Garrulous & Bookish

Welcome! My name is Rebecca and I love to read. This is where I blog about books, animals (I really want a dog), and a few other random things.

[nanowrimo]

3 Steps for How to Find Time in Your Schedule for Writing

Sometimes we can have all the creativity in the world but feels as if there’s no free time for us to get our ideas down on paper. You may be finding that you have less time to write than you thought this month, but never fear! Novelist Sagan Morrow is here to help us get a writing schedule ready to go:

Just because you want to write a book, doesn’t mean it’s easy to find the time to actually do it! We all have busy, hectic lives… so, how can you carve out time in your schedule for writing? 

As a productivity strategist and romance novelist, I get this question a lot from my clients and aspiring authors. It comes down to learning how to stay disciplined, and also putting together strategies that are the right fit for your unique situation and writing style. 

Here are three actionable steps (plus corresponding pro tips!) you can implement today to find time in your schedule for writing.

1. Create a plan of action. 

Look at your upcoming schedule for the next few weeks and/or months. What non-negotiables have you already scheduled? What tasks can you shift around, to make more room for writing? Make a note of which days you’ll spend writing, and set deadlines for yourself in terms of when you’ll complete each draft. 

Keep reading

[readingismywholelife]

I made this because I, too, have nothing to do with myself at the moment. Use your time better. Read some thicccc books.

*takes deep breath* fin

Feel free to add your faves as replies / reblog captions.

[comfortableinteriors-blog]

[hawberries]

some cats from last month

[coffeewithjodi]

“the world is not in your books and maps, its out there.”

[bookwormungandr]

IG: book_rambler

[the-evanescent-inkwell]

Some Fun World Building Tips!

Disclaimer: Your plot/story comes first. Don’t add a bunch of flaunty details for the sake of ‘World Building’ if it doesn’t add to your story or takes it off course, It’s not worth it. These are just some things I’ve tried in different, separate stories that were fun exercises for me as a creator.

1.) Language!

This is the most useful if you have multiple countries in a fantasy world that interact with each other in some form or fashion. Most countries have a different national language, and then different dialects of that language. Therefore, if you have two characters from Country A and Country B that speak different languages and live a decent distance apart, they’re probably going to have different speaking structures and slang. For instance, maybe Character A always says ‘Oh my God’ and maybe Character B always says “My Gods!” Incorporating little details like that will make your story more real and believable without requiring writing out another language. 

Also, language is based on history, religion, and culture. If Country A and Country B have different religions, they’re going to swear differently. It’s more interesting if you don’t just substitute their god’s name into a generic phrase that is the same across all languages.

2.) Food!

Food is SUPER cultural and SUPER fun to play with while world building. What is considered “travel food” in the country? What do they drink out of? What’s a popular type of alcohol? What’s the traditional ‘comfort food’? Desserts? What do you offer guests when they come over to your house? This is also dependent on the terrain. If the country has a lot of swamp and bogs, they’re not going to have an endless supply of grains. If it’s mostly a prairie, they’re not going to have oranges. Do a little research on what type of foods could be grown in the environment your country is in, then figure out what foods can be made from these plants. 

This is really easy to incorporate into fantasy worlds by just mentioning for half a sentence what food the characters are eating, and it tells the reader a lot about the environment and culture of this country. 

3.) Education!

This one only works if you have younger characters who are attending school or receiving lessons. If you have the right environment for it, it’s really fun to mess around with. Ask yourself questions: what would my character study at this age in this environment? History? Math? Language? Art? Music? Philosophy? Magic? Combat? Religion? 

While your character is learning about the history of one or multiple countries, you can easily expand your reader’s depth of the world through short descriptions. You can explore the linguistics of a country’s language and develop time periods. I have one WIP where the main character is having to read multiple classical novels and plays, but she also reads modern fantasy. Having a history helps deepen the believability of a world. If you’re exploring art, music, or philosophy, make sure to mention famous artists, musicians, and philosophers that your character either despises or looks up to. Magic is fun too. What type of magic is your character learning? How do they practice it? How is it viewed by the majority? Combat depends on culture; different groups of people fight differently and use different weapons. Religion is fun to play with, and through an educational setting, it can be smoothly explained. 

Even picking just one or two of the above list (or even adding some more!) gives just a bit more depth to your story and solidifies your world!

4.) Popular Culture

Pop culture shapes our world soooo much it’s ridiculous. Having some version of it will make your world so believable. What is your world’s version of Taylor Swift or Pan!c at the Disco? What’s your world’s version of Fortnite dances? What are their ‘memes’, so-to-speak? Who do they make fun of? My high school of 300 people has inside jokes that make fun of our principal. Even if it’s a little jab at the president/king/dictator of a country, just add a little something extra that can help give a clear image of modern social culture.

5.) Media

How do the citizens of your country receive their news? Newspapers? Is there just a giant bulletin where the king posts news? What type of news do they receive? Politics? International? Economic? Environmental? Sports? Pop culture? Editorials? Feature stories? Do they receive news magically? If so, how? Do they have some form of radios or televisions? What issues are present in society? Is anyone doing anything about this?

This is fun because it’s a very real thing you can include that once again gives your story some believability. A large country needs some sort of communication, and through the media is one way to do that. In an absolute monarchy where news is completely controlled by the government, this can be used to show contrast if the king is indeed a bad king. Also, differences in mass communication between two countries (maybe one has a bulletin controlled completely by the king and another has a law protecting freedom of the press) can show differences between the two. Also, political cartoons are fun.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST!!

Study world history. Pay attention to differences between countries and mirror/combine elements of culture and history into your own original world. You learn the most from what has actually made it—the real thing!

[trinareadsbooks]

I picked this lovely book up for Bout of Books and I am so glad that I did. It was a short, beautiful read filled with poetry that made me ache in the way good poetry should.... I know that sounds weird but trust me this book is absolutely worth the read!

[amberstarlights]

Why do people listen to the advice of those wannabe ‘writers’. I mean they are not even published? 

[skeleskeeller]

Excuse you? People can still give out valuable writing advice even if they are not published. Besides, not being published does not mean someone is a bad writer.

[amberstarlights]

Explain?

[skeleskeeller]

I assume by being “published” you mean through a publisher and not through self-publishing. Most publishers are for-profit. Meaning they want to make money. However, they don’t like taking chances and spend money on publishing a book that might not sell well. No matter how good of a writer you are, the chances of hearing “Sorry, there is no market for your book”, are extremely high unless you have something to show for it:

Followers on social media, success of your self-published book, email subscribers, website traffic, etc. Anything that shows the publisher that your book will sell increases your chances of being published dramatically. Many times, writers are approached by the publisher!

I have had this conversation with many of my writer friends, and some of them think this is unfair. What you often see is famous people writing a mediocre book and using their fame to have it become a best-seller. Except I don’t think it’s unfair. It’s business. As a writer, you are your own business. Many writers seem to forget this fact!

Let’s take Lang Leav as an example. You might have heard of her as she was dominating the poetry section on Tumblr in ‘13 and ‘14. She amassed many followers on Tumblr by sharing her poetry. She then self-published her book ‘Love & Misadventure” and promoted it on Tumblr.

“How did you get published?

​I self-published my first book, Love & Misadventure. As soon as it was listed for sale, my book began to top best-seller charts and caught the attention of two literary agents in New York. I signed up with Writers House and was promptly offered a publishing deal by Andrews McMeel.” (source)

My honest opinion about her work is that it’s poetry for the masses and that she is not necessarily an astounding or great poet. However, her first book has 38,943 ratings on Goodreads (source)

Key to success? Posting her work online, good branding, nice poetry, building a loyal following.

Let’s take fifty shades for example. (YES)

E.L. James used to write twilight fanfiction. Many people loved her Twilight fanfiction so a publisher called The Writer’s Coffee House contacted her, they changed all the names in her work, and the rest is history.

I hope this explains it a little. Publishers mitigate the risk of their investment not being profitable by publishing books that have a high chance of being successful. There are many great, unpublished writers out there sharing valuable advice. Those people not being published has more to do with them not knowing how to increase their chances of being published, rather than being a bad writer.

[skeleskeeller]

Currently on a bus from Nice to Paris. It’s a 13 hour drive so I am going to dump a lot of information for people who want to sell a book right now or ten years from now. The sooner you start using this strategy, the more successful you will be.

First of all, if you have a lot of reach (audience), meaning that you have a few thousands of followers on social media, and a publisher contacts you, you always want to ask them if you can self-publish first! Always! If they refuse, you really want to think twice about signing their contract. Why? Because publishers are using your followers to sell your own book to. Self-publishing gives you around ~70% profits. Publishers often offer you a contract giving you 20%. Shady af. I don’t like that shit and I so often see small authors being used like that. Yes, publishers do help with editing etc., but depending on your reach, it’s up to you to decide if hiring an editor yourself isn’t a much better option. So, always SELL to your own fans first self-published if you can. THEN, if the publisher thinks your book has potential beyond your followers, work with them and sign the contract. Don’t let them profit off your fanbase and then leave you hanging. 

If you are going to write a book, you need to talk about it! A lot. At least 6 months in advance. Preferably two years. You need to build up some anticipation among your followers. You need people to be aware of it and WANT it. It’s like a book. You don’t just tell your readers the plot in 5 sentences and that’s the book. You need to build up the story. And then BOOM, Karen just turned page 170 and she doesn’t know what’s coming for her, but she’s gonna be shook and love it. Same with promoting your book. Nobody is gonna give a shit if you say: “oh hi, you didn’t know but I wrote a book. You can buy it here”. You gotta talk about it long before you publish it.

Chances are, you don’t have a following at all. In this day and age, social media is all the hype. There is this misconception that you need millions of followers to make a living online. Not true. Let me introduce you to 1,000 True Fans, an article written by Kevin Kelly in 2008. Read it. It’s eye-opening and practical!

“A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author – in other words, anyone producing works of art – needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.”

How to get 1000 fans as a writer (also works for artists)

Your main focus should be on creating content and growing your reach (audience). Focus on building an email list and a simple website. Why an email list? For the same reasons everyone else always asks for your email when you sign up for something: so they can reach you.

Many content creators struggle with two things: algorithms and platforms dying. Instagram’s algorithm makes it so that if someone doesn’t hit ‘like’ on your content for a while, your content gets pushed all the way to the bottom of their feed. Why? Because IG wants you to stay on their app as long as possible and thus shows people the content they interact with the most first. The second reason is, at some point people are not going to use their Myspace, Tumblr, Wattpad, or Instagram account anymore. Someone might have a million followers on Myspace, but right now, if they update their profile, maybe a thousand people will see it if they are lucky. So, how do you keep reaching the people who followed you in the first place? EMAIL.

Email is fantastic for two reasons:

There are no algorithms. People see your email based on the time you sent it.

People do not change their email as much as they do social media.

So, if you ever shoutout your book or art store, you are guaranteed that everyone on your email list sees it.

I recommend MailChimp for sending batch emails. It’s free for up to 1,200 email subscribers, and that’s plenty for small businesses.

But how do you get people to sign up for your email list? Well, there are a million ways to that, but first, we need our website and we need to actually reach people!

Let’s first focus on reaching people

Create a social media account on each platform that makes sense to you. Opt for the same username everywhere to strengthen your brand. Then post your content to each and every single one of these platforms, but add in a call to action. Write a personal caption on Instagram, or write things in the tags on Tumblr. The best advice I can give to writers on Tumblr is to reblog writing prompts and write a story and include a ‘READ MORE’.

Many people don’t like to make the commitment to read something long without knowing what it’s about. A writing prompt is the perfect intro and increases the number of people reading your story.

By including a ‘read more’ people have to visit your Tumblr blog. Have a nice bio, and end your story with something personal and a call to action, this skyrockets the number of followers you will get.

Now the problem is: getting people to reblog your story. You could try DMing bigger blogs, but chances of them reblogging your story are slim. DM your followers instead and ask them to reblog your story if they want. If you don’t have followers, go through a tag of your choosing. Filter on ‘recent’ and DM those. You need to hustle a bit. It doesn’t matter if you wrote the story today or two years ago. If you think it’s good content, then you can self-promote it until it gains traction.

For Instagram: Never use popular tags. Avoid them like the plague. I would even go as far as to not use tags at all. But if you use them, only choose niche tags. Why? Bots. There are so many of them. You NEVER want bots following you on Instagram. Every time you post something new, your post gets ‘tested’ in batches of followers. 20% (this is not proven, but I feel pretty confident about this number) out of the first few people who see your post need to like it, or else Instagram stops pushing your content out to more people. Bots never like your posts. If your post fares well and stays above the 20% it gets pushed out to more people, and it will eventually land on the explore page. I don’t have much experience using tags, but if you use them, make sure bots do not target them.

Post your content everywhere. Writing on Wattpad. Art on DeviantArt etc., and always link to your website! All your socials must link to your website, this is key to build your email list.

Also, quick tip for IG, if you want to grow really fast, make sure your content is well received. Most of your post should have a like/follower rate of 20%. In the beginning, the increase in followers is barely noticeable. But once you have 1k followers, it snowballs! Furthermore, some Instagram pages, often businesses, have a terrible like/follower ratio. Less than 1% of their followers like their content. Why do they even bother with Instagram? Only a small portion of their followers see their content since so few people like it, and so it doesn’t get pushed to the feeds of the rest of their followers. Why do they bother? Email. Many businesses, big or small, use their Instagram account as a funnel to get email subscribers. Email is always more important to a business than followers for email lasts much longer and isn’t subject to algorithms, except the spam filter. However, if you are on Instagram as an artist or writer, strive for both: high engagement and collecting emails.

Now that you are having your email list, website, and your social media accounts are growing, it is time to promote your newsletter (email list) beyond the links to your website on social media. We are striving for 1k email subscribers. It’s not a lot. My advice is to message all your followers. Copy paste the same message asking them if they want to subscribe. Make it personal. I want to know who the artist or writer is. I always enjoy someone’s content more if I know the person behind it. I want to know who you are.

But, at this point, you might be wondering: why would people subscribe to my email list? What to send emails about in the first place? Think long and hard, put yourself in your follower’s shoes. If you asked me:

If you are a writer, I would love to have some bonus material send to my inbox.

Updates about your WIP.

An occasional blog post about your life.

Early bird discount on your book when it comes out.

If you are an artist:

I would love to know about the art process and what inspires you.

Read your blog and learn more about you.

Know when you are open for commissions again.

Get updates about your art store.

Obviously, not everyone is going to sign up for your email list. But try your best to make something special. The goal is to:

Build an email list. You will always reach those people. No algorithms or platforms dying (unless email dies, but not in the foreseeable future)

You can build a relationship with your email subscribers. This is important. By reading about your life, I will become more invested in your writing or art.

You are not selling the cheapest shoes or pens in the world. You sell art and books. Build a relationship with your audience!

I am against using extra incentives that have nothing to do with what you do to have people subscribe to your list. If you do giveaways, then make sure it’s something you sell yourself. Don’t give away a bunch of books you didn’t write or a laptop. You will get people signing up because they want the laptop, not because they are interested in you. Instead, as an artist, do a commission giveaway (people who want your art will sign up) or give a discount for your Esty shop etc., Writers: out of the people who sign up, one person can give you a prompt for a short story, for example. Or give away your book if you have already written one!

(By the way, I see some artists doing amazingly well with commissions on Tumblr already! My advice would be, if you want to keep doing this for a long time, go start your website and email asap. So that ‘if’ Tumblr dies, (at this point I am not sure if it’s even possible for this site to die) you can still reach your audience and keep doing commissions.)

Prioritize your website and email list over your Patreon

Patreon is great. As a creator I love it. However, when does someone become a Patron? For me: first, the rewards need to be good. But second, I need to care about you as a person. You can’t promote everything at the same time. It’s best to focus on one thing for a period of time. I suggest you first build up relationships with your email subscribers, so they get to know you better and give an f, then plug your Patreon.

Email subscribers are more likely to become Patrons compared to the rest of your audience because they already showed you they want to hear more from you by signing up to your newsletter/email list.

You get to collect VALUABLE email addresses first. Those are easier to obtain then having someone become a Patron. People need to pay to become a Patron, your newsletter is free.

This might look a bit counterproductive to some of you. After all, you want to go from A (content) to B ($$$) as fast as possible. But I highly recommend you implement this extra step if Patreon is one of your sources of income. You will end up with more Patrons.

Starting a website and collecting emails

You need a domain name. Preferably a .com. Name it after yourself or your brand/store. There are many ways to go about starting your website.

Here are three:

Bluehost: Bluehost uses WordPress. Take the cheapest package. You don’t need more than that yet. Might be difficult to set up for computer illiterate folks. Though GEN Y and Z should have no problems with it. 

FastComet: Also uses WordPress. They claim to be the fastest. Might be hard to set up but it’s very cheap.

Wix: You probably have heard of this one. I suggest you choose the Combo package. It’s free to use, but you do want to upgrade in order to get rid of the blabla.wixsite.com at the end of your domain name. Also, do not buy straight away. They send you a ‘50% discount’ by email after you created a website within 2-14 days. Easiest to use in my opinion.

There are plenty of others out there, but these I have used and are reputable. Feel free to add your hosts to this post.

For email marketing automatization I recommend MailChimp. There are many options, but MailChimp is by far one of the most used and has therefore many one-click-install website integrations, making it is easy to set up. By the way, sending 2-4 emails a month to your list is more than enough.

Hope this helps some of you out. It’s simple but not easy. Also, give it time. You don’t get 1000 email subscribers overnight. The sooner you start the better. And, yeh, you have to put in some time and energy. In my opinion, it’s worth it. Spend 90% of your time creating, the other 10% doing the less fun stuff. If you want to increase your chances of success, being published etc, this is a good way to start. My advice would be: Don’t rely on being discovered or going viral. Rather, increase your chances of being discovered or going viral by strengthening your foundation for success.  

Reading material

https://optinmonster.com/email-marketing-vs-social-media-performance-2016-2019-statistics/

https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/why-email-marketing/

https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

https://www.theme-junkie.com/add-read-more-link-tumblr-post/

[elizxa-beth]

I just finished reading the first link of the reading material and what stood out is that email is seven times more likely to convert someone into a customer than social media! That’s insane! Thank you, dear person, for posting this. Going to make a website this weekend!

[creshireneira]

@elizxa-beth you really should! I think your art is amazing. A friend of mine from college does this. She has ~3k followers on Instagram and only ~400 email subcribers. She gets 90% of her comissions through email. About 12 a month! And that’s a lot since she charges anywhere from $75 to $200 for a comission. You could do the same! (:

[elizxa-beth]

I think I will! Thank you <3

[elizxa-beth]

So I created my own website with Wix today and here are some tips for anyone who wants to start a website using Wix:

1. Let Wix build a website for your first with ADI. Play around with it and publish your website. Then edit it again. Go to ‘site’ and select ‘Go to Wix editor.’ Now you have full control over how your website looks.  2. There is a small learning curve. It might be complicated in the very beginning but don’t give up. Get some snacks and work on your website. It’s actually fun. It took me around 3 hours to create mine.

3. Wix has a built-in email sign up form and email marketing tool called ‘Shoutout’. So you don’t need mailchimp. You can still connect mailchimp to Wix if you prefer.

4. Do wait with upgrading your website until they send you the 50% discount coupon to your email.

5. Signing up for Wix is free. If you upgrade you get a free domain as well! 

[moonxchaos]

This is solid advice, but OP forgot to mention the two most important reasons as to why you should have your own website and create an email list. 1) a dot com domain without [.tumblr].com or [.blogger].com in front of it looks professional and conveys trust. 2) You own the website and email list. Tumblr and Instagram accounts are being deleted left and right without warning. Even some creators on Patreon have gotten there accounts banned for no reason at all other than staff messing around. No one can delete your website and email list. You have full ownership.

[cyhyryth-deactivated20190524]

PSA: you are allowed to reblog this super long post to help out artists and writers!

[voidlessshadows-deactivated2022]

This is some great advice

[catchymemes]

[katealot]

Earth: does the same thing it’s done for 4.54 billion years

Humans:

[writing-prompt-s]

Happy new year everyone!

[theliteraryarchitect]

Writing Advice Posts: A Handy Reference Guide

(Updated 11/22/19) Hey all, I’ve got quite a few writing advice posts & answered Asks on my blog at this point, so I’m making this reference guide to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Hope it helps!

Free Pocket Guide to Self Editing for Fiction Writers

A collection of 5 checklists to help you map out a revision plan and move forward with your story.

Pre-Editing Checklist

Story Editing Checklist

Scene Editing Checklist

Sentence Editing Checklist

Post-Editing Checklist

Download the pocket guide for free right here.

Free Resource Library Downloads

All of these PDFs are also available to download for free on my website:

Creating Character Arcs Workbook

Point of View Cheatsheet

Dialogue Checklist

Setting Checklist

Questions to Ask Before Hiring an Editor Printable Checklist

Proper Manuscript Format Printable Checklist

Short Story & Novel Submission Templates

World-Building Checklist

Access the Free Resource Library right here.

General

8 Ways to Improve Your Writing

10 Best Books About Writing Fiction

How to Spot Bad Writing Advice: 6 Red Flags to Look For

“Show Don’t Tell”? Not Always. Here’s When to Use Summary

How to start a story

More about starting stories

The first sentence

Weak words

Why Just About Every Published Book in the World Does 57 Things That Just About Every Book About Writing Tells You Not to Do

Creative Nonfiction Cliches to Avoid

How to Read Like a Writer

The Writing Process, Writer’s Block, & Inspiration

To all the Writers Suffering from Depression

How to Train Yourself to Write Faster

Just a friendly reminder that creativity is difficult to quantify.

Quick Writing Tip: Make a Note to Your Future Self in Your WIP

Quick Writing Tip: Take Notes!

Just a friendly reminder that writing is not always a linear process.

Quick Cure for Writer’s Block: Lower Your Expectations

Set Realistic Goals

Your Skills May Need Time to Catch Up to Your Vision

It’s Okay to Experiment and Be Weird As Fuck

Surround Yourself With Supporters

It’s okay to take a break.

Your First Draft is Raw Material

Getting into “The Zone”

Vomit Brain

Writing from Your Imagination vs. Reality

Dealing with Criticism

Getting Bored with Your Own Writing

Getting past a block

Doing research on topics you don’t have first-hand experience with

Journalling about your writing

How to Keep Yourself From Editing As You Write

Advice for Getting Over a Writing Slump

Dealing with Procrastination

How to Write Like You Used to, Before You Learned Stuff that Fucked Up Your Natural Creative Flow and Turned Your Writing into Boring, Stilted Garbage

Character Development

Creating Character Arcs with the DCAST Method

What Does Your Main Character Want?

How to Activate Your Passive Characters, One Verb at a Time

How to Use Description to Show Character Development

How to Create a Non-Cliched First-Meeting Scene

The “It Depends” Post

Shifting internal goals

When to identify your character’s goal

Writing about normal people with normal problems

If you’re worried about your character being too similar to someone else’s character 

Describing your characters without messing up your pacing

Story, Plot, & Pacing

Quick Plotting Tip: Write Your Story Backwards

Pause at the Threshold

How to Spot an “Info-dump”

Slowing Down the Pace of Your Story Without Boring Your Reader

Time Transitions

How to Create a Non-Cliched First-Meeting Scene

Creating Conflict

When & how to cut a scene

If you’re good at creating characters but awful at creating plot

When you’ve plotted your story but can’t get started

En Media Res

Writing to Your Ideal Reader

Deus Ex Machina

Foreshadowing

Finding an Ending

What to write between moments of conflict

Starting a story with waking-up scene

How to Know When You’re Done Outlining

Description, Setting, & Worldbuilding

How to Make Your Descriptions Less Boring

How to Spot an “Info-dump”

Adding Descriptions to Intense Scenes Without Messing Up Your Story’s Flow

How to Use Description to Show Character Development

Worldbuilding: How much is too much?

Modeling your fantasy world from stuff in the real world

Internal Consistency

Utilizing Sound

How to Do World-Building Research

Point of View

How to Choose the Right Point of View for Your Story

A Beginner’s Guide to Multiple Point of View

6 Questions to Ask About Your Point of View

How to decide if you should use first person or third person

More point of view basics

Head hopping

How to Head Hop without Head Hopping

Dialogue

How to Improve Your Dialogue

3 Ways to Make Your Dialogue More Interesting

Starting a story with dialogue

Are You Using Too Much Stage Direction?

Which is Better: Exposition or Expository Dialogue?

Publishing & Sharing Your Work

7 Tips to Build an Audience for Your Writing

Pros and Cons of Self Publishing

Quick Publishing Tip: Don’t Bury Your Gold

How to Properly Format Your Manuscript for Publication

A warning about posting writing online that you intend to publish later

Advice for writers who are worried about people stealing their work or ideas

Getting feedback on your writing

How to Create a Cover Letter for a Literary Magazine or Journal

Editing

10 Questions to Ask an Editor Before Hiring Them

Quick Revision Tip: Read Your Writing Out Loud

How to Keep Yourself From Editing As You Write

Cut the fidgeting

Are you suffering from -ing disease?

Are you Using Too Much Stage Direction?

What “Editing” Really Means

Quick Editing Tip: “That”

Quick Revision Tip: Read Faster

Editing Tip: Dialogue

Tips for Editing a Story

Should You Use a Contract When Hiring an Editor?

Quick Tip: Up & Down

Pre-Editing Checklist

…if you find any broken links please let me know and I will fix them! xo

*I changed the name of my blog a while back. All of these links should work, but if you come across a “Bucket Siler has moved!” page when clicking on a link inside an old post, there’s an easy way to find what you’re looking for: In the url, delete “bucketsiler,” write “theliteraryarchitect,” then hit return. Also, let me know about it & I will fix it :)

//////////////

The Literary Architect is a writing advice blog run by me, Bucket Siler. For more writing help, check out my Free Resource Library or get The Complete Guide to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers. xoxo

[the-right-writing]

Things almost every author needs to research

How bodies decompose

Wilderness survival skills

Mob mentality

Other cultures

What it takes for a human to die in a given situation

Common tropes in your genre

Average weather for your setting

[clevergirlhelps]

yoooo

How bodies decompose

Wilderness survival skills

Mob mentality

Other cultures

What it takes for a human to die in a given situation

Common tropes for your genre

Average weather for your setting

[writeinspiration]

Finally found this!

theblacksmithsdaughter, is this one of the posts you were looking for?

[panchicha]

Jojo Rabbit Ending

Little Bowie (heroes en aleman)

[onamountaintop]

[roane72]

Best trick I ever picked up. Seriously.

[coynsundry]

[copperbadge]

A good post full of excellent content. 

[wordsnstuff]

Planning A Scene In A Story

– A lot of you have asked questions pertaining to a struggle with planning scenes, so I’ve decided to make a little rundown of questions to answer before writing a new scene of your story. Obviously, you probably won’t end up going through this process over and over again until the end of your writing career, as this will become like a second nature to you as you continue to practice it. If you have any further questions, my ask box is always open. Happy writing!

Intention

How is the setting of the scene relevant to the events that take place?

Is this scene easy to follow with the information given to the reader?

What role do past events play into this scene?

How will the events in this scene shift the story toward the resolution?

Does this scene solve any plot holes or create any new ones?

Purpose

What is the overall purpose this scene serves?

How will this scene progress the plot?

How will this scene help to develop your character(s)?

Information

What information is this scene supposed to reveal to the reader?

What information is required to make this scene make sense?

Subtext

Are there any hidden messages you need to plan beforehand?

Is there any foreshadowing taking place during this scene?

What context might alter the implications of this scene?

What consequences might come from the events of this scene?

Starting Point

Does this starting point make sense for the trajectory of the scene?

Does the starting point allow room for some rising action?

Is your scene starting abruptly or with a build up to a large event?

Is there space between the beginning of this scene and the last?

If there is, are there any blanks you need to fill in to continue?

Tone

What is the main way you’ll be conveying tone in the context of the scene’s events?

How do you want the tone to impact the reader’s experience?

Does the tone change drastically in contrast with the last scene?

How Do You Want The Scene To Leave The Reader?

Do you want your reader to end the scene asking a bunch of questions? 

Do you want one of the subplots to be resolved?

Do you want the reader to be shocked?

Do you want the reader to think, “Oh, that makes sense now”?

If you have any to add, feel free to leave them in the comments down below to help each other out!

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[insomniac-arrest]

There is No Ideal Condition: Writing When you Don’t Want to

Here are three tips to help you write when you’d rather eat your own pants than look at a keyboard right now.

Here is a Medium article on writing when you don’t want to! Please give it a read and leave a clap or two to help me pay the bills :D