Tag: writershelpingwriters
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Writing Good Characters
Let’s face it: writing characters is hard. Writing good characters is even harder. But it’s possible. I won’t be able to give you a step-by-step guide of writing good characters, but this article will help shine a light on how you can improve your understanding of people—fictional or not. What Makes a Good Character? In…
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Dropping Hints & Good Storytelling
I love stories. As an avid reader of books and watcher of TV and movies, the thing I absolutely love it when a story gives you clues. It’s something that differentiates the good stories from the great ones. It makes a book worth rereading because you know that there will always be something you missed…
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Alpha, Beta, Editing, & ARC: The Difference
I recently posted an article called “What is Beta Reading?” which explained what it is and how it’s useful to authors. In that article, I also touched upon alpha reading, but in this one, I’ll outline the order of editing and explain them in stages. Part 1: Alpha Reading The first step in writing a…
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What is Beta Reading?
If you’ve joined any online writing groups, you’ve probably heard of beta reading already. If not, that’s fine. In this article, I’ll talk about what beta reading is, how it’s different from other forms of manuscript revision, where to find readers, and how to interpret feedback in a positive way. What Is It? First things…
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What is Proofreading?
There are a lot of misconceptions about proofreading concerning what it means and what a proofreader does. Most often, it is confused with copyediting because the responsibilities of a copyeditor and the responsibilities of a proofreader closely overlap. If explained in simple terms, however, proofreading is easy to understand. Quite literally, it refers to reading…
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Navigating the World of Self-Publishing
When you finish writing your first book, the question you have to ask yourself is this: Do I self-publish, or go traditional? Some people think the answer is simple, that they’ll just try to find an agent, and if that doesn’t work out, they’ll publish it themselves, but that is the wrong way to go…
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What is Developmental Editing?
Developmental editing, otherwise known as substantive editing or content editing, deals with the big picture elements of your manuscript. This refers to the characters, the settings, the worldbuilding, the plot, and more. Developmental editing is similar to an editorial assessment in this way, but it deals with the story line by line, rather than being…
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From Pen to Published
Part 1—So You Wanna Write a Book? Stage 1: The Idea This can either be the easiest or the hardest thing in the world when it comes to writing a book. Coming up with a compelling idea that you can guide through the length of a novel is most often a fantasy itself. At least,…