies helped me envision my own collection, about a mentorship. We discussed a bunch of books, both in terms of…
3 Things Life as an Olympic Sailor Taught Me about Writing
…Train for long-term benefits. Working toward the Olympics, we divided our four-year campaign into week-long training blocks that culminated in regattas. Dividing up an ocean of training time into digestible…
