by Ali | Mar 1, 2024 | Fiction
How and Why Unanswered Questions Draw Readers Through Your Story What grips readers and keeps them reading? As a reader, there are lots of reasons why I might get really into a book … but one big factor is unanswered questions. One of the times I notice this most is...
by Ali | Feb 15, 2024 | Fiction
Why Readers Might Not Make it Past Your First Few Pages: Five Reasons (and Five Fixes) Have you ever started reading a novel and given up within the first few pages? Unless you’re a particularly tenacious (or stubborn!) reader, you probably have. It’s often clear...
by Ali | Jan 18, 2024 | Fiction
How to Write Difficult Scenes: Five Tips for Stretching Your Writing Muscles If you’re working on a novel, some scenes will likely flow easily – they’ll be straightforward to write and not too much of a challenge. But other scenes will be a lot tougher. There are...
by Ali | Nov 16, 2023 | Fiction
What is Pacing in Fiction? (And Is Your Pace Too Fast, Too Slow, or Just Right?) Your friend recommends a thriller to you and tells you it’s “a fantastic page-turner”. Another friend tells you about a sweet romance novel that’s a “gentle, slow burn”. Both your friends...
by Ali | Sep 21, 2023 | Fiction
Internal Conflict: Six Types of Internal Conflict (With Examples) The links to books in this post are Amazon affiliate links. That means that if you buy any of the books after going through my link, Amazon gives me a little bit of money. It doesn’t cost you anything...
by Ali | Jul 8, 2023 | Fiction
9 Stages of Writing a Novel (Plus Where You Might Get Stuck and How to Move On) Whatever stage of the process you’re at, writing a novel can be a whole lot of fun. But it also takes a lot of time. None of us have unlimited time to write (and chances are, your writing...