When you're first starting a story, there's a lot to think about—your characters, plot, and world-building, to say nothing of critical questions like what to name your character's pet dog. But there are five things you need to include in the opening scenes of your book to help your readers. Characters. This may sound obvious, but … Continue reading 5 Things Your Readers Need From You
Tag: Publishing
Nowadays, you can go from "I've got a great idea" to "PUBLISHED" without involving anyone besides yourself. You can do your own editing and proofreading, formatting, cover design, and blurb writing (I'm not saying you should, but it can be done). Now, we've talked about the need for good cover design, and we discussed what … Continue reading Why Your Book Needs Beta Readers
As writers, we're told that we should "Show, Not Tell" all the time, and it's advice that is usually quite helpful. When possible, we need to let a scene unfold before the readers, to where they get to see what happens and to experience the details just as the characters do. But there are times … Continue reading When Just Showing Isn’t Enough
I’ve been sharing the blurb coaching series from A Writer’s Path Writers Club, and this is the next in the series. To learn more about how your blurb can be coached, click here. Enjoy! Genre: Historical Fantasy Title: The Rock of Achill Original Blurb: An Irish tale you’ve never been told. A boy joins a … Continue reading Blurb Coaching – The Rock of Achill
I recently had the opportunity to review the cashmere writing gloves from Literary Book Gifts. With winter approaching, the idea of being able to keep warm while typing sounded ideal, especially for those of us who live in chilly climates, and Literary Book Gifts offers fingerless gloves in cashmere, which sounded like a great fabric. … Continue reading Review – Cashmere Writing Gloves
Title: Dawn of a Legend Author: R. K. Lander Genre: Fantasy Blurb (as taken from Goodreads): Book three in The Silvan, a best-selling series by award-winning author R.K. Lander. “Page-turning epic fantasy you will not be able to put down.” A past to claim A power to wield A destiny to fulfil To the enemy, … Continue reading Book Review – Dawn of a Legend
This is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world. This month's question is, "What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?" This is something I constantly have to watch out for, as an … Continue reading The Power in Our Words
Title: Deception of the Damned Author: P. C. Darkcliff Genre: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Dark Fairy Tale Retelling Blurb: Sleeping Beauty meets Faust in this spellbinding ride through time and magic realms. An absent-minded dreamer, Hrot feels miserable in his primitive times—so he sells his soul in exchange for a decade in Renaissance Prague. There he … Continue reading Book Review – Deception of the Damned
This is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world. This month's question is, "Besides writing, what other creative outlets do you have?" This is actually a very applicable topic, because my other main creative outlet—editing and book … Continue reading Creativity in Editing: A Good or Bad Thing?
This is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world. This month's question is about what physical objects one would find in your writing space. Right now, my writing space is the kitchen table, so who knows what … Continue reading Physical Objects in Your Writing Space: Help or Hindrance?
Andrea Lundgren 