Hooking that reader with an intriguing opening is critical, especially if that reader is unfamiliar with your work. Many books have well-established ways of opening. Authors, like chess masters, can choose familiar opening gambits that help readers feel comfortable while establishing the story, stirring interest, and starting the action. You might want to think about launching your story with one of these familiar types of openings.
What we call ourselves and our profession is often the psychological difference between accomplishing our goals and dreaming about them.
I find that if I’m too relaxed in my chair, slouching or sinking down, I automatically enter a relaxed state of mind, a kind of fuzziness that might momentarily aid the flexibility of my thoughts, but soon becomes a detriment to focus.
I love to learn about the writing and publishing process. During one such workshop, I was told NOT to publish my paperback until I’d saved sufficient money to have it professionally done.
I am happy to welcome Faith Van Horne back for another month with us! In today’s article Faith discusses writing and intuition. Enjoy! *** Writing advice tends to be divided into two seemingly contrasting camps: “art”...
You really really want to adapt your novel into a screenplay. It’s visual, it moves, there are great characters, the plot is strong. But you really really don’t have the time it’ll take to learn how to write a different genre.
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.
artist entrepreneur / Author Career / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published October 14, 2013 · Last modified October 10, 2013
Start feeding the source that feeds you, and don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.
Creativity Tools and Tips / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published September 19, 2013 · Last modified September 4, 2013
Let’s welcome back Kay Keppler for another month with Writer’s Fun Zone! In today’s article, Kay discusses the importance of giving your characters tough goals to achieve, and the impact tough goals have on...
Creativity Tools and Tips / Writing Tips
by Beth Barany · Published September 16, 2013 · Last modified September 13, 2013
Welcome back to Tiffany Turpin Johnson, a kidlit writer and editor whose monthly column, Scribe Supplies: Writerly Tools for Success, brings you the best in all types of tools for professional writers. Today she shares...
For many fiction writers, figuring out how to create characters that seem real to readers is difficult.
Only then did I discover the question sleeping in my subconscious all the time: What if witches really did exist?
While my journalism experience hadn’t prepared me for the magnitude of the task, it helped in other ways.
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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.
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