Science Fiction Study MaterialsRemember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books.
Should I Write Science Fiction?Do you love technology and innovation, the vast reaches of the universe and the tiniest specks of quarks and leptons? Do you think about the problems of today and wonder how in the future they will be solved or exacerbated? Do you wonder what comes NEXT?
Then science fiction (Sci-fi, SF, speculative fiction) is for you.
General Novel Study MaterialsOnline Resources Plot Development Charts and Tips — from Writer’s Digest and author Jess Zafarris. Downloadable Worksheets — from Writer’s Digest and author Joseph Bates Salman Rushdie teaches storytelling and writing and Margaret Atwood teaches creative writing at Masterclass.com How to write a Fight Scene — by Rita Chang-Eppig Melissa Febos on Writing About Sex — “My whole practical thesis around the craft of writing a sex scene is this: it is exactly the same as any other scene.” 100 Tips That May or May Not Improve Your Writing — Caveat lector Books to Read Writing the Novel — Lawrence...
Using Vellum to Format Your BookThough there are other tools out there, Vellum is simply the best we have found for formatting your book. Let’s walk through formatting your book using this excellent program. Start Up Start Vellum and pick either New Book or Import Word File I picked new book just to look at a clean interface before importing a Word document. You can write your whole book directly into Vellum, but it lacks robust editing tools, especially change tracking if you are having critiqued or working with a coauthor. Better to write your book in something else and then import it. There are...
Horror Study MaterialsRemember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books.
Should I Write Horror?Do you love creating a gruesome and diabolical villain? Are you sure there is something twisted, something wrong in our world, just below the surface? Then you should be writing horror. If you read a lot of it, you already know the tropes to use, the cliches to avoid, and the basic structures it follows. If you haven't read much horror, go read a dozen of them. If you are hooked and want to write them, read a few dozen more and then come back.
ServicesWe built Written Well to give self-published authors all the tools they need to make a living writing and publishing their own books. But many authors don’t want to be their own publisher, cover designer, blurb writer, formatter, and marketing expert. It can be a lot. Having so many authors asking us to help them publish their books was one of the reasons we started the site, and because we know many authors don’t want to do everything, we continue to offer those services. There is no guarantee of success with these services, and anyone who offers you a guarantee...
Memoir Study MaterialsRemember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books.
Should I Write Memoir?Have you led an interesting life? Or better yet, can you write interestingly about your life? Memoir is for those who can turn their personal stories into a tale with meaning, with humor, with characters and themes that people can relate to on a personal level. You must be a good storyteller, and an excellent stylist. It is difficult to find true life that is more dramatic than fiction, so you have to bring that drama with your words.
Memoir GuideMemoir gets its own guide simply because of its uniqueness among nonfiction. Most nonfiction can be easily split into instructional or informational. And while it's definitely not instructional, it's not precisely informational because no one is looking for information about you. Unless you're famous. But if you're famous, you don't need our help, someone is already offering you a million dollars and a ghost writer for your memoir. And this is all before creative nonfiction comes along and tells you that memoir doesn't even have to be true. at least not the whole time. So, what even is memoir?
