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by Josh Langston I had been writing fiction for several years before I had the chance to attend a workshop presented by Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. This husband and wife team has achieved near legendary status in the speculative fiction writing world. They have both produced a prodigious volume of high […] via Formula… Continue reading Formula for Fiction? A Simple Breakdown of 7 Point Plotting — A Writer’s Path

by Kelsie Engen I’m deep in the throes of editing my current WIP right now, Broken Time, which is why my poor blog has been taking a backseat. And what this really means is that I’m deep into the nitty-gritty of grammar, word usage, syntax, and pretty much the non-glamorous aspects of writing. via 5 Overused… Continue reading 5 Overused Words in Fiction — A Writer’s Path

by Mindy Halleck In 2011,I embarked on one of the harshest undertakings; I placed what I thought was the final draft of my novel in a drawer for one year. Why? Because, as I told others in my most knowledgeable author voice, “A writer needs distance from their material before editing and rewriting.” via How Objects… Continue reading How Objects Tell Your Story — A Writer’s Path

by Ryan Lanz We’ve all felt it at one time or another. The story loses its shine and you’re left with a half-completed story. Why does this happen, and how do you continue? For a lot of writers, this is the mid-point of the story, but truly, it can happen at any point. […] via How… Continue reading How to Feel Like Writing Again — A Writer’s Path

If you like reading about or need to create characters who are strong and passionate, who value justice over anything else, who respect the difference between right and wrong, who live by their wits and their ability to think problems through to successful conclusions, you might consider reading westerns. That is their core. A book […]… Continue reading 7 Westerns that are Amazingly Good — Today’s Author

by Cátia Isabel Silva In the previous post, we talked about how important the first page is to the success of your book. A good first page is, without a doubt, the difference between someone actually buying and reading through your whole book or merely picking it from the shelf, opening it up […] via Five… Continue reading Five Tips For Your First Page — A Writer’s Path

by Michael Mohr A-number one advice for new writers especially: Don’t rush the process. Man oh man. How many writers approach me who think they’re going to hand me their first or second draft of a novel and after one developmental edit they’re going to be done? Far too many. In this new landscape […] via… Continue reading How to be Edited as a New Author (Or at Any Level, Really…) — A Writer’s Path

by Sheree Crawford A good novel has three main elements; characters, a plot, and an over-arching threat. Much as structure is distinct from plot so too is threat distinct from conflict, but you need it all to create a really good novel. Well, you need all four to create a publishable novel. If […] via Threat:… Continue reading Threat: What It Is and Why Your Story Needs It — A Writer’s Path

by Doug Lewars Consider a scene in which a CEO is meeting with some senior executives. Of interest to the story are a couple of individuals – say John and Frank. There are, however, say eight people in the meeting. Presumably we need to know something about the CEO but there are five […] via How… Continue reading How Much to Show of Side Characters — A Writer’s Path

by Ryan Lanz Writers use dialogue tags constantly. In fact, we use them so often that readers all but gloss over them. They should be invisible. However, there are ways to misuse them and make them stand out. In an effort to avoid that, let’s take a closer look at dialogue tags. Toward […] via The… Continue reading The Dos and Don’ts of Dialogue Tags — A Writer’s Path