Hi there! Beth Barany here. As an experienced writing teacher and novelist, in this article lesson, I help you effectively weave backstory into your front story (your main narrative). Let’s break down these three...
I’d define the term “thick skin” as, “Confidence in one’s own abilities; a person’s ability to withstand arrows and barbs thrown at them; the ability to not take everything personally.”
Today’s post is a summary of posts on writing dialogue, resources for novelists on Writer’s Fun Zone. *** Recently, I created a new free mini-course, The Writer Discovery Mini-Course (sign up here), and have...
Recently, I created a new free mini-course, The Writer Discovery Mini-Course (sign up here), and have been learning a lot about the writers sharing their replies with me. Thanks to everyone who have been...
A famous author once said that every book should contain a love story. Now, that author might not have thought that the love story needed a sex scene, but many novelists writing in every genre do include sex scenes in their books. And there’s a problem with that.
Halloween is on its way; time to get out Boney, our life-size skeleton decoration. He’s been around for several years now. His skull fell off his neck, but we repaired him and now he’s sitting in a fold-out chair on our porch, waving at passers-by, his skeleton hand high in the air.
I don’t know if you’re like me, but watching all the disasters taking place recently has left me feeling forlorn for the loss of life and property, and less than positive about the future.
I wrote one blog on the tools one can use for productivity before at and all of those tools still stand. They’re all great. What I found was that I used too many at once and that didn’t end up working well for me as I spent more time inputting and checking off than was necessary.
Over the summer I’ve been reading a lot (haven’t we all?) and I’ve realised that my reading has changed a little as I’ve started to write more and with the hindsight of what I’ve learned along the way.
We’ve all heard the first commandment for writers: never open your book with backstory. And the second commandment? No infodumps. And the third? Sprinkle that backstory throughout your book.
Novels, J.D. Salinger wrote, grow in the dark. By that, he meant that true creativity comes from the subconscious mind, from allowing ideas time to percolate below our conscious awareness.
Summer is still with us but “back to school” is just around the corner (or already here in some places) and I’ve started to assess what I’ve been up to for the past few weeks and figure out what will be my focus as fall approaches.
Some ‘old school’ authors may cling to the old adage, ‘let the writing speak for itself,’ but nowadays, it is pretty much universally accepted that authors need to maintain an internet presence to be noticed.
I was cleaning off all my emails the other day when I was suddenly struck with the number of emails I receive from my favorite writing gurus and educators. I subscribed to a variety of them and the glut of email messages they send me on any given day is overwhelming.
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Beth Barany helps authors get their books completed and out into the world, into the hands of their readers.
Creativity Coach for Writers, NLP Master Practitioner, and Master Teacher, Beth Barany has been there and knows how hard it can be to take your idea and turn it into a real book, that people will actually be interested, and even yearning, to read.
She walks the talk, as her clients like to say. She is the author of the 2012 award-winning young adult fantasy novel Henrietta The Dragon Slayer, as well as the author of the bestselling nonfiction books for authors and aspiring authors.
Ready to finish your book but not sure how?
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