It depends mainly on genre. The standard range for adult fiction is 50,000–100,000, per Writer’s Digest, with the best range being 80,000–90,000 words. (For comparison, this would be a book that’s approximately 300 pages once published.) If you’re writing YA, 60,000 words might be fine—the range for that age bracket is 50,000–80,0…[Read more]

Freedom is right about page and word counts. I would say, however, don’t worry about rushing. There’s no such thing as writing too fast. Studies show that the faster you write and the more you do of it, the better your writing will be, both in the moment and later as you develop your skill. You can always edit it later, but getting it…[Read more]

Thanks for the advice guys! I got a critique (Harsh but very informative lol) and I might not be ready to publish yet… lol.

Oof, that can be tough, but it sounds like it was good for you and you’re taking it well. Keep up the good work!

You’re welcome! I’m glad my comments were helpful to you. I know some people who spend a lot of time hunting for “dirt” on Christian classics or other classic works, and I don’t want to be one of those people, but Hindu philosophy and self-improvement posing as Christianity is kind of a big deal to me. 🙂 It’s so true that t…[Read more]

Pilgrim’s Progress is probably my favorite and the most classic of all Christian allegories, although it contains a few teachings I don’t agree with. @elishavet-pidyon had some really good points. I don’t read a lot of allegories, but my main requirement is that whatever allegorical stuff is in there accurately reflects biblical truth…[Read more]

Congratulations on finishing your short story! That’s exciting! It sounds like you’re getting the copyright thing figured out, but just let me say that legally your work is protected by copyright as soon as you create it. There’s no such thing as not having a copyright. The difference is that registering your copyright with t…[Read more]

Oh, this sounds like a good one for a bittersweet resolution. Thanks for sharing!

Oh, sorry. By the time I finished reading all the posts, I must have forgotten who started the thread. 🙂

I’m a little late to the party, but I do want to mention something that’s helped me: A lack of action doesn’t make a scene boring; a lack of tension does. You can have a scene without any action at all that still moves the story forward and feels interesting to read as long as there is tension of some kind that relates to the overa…[Read more]

Yes, do!

I know we already have topics for character playlists and such. This one is for any song you’re using as theme music for the scene you’re writing right now (as in, the last week or so). Here are the “rules”:

1. Indi…

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Johnny Tremaine! Yes!

I am totally going to read your book, it sounds amazing! Just one question, what reading level is it? Amanda Dykes… She sounds familiar but I don’t think I have read anything by her yet 🙂

@acancello

I recommend it for ages 13 and up because it’s set in wartime and there’s some violence, but nothing graphic. I know some families have used it as a…[Read more]

1. I am looking for book recommendations (I like action packed and super exciting, also sometimes a bit of romance)

You should give The Scarlet Pimpernel a try. It’s an old book, so quite longwinded, and there’s mild cussing throughout, but it’s a really fun adventure story. You’ll probably notice that I mention either the book or the 1…[Read more]

Everyone already said the stuff I was going to say (other than the Game of Thrones part; I wasn’t going to say that). Mainly that it must be vital to the story. But another thing I would mention is that it helps if it doesn’t completely, totally blindside readers. You know, where everything’s going great and it looks like this…[Read more]

Yikes. But a good bit of drafting. Go Riker!

One thing to check—did German military officers wear wedding rings in the WWII era? That’s when wedding rings for men started to catch on, from what I’ve read, but I’m wondering if a non-wedding ring would be more accurate. Sorry, that’s my editor brain pinging.

Yep, I probably should have done that. 😀 Ill just tag some here 🙂 Sorry I didn’t tag anybody sooner. I didn’t quite know how to do it 😀

@acancello It took me a while to figure out, too. For the first few tries I used the profile names instead of the usernames.

To answer your original post, I don’t usually use writing prompts to get past write…[Read more]

Thanks for the insight! That’s a really good idea! I’ll have to do that. (I’ve actually never read dystopia before… 😐 So… XD)

Reading in your genre is one of the first “rules” of good writing, partly so you’ll understand what readers expect and partly so you’ll know what’s out there (major themes, tropes, etc.) and avoid repetition. So yeah…[Read more]

Thank you so much! This is awesome 🙂 By the way, has anyone ever heard of Cloudways? Is it any good? I’ve heard it’s similar to Bluehost or more secure or…something. I think it’s the same price as Bluehost after Bluehost’s prices go up the second year.

@soleilnaia Sorry it took me so long to respond again. I haven’t heard of Cloudways. Actually, s…[Read more]

Welcome! I’m also a historical fiction author, with one book out in the world and more on the way. (my website is in my post signature if you want to take a look.) I haven’t read all the Mrs. Pollifax books, but I love the first one, The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax. I was extremely happy to get my own copy and mark up the language to m…[Read more]

But historical fiction is AMAZING! I’m glad you’ve found your niche

Thanks! If you like historical fiction, I’d love for you to check out my website or newsletter (my website is in my signature at the…[Read more]

Okay, question, so you mentioned that the whole ‘brainwashing’ thing isn’t that realistic, so would you stick with that even in a fantasy story? Where brainwashing could be very realistic? Or not?

@euodia.vision. I didn’t realize you were talking specifically about brainwashing. I’m not a fantasy reader, so I can’t tell you what works in your wor…[Read more]

Just don’t show too many positive thoughts toward the protagonist while he’s in full-swing villain mode. That could seem a little creepy. And be careful of a victim-villain setup where he’s not really responsible for his own choices. As the others said, it’s all in the execution, but it may fall flat if his transformation comes a…[Read more]

Does everyone write dystopias here?

Not everyone. 😉 I’m a hisfic girl myself, Revolutionary War era to be precise, though I have some contemporary ideas up my sleeve. The difficulty being, it’s general…[Read more]

Second, read a lot in the genres and writing styles you want to write. The more good writing you read, the more those rhythms of words will stick in your head.

Third, don’t stress too much over your transitions. Yes, good ones are important, but it’s much better to err…[Read more]

That is awesome! Thanks for this so much, I’ve already got a few ideas! Now I need to copy-paste this into my documents… 🙂

You’re welcome, @whalekeeper! Have fun with it!

When I get the chance, I’ll definitely check out the Signposts! 👍 Is it in a book or an article/website?

@esther-c James Scott Bell’s book Super Structure gives all the details. It’s not very long, and fairly cheap as an ebook on Amazon. His other book Write Your Novel from the Middle contains some of the same information but explores it in diffe…[Read more]

Now i want to see this method! it might be fun plotting one story I’ve already written….working backwards y’know?

@keilah-h Happy to share! Here’s a quick rundown of the Fourteen Signposts:

1. Opening Disturbance—something interrupts the hero’s normal world and sets the story in motion.
2. Care Package—we see how the hero cares for someone close…

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Hey y’all! Just wanted to hear your thoughts. Which do you prefer: Wix or WordPress (self-hosted)? And why? Pros and cons and all that fun stuff.

@soleilnaia Definitely the self-hosted WordPress. It’s much more flexible and robust, with lots more plugin options, and it’s more effective for search engine optimization. Plus it’s probably cheaper…[Read more]

I’ve never heard of that before! Sounds interesting. I call myself a plantser[…]

@esther-c I love your word! I’ve also heard that called a tweener—“between” a plotter and pantser. I fall into that category as well. I used to just write one-line summaries for each chapter to keep track of where I was going, but my WIP got so unwieldy I needed s…[Read more]

I have HEARD of it (through you, I’m pretty sure…)

@freedomwriter76 I did a newsletter feature on it once, so yes, you probably heard about it from me. It’s one of my favorite subjects. 🙂

Ha, it’s the opposite for me.[…]

@mineralizedwritings, @keilah-h, well, no wonder I’m confused! I use the term plotting to cover both of those aspects and use outlining for the act of writing out my plot for future reference. I think that’s common to most books about writing. For instance, James Scott Bell and other writing instructors include…[Read more]

That’s all right. I’ve never had a true cinnamon roll charrie either–my guy characters would probably kill me if I called them that…..

@keilah-h—ha, yes. That is exactly the case. I can see their expressions now…

Never heard of it, but then again, I might outline but I never plot. If I plot, I can’t write it. It’s kinda the way I am…..

@keilah-h, @mineralizedwritings, okay, now I’m confused. I was not aware that there was any significant difference between outlining and plotting. Plotting is what you do to create an outline. Outlining is recording the plo…[Read more]

I haven’t heard of any of those songs or albums, but if they made it onto the island list, I’m sure they’re very good! 😁 I’ll have to listen to them! Same thing with the books! (Except, of course, the Bible) Yeah… procrastination. 😐 I think many of us could win that if we could ever get around to it… 😂 Stranded on an island, music version: 1.…

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