Articles
Articles

Articles

The Three Act Story Structure

The Three Act Story Structure is one of the most basic story structures and one of the most useful, in my opinion. It gives the author plenty of room for inspiration, innovation, and invention while still keeping them on track to an exciting and satisfying conclusion. Some may need a more detailed plan (the 27 chapter structure extrudes this structure into granular detail), but for those who seek only a little order to help them tell their tale, this structure does the job.

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

The 27 Chapter Structure

The 27 Chapter structure is kind of a recursive version of the Three Act Structure, breaking down the three parts of each act into three chapters so that there are twenty-seven chapters. But the form of the three-act is still in there with the inciting incident, the plot twist, the midpoint, all falling in roughly the same spot as the three-act. It’s a good structure to reference if you’re lost or running out of ideas in the middle of the book. It can help you understand a little better how to move through the three-act structure — or any structure....

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

How to Avoid Cliched Phrases

Cliches are sneaky little things. The commonness that makes them cliches also makes them hard to spot; we use them so often in our normal life, we write them without thinking. “It was raining cats and dogs.” “He was bored stiff.” “I’m down in the dumps.” They are all descriptive and everyone will know what you mean, but use them too often and readers will eventually be bored with your prose. I’d rather have someone hate my book than be bored by it. Here’s some simple methods to remove cliches from your writing. 1. Use strong words Cliche phrases are...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

Not F*cking Up Sex Scenes: Making Love Make Sense

If your sex scene isn’t integral to the plot, then you’re not doing it right. Maybe you’ve heard that sex is just supposed to happen every fifty or a hundred pages. Wrong. Even if what you’re writing is erotic romance, the moment needs to be right, and something should happen to move the characters along or the scene will fall flat and feel gratuitous. The most important thing about writing a sex scene is remembering that it is, in fact, a scene like any other in your novel.  That means that all the same rules apply. When writing sex, you...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

Buying a Premade Cover

So, you need a cover for your book. It’s a big decision. You want something that you are proud of, but what you need is something that will sell. Assuming you have done your research (link to cover research video) and know what you are looking for, you might be ready to start looking at premade covers. But don’t forget, it’s not that hard to learn to DIY your cover (link to my making a cover with Canva video). Let’s start with the big question: Should I buy a premade book cover? If you aren’t going to design it yourself,...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

Using the Appropriate Amount of Realism in Your Writing

Like everything else in writing, the appropriate amount of realism is going to be very genre dependent. If you’re writing a gritty crime story, you’re going to want a lot of it; a fairy tale romance, maybe not so much. But how do you decide how much realism is right for your story, and how do you go about putting it in (or taking it out)? Let’s start with some examples. The first is from a story I was critiquing that was written by a very good writer. And one of the things this writer does extremely well is write...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

Narrowcasting and Newsletters

Originally, I intended to write about Newsletters as a thing, but realized as I sat down that I needed to back up a step and talk about what I think is the future of indie publishing. That turned into a whole series of thoughts on vocabulary—and you need a good solid grasp on words to understand how to work in this field—and I realized that I needed to start here. Broadcasting In the old days, everybody knew the term broadcasting. You transmitted a powerful radio signal that could be picked up at a significant distance by anybody with the right...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

Do I Really Need an ISBN Number?

Do you need an ISBN number to sell your book? This question comes up constantly. The answer is, unfortunately, it depends.  An ISBN number is a unique number, attached to a barcode, assigned to a book that identifies it for SKU systems for inventory tracking. If you want your book to be sold “wide” meaning that it’s available everywhere, you might need one. Maybe.  If you just want to sell your book on Amazon, they will provide a unique ISBN that only works on Amazon, and they won’t charge you anything for it.  If you want to sell your book...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here

Market Report 4/3/24

I have updated all the business reports in the genre guides. Let’s look at the headlines. Top Tier Genres Mostly Steady Most of the top tier genres stayed steady with a few exceptions: YA Still Promising Though the young adult genre itself stayed steady, growth in many of the SF and fantasy subgenres continued or held. If you’re looking at writing any genre, check for a YA subgenre and consider whether your book could be marketed there. Indies Dominating Norse Legends Top 100 List Big sales for indies in a niche category with a usual floor of 1k. Look at...

This content is for members only.
Join Now
Already a member? Log in here