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Katisha Smith Here at Book Riot, we are obviously into books. We love all books equally, but sometimes prefer a certain format when it comes to reading. Some Rioters detest hardcover books. Others love mass market paperbacks. Of course, we know audiobooks are more than just a trend. Personally, I prefer reading ebooks because I […]… Continue reading How Publishers Determine When to Release Hardcover Books in Paperback — L.A. Kennedy

Nancy Kress Most writers try to avoid writing flashbacks, but if you just can’t resist sending your readers back in time, fiction columnist Nancy Kress has some advice. Kress explains what makes a flashback work, and how to perfect your own time travelling techniques. Some stories behave conveniently for their authors: They take place in […]… Continue reading 3 Tips for Writing Successful Flashbacks — L.A. Kennedy

The Big Wonder So, stories tend to need that internal motivator/quest/motivation to keep their plot chugging forward and to keep the reader engaged. As you know, I talk about desire lines way too much, which are all about the emotional through-line for the characters in our stories, but another way to think about the internal […]… Continue reading Writing Tip Wednesday: Finding Your Big Wonder — Carrie Jones Books

Protests are burning through the world right now in the wake of George Floyd’s death – far from the first senseless death of a black person at the hands of the police this year in the United States of America. It is always important to support minority group content creators and voices, but I wanted […]… Continue reading Books About and By Black Voices — Laurel and the Books

by ARHuelsenbeck Simply stated, the theme of a story is a universal truth about the human condition that your story illustrates. Your theme may be as general as love, or death, or taxes. Or it could be as specific as think before you speak or be prepared to deal with the consequences of your words.… Continue reading Thinking About Theme When Writing — A Writer’s Path

by Ryan Lanz Have you ever thought to yourself that your characters are in charge, and not you? I once heard an interview where an author discussed his characters as if they were the ones with the quill in hand, so to speak. He went on to discuss how the characters would occasionally […] via When… Continue reading When Your Characters Won’t Behave — A Writer’s Path

by smwright Some beginnings come easy; others, well, they bite, claw, and resist like no tomorrow, leaving behind frazzled writers. Take for instance my novel Heritage Lost: It’s beginning stuck from the very beginning, back when I conceptualized the novel in college. Its sequel, which I’m beginning, is already on its fourth (I think) […] via… Continue reading Finding the Right Beginning For Your Novel — A Writer’s Path

by Brenda Hill While writing my first novel, I attended a lot of classes and read tons of how-to books. “Show, Don’t Tell” was a mantra I heard from most writing instructors, and it’s a technique writers must master in order for the material to come alive in the readers’ minds. It’s also […] via Write… Continue reading Write What You Know: Sage Advice or Hogwash? — A Writer’s Path

by Ryan Lanz Should you include a prologue in your novel? I have known writer friends who have debated this for years. Some love them, some hate them, but in this post I’ll detail what I think of them. There are many different schools of thought when it comes to prologues, and the […] via To… Continue reading To Prologue or Not To Prologue — A Writer’s Path

by David Gittlin Comparatively speaking, writing a novel is the fun, easy, first step of the self-publishing process. The second step, creating an attention-getting book cover, offers its own unique set of challenges. However, the most intimidating and difficult undertaking, to most authors, is the third step—marketing. The word strikes terror in many […] via Can… Continue reading Can the Cold Case of Book Marketing Be Solved? — A Writer’s Path