Remember: Don’t recount every moment of your characters’ lives. As a writer, your job is to present the crucial moments that develop plot and enhance character. Each scene is driven by a character’s desire to attain something,
If you write any kind of commercial fiction, conflict is required. Nobody wants to read a story about happy people who have great jobs, raise wonderful children, do meaningful volunteer work, and lose all the weight they gain after the holidays.
Whether you hire an attorney (one who does publishing contracts regularly) or decide you are intelligently qualified to make some appropriate legal amendments, I suggest you BEST BEWARE the clause in your contract about Future Technology.
Goals can be a two-edged sword. Their stated purpose is to motivate and encourage.
Even to the most experienced of writers, pounding out a book in a month can seem crazy, but as many NaNoWriMoers can attest, it’s doable. And therein lies the contradiction of any marathon.
by Beth Barany · Published November 14, 2013 · Last modified November 13, 2013
“I think writers need to be careful in regards to diluting their brand. While I believe it is absolutely possible to write in a variety of subgenres under one name, and there are plenty of authors who do so (very successfully too!), it can also work against you.”
by Beth Barany · Published November 12, 2013 · Last modified November 11, 2013
Publishing was not something I planned on and I certainly didn’t intend to go through the tremendous amount of work that I know authors do, to get their book in front of agents and publishers.
Your signature style unites your art as your voice unites your writing.
After the first book of Sidonia The Sorceress Series, Wolgast Castle, was complete, I started on the second and came to a screaming halt. Was it Second Book Fears?
This post could have also been dubbed ‘Balance 101 for Authors’. About sixteen months ago the first novel in my middle-grade/YA time travel series hit the cyber bookshelves. There was so much to do, and it felt like there wasn’t enough time to do everything.
This was the writing assignment that inspired my first published children’s story: Write a bare bones short story of 300 words or fewer. It will have a simple plot, almost no description, and two (exactly two) plot twists.
I’ve been on a serious writing journey for awhile and just published my first eBook. While walking that path, I’ve discovered a lot of things about myself and the writing process.
There are days I just don’t want to write. Actually, most days before I begin writing, it’s hard to pick up the pen (or put my fingers on the keyboard, depending on which stage of the writing process I’m in) and just go. I don’t want to. I’d rather distract myself with pointless internet surfing.
artist entrepreneur / Author Career / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published October 14, 2013 · Last modified October 10, 2013
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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.
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