For Writers

© Raissa Figueroa

If You've Ever Wanted to Write a Book, Here's How

Grammar/ Technical Resources

Does your novel pass the readability test?

Automatic Readability Checker

(Free Text Readability Consensus Calculator)

Writing for your Audience – Flesch-Kincaid Readability Tests

Online Utility Tool - Check your own manuscript for readability.

Grammarly Punctuation Checker

Word Association Network

Formatting Your Manuscript

More Free Tools for Authors: Grammar Checkers

A Simple Technique for Writers to Cope with Information Overload

Word Count & Chapter Length

Word Count Guide: How Long Is a Book, Short Story, or Novella?

Word Count for Novels and Children's Books: The Definitive Post | How Long Should a Book Be?

The Age Levels for Children’s Books You Should Know

The Industry Standard for Word Counts (PB, MG, YA, Novels)

AR Book Finder - Find the word counts of your favorite books

Word Count Dracula 

Rules of the Road: Chapter Length, and Chapter Length Consistency

Chapter Length Matters. Here's Why.
Guidelines for Word Count (Bookends Literary)

Tips and Tricks to Fix Word Count Issues

Guidelines for Word Count 

Character Driven Stories

Character Development: 12 Steps, Arcs, & Guides

What Does Your Hero Want?

What is a Character Arc?

Want Memorable Characters? Focus on Little Things 

5 Steps to Writing Great Character Chemistry

11 Secrets to Writing an Effective Character Description

Character Grid

6 Requirements for Writing Better Character Goals

7 Reasons Your Characters Feel Flat

7 Things Your Character is Hiding

2 Different Types of Lies Your Character Believes

How to Make Your Supportive Characters Shine

Rules of Writing Large Casts of Characters

6 Crucial Character Relationships

The Reasons Readers Didn't Care About Your Protagonist (and 4 Tips on Making them Care)

Lesson 8: Secondary Characters  

Writing Character Thoughts

5 Things Your Characters Need

Don't Be Too Easy on Your Characters

4 Ways to Discover Your Protagonist's Identity

Make Every Character Count

8 Tips to Make an Unlikeable Character Likable

7 Tips for Writing Stronger, More Realistic Characters

5 Tips for Writing and Structuring Effective Turning Points for Your Characters

What is Your Character Hiding: The Power of Secrets

How to Reveal a Character's Internal Conflict

12 Dos and Don'ts of Revealing Critical Backstory in a Novel

Other Ways to Write a Hero

Creating Vivid Description

The Power of Names

How Archetypes Changed My Life and Writing

Why There's No Such Thing as "Just a Story"

Connection, Part II: Human Moments

Characters Need to Prioritize Coherently 

What Does Your Character Want? Desire vs. Plot Goal vs. Moral Intention vs. Need

Boring Characters

How to Use Misdirection in Your Story for Greater Impact

5 Tips for Creating Compelling Casts

What Character Arc Isn't

The More a Character Puts into the Bucket, the More There is to Spill

Hot Tip for Character Relationships: The Relationship is a Character

Antagonists

Enter the Antagonist - No Scratch That- Enter the Antagonists, Plural

Let Your Villains Take the Lead

There is No Bad Guy: What to do when your Antagonist isn't a Villain

The Four Main Types of Epic Antagonists

Negative Trait Thesaurus

10 Traits of a Strong Antagonist

Qualities of a Great Nemesis #1: Power

Writing Unlikeable Characters Readers Will Root For

A First Class Bad Guy: How the X-Men Can Help You Craft a Better Antagonist

Plotting

Manuscript Length: How Long Should a Children’s Book Be?

Pacing in Writing: 10 Powerful Ways to Keep Readers Hooked

How to Write an Unforgettable Ending

How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method

Janice Hardy on plotting 

25 Ways To Plot, Plan and Prep Your Story

The Plot Clock: The Structure Template that Saved My Career

Plotting with Michael Hague's Six Stage Plot Structure

How to Tell if Your Story Has Too Much Plot, Not Enough Character

Why Your Plot isn't Working

Story Structure: The 5 Key Turning Points of All Stories

Novel Outline Template

Kishotenketsu for Beginners: An Introduction to Four Act Structure

4 Questions to Prevent Plot Holes

10 Fixes to the Most Common Plot Problems in Novels

The Midpoint as the Swivel Point of Your Plot's Linked Structure

4 Questions to Prevent Plot Holes

Plot Your Novel in Three Simple Steps

What are Pinch Points and Where Do They Go?

Conflict in Fiction: What it Really Is and Why It's Important to Plot

Making Story Structure Your Own

Losing the Plot: Writing By the Seat of Your Pants

Close Off Your Protagonist's Easy Off-Ramps

How to Pull Off a Plot Twist

 

Five Tips for Creating Subplots

How Perfect Does Your Structural Timing Have to Be?

How to Outline a Thriller Novel that Works

Where Should You Start Plotting Your Story?

Planning Your Novel

6 Tips on Writing for Children

Writing Insights Part Two: The Rough Draft

Start Your Outline with These Four Questions

My 20 Step Plan to Writing a Book Part 1 (Steps 1-10)

So, You Want to Write a Series

25 Steps to Being a Traditionally Published Author 

How to Outline a Novel

Worksheets for Writers

Premise Palooza! Generating Great Story Ideas

Gripping Stories: How to Write Them

 

Basics Of Plot Structure

The 7 Main Story Elements and Why They Matter

The Main Reason Your Story Premise is Important

How to Make Your Novel Un-put-down-able

5 Great Plot Hacks for Finding a Story Quickly

Three Key Elements to a Successful Story

6 Novel Basics You May be Overlooking

Drafting

Sentence Flow: Fixing Choppy Writing

Top 3 Tools for Writing Fast (video with Jesse Q. Sutanto)

Chris Tebbetts: The Secret is, There is No Secret

Avoid Aimless Stage Directions

It's About Time: Backstory, Flashback, and Chronology

Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Rushing the Drafting Process

Six Ways Clichés Can Help Your Writing

Pacing

4 Pacing Tricks to Keep Readers' Attention

How Pacing Helps Readers Care about Our Characters

7 Tools for Pacing a Novel & Keeping Your Novel Moving at the Right Pace

7 Quick Tips for Mastering Pacing in Your Story

Why Does this Read Slow?

4 Story Weaknesses that Lead to a Sagging Middle

Character Time and Reader Time

Pacing Your Exposition in Writing

14 Tips for Dealing with the Passage of Time in a Story

How to Use Chapter Cliffhangers in Your Fiction

Learn How to Pace Your Story (and Mind Control Your Readers) in Eight Easy Steps

Worksheets

Story Structure Worksheets

Writer's Notebook Worksheets

Worksheets for Writers: Jami Gold

Show, Don't Tell

Writing Insights Part One: Becoming a Writer

More Showing, Less Telling

When to Show, When to Tell, and When to Do a Bit of Both 

How to Show Emotion on the Page: The Cheat Sheets

3 Tips for Improving Show, Don't Tell

How to Get Emotion Onto the Page

Critique: 4 Ways to Write Gripping Internal Narrative

The Three Words That Almost Ruined Me as a Writer: Show, Don't Tell  

When to Tell and Not Show

Filter Words

Rules Schmules: Don't Follow the Rules, Tell a Good Story

Writing Mistakes Writers Make: Omitting Sensory Details

3 Tips for Improving Show Don't Tell

The Static Hiss

What Happens On and Off the Page in Your Novel

Beware of Summarizing Across Scenes

POV

Me or You? Choosing Between First and Third Point of View 

Want to Evoke Emotions in Readers?

Everything You Need To Know About Writing a Third Person POV

How to Use Close Third-Person to Get Closer to Your Characters

How to Write a Novel with Multiple Points of View

Writing Multiple Points of View

5 Questions About How to Balance Multiple POVs in Your Story

How to Write a Novel with Multiple Points of View

How to Write Multiple POVs the 'Game of Thrones' Way

How to Write a Novel in Present Tense: The Pros and Cons of Present Tense

Writing Omniscient Narrators; How to Know When to Know it All

Third Person Omniscient vs. Limited vs. Head Jumping

All About Perspectives in Novels

Third Person Point of View

Voice

What is the Writer's Voice? How Do You Find Your Writing Voice?

From the Editor's Desk: More Tips on Finding Your Voice

Voice: A #DVpit Blog Hop Roundtable Discussion: Part 1

Voice: Writing Words that Sing

A Surefire Technique for Finding Your Voice

How to Find Your Writer's Voice

What is Voice in Writing (Examples Included)

Character Voice versus Narrator Voice

Sequels

5 Rules for How to Write a Sequel for your Book

How to Plan a Book Series

The Power of Chiastic Story Structure (Especially in a Series)

Storytelling

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

10 Things to Make an Editor Stop Reading Your Manuscript

7 Qualities of High Concept Stories 

TED: Clues to a Great Story: Andrew Stanton 

How to Use Foreshadowing

How to Raise the Stakes in Your Novel

The 10-Step Checklist to Writing and Above Average Novel

The Efficient Author's Cheat Sheet for Creating Suspense and Tension

An Easy Tip for Tightening Your Novel's Plot

Psst! Novelists - Steal These Screenwriting Secrets!

How to Know Which Parts of Your Story Readers will Like Best (It Isn't Always What You Think)

5 Ways Writers (Try to) FakeTheir Way to Good Storytelling

No Story Conflict? Explore Your Options

Wired for Story (TED talk by Lisa Cron)

Storytelling Tip: Follow the Pain

Story Theory and the Quest for Meaning

The Four Doorways Into Story and How to Use Them to Create a Bestselling Novel

Why Your Brain Loves Good Storytelling (part 1)

Six Lessons from My Writing Crush

10 Mistakes Killing Your Story - And How to Avoid Them (Twitter thread)

How to Write a Psychological Thriller Without Frying Your Brain

Action Scenes

How to Choreograph a Great Action Scene

Blow-by-Blow: Writing Action and Fight Scenes - 5 Tips

Tips for Writing A Memorable Fighting Scene

Tips on Writing a Fighting Scenes with Multiple Characters/Allies

How to Build Tension in Your Fight Scenes

How to Write Sharp Action Scenes 

Beginnings

How to Start a Story: 9 Tips from Our Editors

Start Your Novel with a Bang

Starting a Novel With Setting Description

Make Your Novel's Opening Pop

How to Use the Inciting Incident to Rescue the Beginning of Your Screenplay or Novel

4 Steps to Establish the Beginning of Your Novel

Everything You Need to Know About Inciting Incidents

The Promise of the First Chapter

7 Key Elements to Include in Your First Chapter

How to Write the First Chapter of Your Novel

3 Questions to Ask Yourself for a Stronger First Chapter 

7 Top Tips for Nailing the First Line of Your Novel

How to Create a Story Opening Line

In the Beginning: What Makes a Good Beginning? (Richard Peck)

The Secret Ingredient of Successful Openings

Erin Dionne: Promises, Promises (tips on beginnings)

Writing 101: How to Write a Prologue

Clearing Up Some Misconceptions About In Media Res

Don't Let Your Opening Cement in Your Mind

Problems with Opening Lines (Twitter thread)

Chapters 

How to Organize a Chapter

Don't Start a Scene Without These Four Essential Elements

Endings

How to Structure a Killer Novel Ending 

Scared of the Anticlimactic Ending? Here's How to Kick it to the Curb

Great Endings #9: Does Your Screenplay Have a Bow and Arrow Moment?

How to End a Story: 3 Secrets to Writing a Captivating Ending

How to Write A Good Ending to a Story

How to End a Story Right: 13 Tips Every Author Should Know

Scenes

10 Ways to Launch Strong Scenes

Writing the Perfect Scene

Craft: Proactive and Reactive Scenes

8 Steps for Writing the Perfect Scene Every Time

Advanced Scene Technique: The Jump Cut

Writing Tip: Make Sure Your Scene Endings Hook Your Readers

Motivation-Reaction Units: Cracking the Code to Good Writing

Rule of Threes: No, the Other One

Brick by Brick: How to Build a Scene from the Ground Up

How to Build a Scene

Scene Layering with Examples

The 3-Minute Scene Fix

An Intuitive 4-Step Process for Creating Vibrant Scene Structure

5 Tips for Building Tension in Your Scenes

Questions To Ask When Writing a Scene

5 Questions about Scene Sequence

Not Starting a Scene Without these Four Essential Elements

An Intuitive 4-Step Process for Creating Vibrant Scene Structure

Writing the Perfect Scene

3 Questions to Make Sure You Aren't Missing Out on Important Scenes  

The Building Blocks of Scene

Don't Build Scenes Around the Information You Think You Need to Impart

Try to Get Your Scenes to Do More Than One Thing

How to Write Emotional Scenes (Without Making them Cringey)

How to Structure a Scene

Don't Dribble Out Morsels of Information Within a Scene

Options for Conflict in Scenes 

Do's and Don'ts of Writing Flashbacks

Dialogue

Dialogue Compression: The Key to Realistic Dialouge

10 Dos and Don'ts for Writing Realistic Dialogue

9 Rules for Writing Dialogue

Use Speaker Tags and Beats Correctly

Writing Great Dialogue: Create Power Moments Rich in Subtext

Critique: 10 Ways to Write Excellent Dialogue

Everything Authors Need to Know About Dialogue Tags

Speech Tags

World Building

5 Tips for Writing about Fictional Technology

Technology in World Building 

The Where of it All: Place and Story, a guest post by Kathi Appelt

The 7 Deadly Sins of World Building

How Do You Describe a Place? 6 Setting Tips

How Can We Worldbuild on an Epic Scale?

Creating Your Own Rules: How to Build a Story World

N.K. Jemisin: But, but, but--WHY Does Magic Have to Make Sense?

What Makes a Great Setting in a Novel

Mary Buckham on Active Setting

Novel Setting: Where's It Going to Be?

Are You an Accidental Info-Dumper?

8 Tips for Creating Believable Fictional Towns

Tips and Tricks for Writing Setting (Twitter thread)

5 Common World Building Mistakes

How to Write Clear Physical Descriptions

How to Write Historical Fiction

Ye Olde Fantasy Language Problem

5 Tips for Adding Otherworldly Elements

Avoiding Pitfalls

Save Readers from Boredom: 5 Fool-Proof Preventives

Are Your Waving the Novice Writer Flag?

Most Common Writing Mistakes

Clichés Are More than Words: Avoid Cliché Images, Scenes & Characters

Action, then Reaction

General Writing

The 8 Essential Elements of a Story

Neil Gaiman's 8 Rules of Writing

Fiction University: Online Resources 

The Top Four Lists of Writing Tips

How to write a Book: 10 Ridiculously Simple Steps

Swoon Author Aiden Thomas: 5 Takeaways from Maggie Stiefvater's Writing Seminar

Excellent Craft Conversation with Emma Kress and noted authors

8 Ways Your Writing Could Be a Lot Better

Are Your Words Working Hard Enough?

Themes

How to Write Unique Themes 

Use Theme to Determine Subplots, Supporting Characters, and Tension

How to Find Your Thematic Principle 

What is the Relationship Between Plot and Theme? 

5 Ways to Use Theme to Create Character Arc (and Vice Versa)

Story Rulez: Two Things Every Novel Needs to Do

Publishing Resources

Odyssey Writing Workshops Podcasts

Resources for Children's Writers 

Publisher's Marketplace 

Huge List of Children's Publishers

The Book SCBWI's guide to publishers, agents, magazines, and more

Writing How-To's (Books and other Writing Guides)

PodCasts

All The Wonders- author interviews with Matthew Winner

12 Empowering Podcasts for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

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