In my last blog post, I explained why every writer needs an editor. But actually, you might need even more than one editor. There are different types of editing, and they are all very different skill sets, so it’s rare that one person can do all types of editing—and do them well. Ideally, your manuscript …
Editing is expensive, so some self-published authors and some small publishers try to cut costs by skipping the editing. Needless to say that’s a really bad idea. Why? After spending months or even years writing a story, you’re too close to it. You’re so familiar with the story that you don’t see its weak spots …
Naming your characters can be difficult since there are so many things to be taken into consideration when choosing character names. Here are 12 tips to help you find the perfect names for your characters: 1. Keep the time period of your story and your character’s age in mind. Names often go in and out …
The most popular point of view (POV) in genres like romance novels is third-person limited POV with two or more point of view characters. That means that you’ll stick to the perspective of one character per scene (or even per chapter), but can switch to a new POV character between scenes (or chapters). For each …
Read more7 helpful considerations for choosing a point of view character
What’s point of view (POV)? Point of view (POV) is the perspective through which readers are viewing the story. Through whose eyes–and other senses–are readers experiencing the events of the story? What’s a POV violation? When you’re writing in third person limited POV, you are limited to one POV character per scene. You can’t write …
Read moreHow to avoid head hopping and point of view violations
I have a guest blogger today: Freelance writer Vicki Clain is sharing her tips on how to be a more efficient writer. Take it away, Vicki! I’ve been working as a freelance writer for over five years now, and I went through several stages of polishing before I could actually make a living out of …
The eighth season of The Walking Dead, one of the most successful television series of all time, starts tonight. I haven’t started watching The Walking Dead when it first began airing. A TV show about zombies stumbling around, craving brains, didn’t seem that original or that entertaining to me. But once friends talked me into …
It’s the first of October today, which means that we have just one more month until NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) begins. What is NaNoWriMo? For those of you who haven’t heard of it before: NaNoWriMo is an international writing event that challenges you to write 50,000 words of fiction in November. How to win …
Today is National Punctuation Day, so I thought I’d celebrate by writing a blog post to help you avoid common punctuation mistakes in your writing. Punctuation mistakes might seem like a minor thing, but punctuation guides readers’ understanding and helps them read more smoothly. Sometimes, a single comma can even change the meaning of a …
Read moreThe 10 most common punctuation mistakes and how to avoid them in your writing
I recently read a review of my newest romance novel, Perfect Rhythm, which seemed to confirm the secret fear that has plagued me since I first set out to write that novel. While I think that in many ways, Perfect Rhythm is a typical “Jae” novel that has everything readers love about my books, it’s …
Read moreHow to write a great romance novel—the five core elements of romance novels
