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Scrivener and My Case Study in Organizing a Novel
By BookBaby author Michael Gallant At its best, software can inspire and empower its users. Scrivener did both for me and I’m excited to see what this software can do as I head to the completion of my...
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Green-light editing: What makes publication-quality text?
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Publication-quality text is what agents, editors, and readers are looking for — and they can tell whether you have it in the first paragraph, or even the first sentence....
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Writing Lessons From TV: Slang Can Help Create Your World
By BookBaby author Scott McCormick One way to envelop your reader in a new world is to create (or appropriate) slang. Done clumsily, it can detract from your story, but Buffy and Firefly show how slang...
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Writing Great Dialogue: Create Power Moments Rich In Subtext
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Power moments in your story set up life-changing events and propel your story forward. Writing great dialogue often depends on the subtext you create in setting up these...
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Creating Three-dimensional Villains: Lessons From Buffy and Firefly
By BookBaby author Scott McCormick When writing your next villain, take care to give him/her as much attention to detail and backstory as your protagonist. TV’s Buffy and Firefly provide some great...
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What Marie Kondo Can Teach Us About Decluttering Our Prose
By BookBaby author Kathy Edens When “Tidying Up” aired early in January 2019 on Netflix, hordes of fans clamored for more of Marie Kondo’s animism when dealing with all their “stuff.” Kondo peddles the...
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What Are Your Readers Thinking?
By BookBaby author Dawn Field A great story told well keeps us turning pages and wakes up the voices in our heads. But there are some things you don’t want running through your readers’ minds. Here are...
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The Literary Merits Of Not Showing Off
By BookBaby author Michael Gallant In writing, music, and other art forms, there is a balance between proficiency and showing off. You don’t need the latter to make your point as a writer. In addition...
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Five Reasons To “Take Out The Trash” In Your Writing
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Being able to edit your own writing is a great skill, but this variation on a theme is about chopping the important things you’ve been waiting too long to fix. Maybe the...
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Transform Your Writing With Exquisite Patterns
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Great writing is full of intentional features that give a rhythm to the music of the text. Novice writing is not. Patterns bring readers into a story and are often what...
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A Stellar Book Opening… It’s Not About The Weather
By BookBaby author Dawn Field “Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to...
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Don’t Get Caught Up In The “Cult of the First Sentence”
By BookBaby author Scott McCormick There’s this cult of the opening sentence, as if crafting a perfect first line is the only key to writing a best-selling novel. Here’s my take: it isn’t. Chances are,...
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How To Confound And Frustrate Readers
By BookBaby author Dawn Field There are rules and expectations that form a bond between writer and reader. But that’s so traditional. If you want to make it your mission to confound and frustrate...
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Leave Yourself Something To Return To
By BookBaby author Michael Gallant There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to keep writers motivated, but here’s one strategy that has regularly helped me move my writing forward: every time I sit down...
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Building Your Scene-Quality Map
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Scenes are a fundamental unit of fiction, and each scene has a job to do to keep the story moving forward. A scene-quality map can help you identify when and where things...
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Story Fundamentals Make A Story Great
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Understanding your story fundamentals is key to great storytelling. How well you know your fundamentals will be evident in every word on every page. Story fundamentals are...
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Are You Ready To Share Your Writing?
By BookBaby author Michael Gallant Writing is so personal, and writers can be very territorial about their work. But there are times when showing your work-in-progress to even one trusted reader can...
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Are You Breaking These Grammar Rules?
By BookBaby author Andre Calilhanna If you’ve ever wondered why you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition — which, admit it, you do all the time — well… this infographic from the good folks at...
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Getting — And Interpreting — A Reader’s “Thought Map” Of Your Book
By BookBaby author Dawn Field Authors want to manipulate readers’ thoughts — this is why we read, after all. We love getting swept away into new worlds, with new people and ideas. Getting a reader’s...
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Good Science Makes For Good Science Fiction
By BookBaby author William Leibowitz If you do the required scientific research, your novels will transcend storytelling and the “science” will imbue your books with a realism that will heighten your...
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