<span class="vcard">Written Well</span>
Written Well

Military Science Fiction Guide

There are a LOT of military stories told in SF.  I’m guilty of writing them. As with romance and mystery, you can tell any sort of story in an SF military context, from exploration to alien invasion to humorous. Military, then is a journey, not a destination, if I may.

Writers should pay attention to details when building their space military or (especially) basing it on something.

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History Blueprint

Dive right in and give us a scene from the era you're highlighting. Hook the reader with immediacy and detail. It can be from any portion of the story, but pick something exciting, engaging. Treat it like the first lines of a fiction book, a thriller if possible. You want people to think "What happens next?" even if they know (it's history, after all; they're only a Wikipedia article away from knowing what happened. It's your job to make them want to read your book instead of the article).

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History Movies vs. History Books

Full disclosure: if this post sounds like it’s from a crotchety old man, it’s probably because I am a crotchety old man and you need to get off my lawn. All right, with that out of the way, I want to talk about how books about history are always better than movies. Yes, always. I said it. But it’s not for the reasons they say: movies are a compressed form, and changes have to be made to fit the narrative into it. Bullshit. If you want to change things for the narrative, write fiction. You can have any narrative in …

Romance Guide

If you think romance novels are just about people falling in love, you’re wrong. This would be like describing thrillers as “books about people who are in a hurry.” It’s true, but misses most of the important stuff and all of the real tension.  The key to modern fiction is making the reader worry that the thing that happens in every book in the genre might not happen this time. Romance novels are no different. But instead of a ticking clock (a thriller), surviving a horrible monster (horror), or a quest to save the world from an evil warlock (fantasy)...

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Romance Study Materials

Back to romance guide Remember 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. Online Resources...

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Romance Story Builder

For this exercise, you should have a document open where you can write. Now copy the text in the box and paste it into that document. This will be the blueprint  for your story. You'll fill it in as you go through the exercise and end up with a basic outline for a romance novel.* You may also want to post your story outline in the forums to get some ideas from other forum members. 

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Romance Blueprint

This blueprint reads more like a beat sheet than some of our other genres. That is because it's much easier to write the same romance book (but different) over and over than it is with most other genres. You don't have to follow this exactly, but you can if you like. 

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Should I Write Romance?

Do you love romance? Do you wish everything in life was a meet cute? If you love romance novels, and think you can crank them out over and over with new and compelling characters, then romance is right for you. If you just heard that romance was big money, but don't really enjoy the genre, then you should probably skip it.  

Romance novels are shorter than most other genre fiction. 100,000 words is

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Should I Write Alternate History?

Do you find yourself wondering what America would look like if the early Viking settlements had thrived? If China had landed on the west coast even as Columbus landed on the east? Do you wonder what the map of Europe would look like if Ghengis Khan hadn't died before finishing his invasion or Napoleon had choked on a chicken bone before starting his?

Then alternate history might be just the genre for you.

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