Piecing Together Your Writing Future
Where did The Extra Draft Writing Course come from? Here is a brief history of its conception through today (Plus a BONUS SURPRISE announcement!!). Are you ready to get personal? It All Started About 10 Years Ago… It all started...
When Asked Why I Write, I Answer: I don’t. It’s the simple truth. I don’t write screenplays and novels. I give life to them. It’s not merely putting pen to paper, I breathe life into a non-existent void. I expand...
Coffee at Night? Finding Out the Best Time to Write, for You When you write is almost as important as what you write. (okay, I use the term almost loosely) It may seem like a simple question to answer: When...
How I write suspense scenes is to put myself there, in the moment. Suspense writing is a very delicate art form. When done correctly, the reader should be feeling a mix of emotions. Everything from fear and hatred to slight...
Ending scenes the right way can be tricky. There are certain rules that each chapter, or scene, should follow. I know this is counter-intuitive since writing really doesn’t have any rules but bear with me. The idea of a scene...
I was once given advice: Don’t set out to write a book, set out to write a #1 best seller. It is this mentality that made me always shoot for the moon. When I first started dreaming I always dreamed...
Let’s start off with a base assumption. I will assume you have zero idea what copywriting is. I’ll assume you found out the term did not mean that small print explaining your rights and terms of agreement. Now, I will...
As a writer, we’ve all been there. By “there” I of course mean a myriad of places. Especially the In Between. We’ve all stared at a blank page, a blinking cursor, or the sharpened end of a pencil. We’ve all...
As a writer, we must decide how many details to include in our created worlds. Believe it or not, there is a fine line for most readers between too little and too much. Finding that perfect detail balance is what...
This little beauty of a blog post is one I wrote about 6 years ago. I still think about the situation now. Amid this self-quarantine time of the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, I figured I would share a more entertaining story...
A Day Off You Say? From the time we first pick up a pen and put words to blank pages, writers are ingrained with one overbearing, overwhelming and over-exaggerated rule: Write every day. We get it from writing classes, instructors,...
Last Update: May 02, 2021 Recently, Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), has opened a new way to tell your stories. Through a new app, called Kindle Vella, readers around the world will be able to log in, find your story, and...
One of our own does it again, folks! Team member and winner of the coveted super best person in the universe award, Samantha Heuwagen has out done herself once again. As you may know, the Starless Series is a tale...
We write stories in a certain genre. We have a connection with a particular audience. Our readers are thought to be of a specific type, age range, nationality or any other aspect we deem we are writing our story to,...
It isn’t often that we give a whole lot of thought to our rough drafts. By the time we sit and start writing, we have so many other things on our minds that the actual draft becomes more of “just...
I have covered the topic of the all mighty synopsis a few times. Yet, I find that this lingering evil needs more exposure. Overcoming fear by acclimation, I suppose. How does one go about a synopsis though? I know some...
Long ago I learned a valuable life lesson: Not everyone gives good driving directions, not everyone receives driving directions well. You can Learn Writing Lessons From Life As I was just starting out driving (I told you, it was long...
Dreams are open to interpretation. Do they have a meaning at all or is it just a random method of our brains firing off broken synapses as it slows down for the night? For writers, dreams can spark an entire...
Voice is imperative. It’s essential. It is everything. It is quite possible to have one of the greatest storylines ever created, the vast lands, the adorable and lovable characters, the perfect plot twists and the greatest ending ever penned by...
Old houses make great inspiration. Allow me to tell you a little tale. A personal experience of sorts, if you will. Following a government-backed reason for having to leave the UK, I find myself sleeping on the floor in a...
Research is touchy. Especially for writers. Women don’t like to feel made a fool of, or gullible. Men know everything and want to prove it. Readers, in general, don’t like being data dumped upon. There is a fine line between...
Hemingway Said, You Do Not Talk About Writing Rule number one: You do not talk about writing. Rule number two: You do NOT talk about writing! I always picture Brad Pitt walking around telling a group of authors all the...
Not One to Believe Fear in Dreams, I Find Myself Wondering Eleven minutes ago, I was fast asleep. Cozy, comfortable, and snuggled down in a blanket (with one leg hanging out). Ten minutes ago, I was rudely awoken, and now...
If there is one thing that every single writer faces it is the blank page. We can’t help but come across it. Every new project starts the same way: a new, shiny, blank page. Sometimes, we writers sit there, staring...
Story Arc and Archetype, Explained Today I will discuss story arc and story archetype. Wait. I hear you say. Aren’t they the same thing? I mean, arc is just an abbreviation of archetype, right? Well… no. They do have some...
If you are pondering using a character-driven plot in your story, you have come to the right place. If you don’t know what the writing types are; you have come to the right place. Also, if you are looking for...
Do You Need A Beta Reader? No. You Need a Team of Beta Readers! Games have testers, books have readers. The idea behind them is the same: find a problem before it’s sent out for the masses. Beta-readers are the...
Chapter Length, Does it Matter? I ask myself this often. How long should a chapter be? Is there an optimal chapter length? The true answer is that there is no answer. The truth is realized when you understand… there is...
The blog post titled “How Going Outside Will Make Your Book Better” is now a guest blog post for Between The Lines. You can find the blog and all of it’s wonderful information on the BTL website by following this...
As a writer I have seen and heard it all. Everything from the mundane stereotypes all the way to the awkward assumptions. As a reader, I have read it all. Just like in movies, in a book everything has been...
Hannah Bauman is a professional, freelance literary editor. She is responsible for editing more books than I can count. Hannah was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to provide you with a fantastic Q&A session for...
Samantha Heuwagen is a bilingual therapist and best selling author of The Starless Series. Not only was she kind enough to contribute to the Extra Draft Writing Method Masterclass (along with her cohort Dr. B), she also provided an insight...
As we continue to look at how your particular skills can earn you money, we also remind you to keep thinking in terms of larger numbers. Your mindset is more important than you realize. Did you miss the first post...
While it is a catchy headline, the fact remains that you, sitting there reading this right now, have everything you need to earn a million dollars. Of course, I will tell you right now that it isn’t easy to earn...
When you first start a writing career, you will have high hopes, a lot of drive and a whole lot of gumption. (Man, I love that word). The world of freelance writing is an alluring one. You will hear all...
The Rough Draft is a Perfect Draft, for What it is Is your rough draft perfect? Of course it is! Most writers think of the rough draft as the start, but it begins far sooner than that. Every writer is...
Word Count Goals and How to Make Them It’s all around you as a writer: set your word count goals and stick to them. Writing goals, words per day goals, hours per session goals, and on and on and Scooby...
There are a couple of adages running around the writer’s community. “If you want to write better; read a lot.” Also, “if you want to write better, write a lot.“ “Write every day.” That is what they tell you. The...
Why name your characters? Characters aren’t just some random made-up beings that do our bidding. Okay, so they truly are. The problem is a lot of writers out there treat them as such. Doing so makes them unbelievable. Just like...
What do I mean, “Knowing Your Characters?” Have you ever watched a movie and cried when a character gave a long, emotional speech, or when two characters finally realize they are meant for each other and hug and kiss? Knowing your...
Setting the scene is as important as creating real-to-life characters. It is an art form and you are the artist. As an artist, we have a plethora of ways to interact with those that wish to be entertained. We act,...
Creating characters isn’t just about putting a name to some random text speaking entity. As the author, you play God. You breathe life into these paper dolls. More goes into even that though, at least for me. When I first...
First and foremost, please forgive any semblance of attitude this post may bear. I have been taken out of my sorts by a recent article I read about writer’s block. In short: it pissed me off. I will not link...
As writers, we tend to have this belief in ourselves that can only come from the inside. It is a great thing. That little voice inside that tells us “You can do it, this is fantastic, keep going!” It’s that...
Literary agents, publishers, editors, synopses, query letters… all scary things, all demanding, demeaning. Sometimes they can be daunting, haunting, loathing as well as loathed. Oftentimes heartbreaking, disconcerting, dispiriting. None of them hold a candle to yourself. You truly are your...
Get Organized! Boost Productivity! Overcome Struggles! Does this sound like some sales pitch? It should. I’m trying to sell you some good shit. No need to meet behind a convenience store and swap brown paper bags, though. What I have...
Write me a synopsis. But first, write me a query. Make sure you start your query letter with a hook. Writing about what you have written about makes as much sense as skinning a lion before it is dead. Synopsis,...
How does a writer measure success? The easy answer is in number of books sold. After all, that is what the publishers look for and what they return to for a second book or more. What about those writer’s that...
It starts in childhood. Dreams while you sleep, dreams during school, dreams of the future and the girl with the pink bowed pony tail. Dreams never really end. They do change shape as we age, but they never die. Or...
When Characters Talk Back You spend hours, days, even weeks creating characters to walk the lives you give them in the stories you create. What happens when your characters talk back to you, though? Well, if you are like me...
The Scoville scale. A measurement of the amount of “hot” a pepper is. The higher the number, the hotter the pepper. To put it in generic perspective, the Jalapeno is a mere 5,000 scovilles. A Habanero is 100,000 scovilles, and...
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