by Ali | Mar 29, 2021 | Craft
What Bad Writing Looks Like … and How to Fix It [With Detailed Examples] A lot of writers worry that they may not be good enough to be successful. The truth is that however “good” or “bad” your writing is, you can improve with practice and with careful...
by Ali | Sep 14, 2020 | Craft
Five Straightforward Ways to Create Stronger Characters This post was originally published in October 2017 and updated in September 2020. If your story doesn’t have strong, compelling characters … you’ll struggle to get readers. However intricate your...
by Ali | Jun 29, 2020 | Craft
Anti-Heroes and Villains: How They’re Different & Tips for Writing Them Well This post was originally published in December 2016 and updated in June 2020. Most stories, these days, don’t have flawless heroes and evil cackling villains. Readers – and...
by Ali | Jun 16, 2020 | Craft
What if You’re Just Not Good Enough To Be a Successful Writer? This post was originally published in June 2016 and updated in June 2020. What if you’re not good enough? What if you enjoy writing … but you’re actually pretty rubbish at it? What if any...
by Ali | Jun 18, 2018 | Craft
15 Ways to Make Your Characters Suffer (for the Good of Your Novel) Note: This post was originally published in 2016, and was updated in June 2018. Do your characters suffer enough? Even if you’re writing a light and fluffy romance, at some point, someone in your...
by Ali | Jan 30, 2017 | Craft
Ten Book-Level Mistakes to Watch Out for When Redrafting Your Fiction [With Examples] A few weeks ago, I posted about sentence-level mistakes: ones that are easy to spot from a page or a paragraph of writing. Even if you write flawless prose, though, it’s possible to...