We’ve written about pacing before and specifically pacing with multiple POV books, but today we wanted to talk about something a little different though it goes in hand with pacing: tension. This post is cowritten with Ashley Burdin. What is tension anyway? There’s an interview between Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock that we love where… Continue reading Building Tension in Stories
Friend and fellow WBP contributor Akshaya Raman has been lightly badgering me about writing a post on character, because apparently as much as I talk about how and why character is the most important part of any aspect of story, it seems I have not actually written a post about this! Yes, I have written… Continue reading Building Dynamic Character Arcs
If you’re looking for some homework, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to get to work today! So we talk a lot about craft but if we’re the pencil, we need the sharpener for the desired outcome to take place. So let’s get the sharpener, shall we? Before We Begin You decide what… Continue reading Reading Critically As A Writer
I know my first drafts are messy. As hard as it can be to accept, I know that no matter how much time I spend brainstorming or outlining, until I have that draft written, I don’t fully know how the story is going to turn out or how to fix it. But writing that first… Continue reading Writing A First Draft After Revising Forever
I’m pinching myself that I get to write this post. Why? Because the idea of writing in multiple age categories still feels so new to me. Being an author has been my dream my entire life, but for a very, very long time, I only ever imagined myself as a YA author. The idea of writing anything… Continue reading Writing in Multiple Age Categories: The Why, the How, and the Fun
This post is brought to you by Kat, who when I asked what I should write for my turn on the blog this week, answered with: SETTING. In preparing for this post, I re-read our Roundtable #7, where Foody, Melody, Akshaya and I talk settings, so definitely check that out if you haven’t already. Between… Continue reading 7 Tips on Writing Settings
In A World… is a series of posts about world building, where our contributors share strategies and tips for creating well-rounded worlds. World building is hard. Fantasy or contemporary, with multiple points of view or one, it’s not an easy task. Just check out the many other posts that are part of the “In A World..”… Continue reading In A World…: World Building in First Person
Back in September I saw this article on Facebook (I know, why do I still have a Facebook?) about the end of cliffhangers. I immediately thought to myself, well that’s funny because my day job literally involves cliffhangers… And with that I completely wrote off the article. That is until a few weeks ago because… Continue reading Cliffhangers Are…
My favorite part of starting a new project is getting to write new characters. Usually I go in already knowing what POV (or POVs, since most books I write have multiple) the book will be told from. But recently, as I started to brainstorm a new idea, I realized I was trying to choose between… Continue reading Picking The Right POV
Hi all! We’re starting a new series! We saw all the conversations about how there is a lack of transparency in publishing. And while we think there are some great resources already out there, publishing is ever changing and it can’t hurt to have more people sharing their stories! So we started a Pub Finance… Continue reading Pub Finances #1: How to Budget as a Full-time writer/freelancer
