writing career
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Transcript: Has anyone else noticed how most writing advice is geared toward the negative? Posts and videos like “Fix Bad Writing” and “Why Your Characters SUCK” (the word suck almost always in all caps for some reason…). They paint this picture that if you aren’t writing in the exact way the writing advice suggests, then…
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Transcript: Let’s be real. Some days it feels like the world is unraveling. The news is heavy, the future uncertain, and that little voice in your head says: Why am I even writing right now? Who cares about stories when everything else feels like it’s falling apart? If you’ve felt that—pause. Take a breath. You’re…
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Transcript: Have you ever felt stuck in your writing, unsure if you’re on the right track, or just completely overwhelmed? You’re not alone. Many writers reach a point where they feel absolutely lost and have to rely on the support of others to get them through it. You can access blogs, YouTube channels (like this…
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Transcript: Have you ever had a great idea for a book… but no clue how to actually turn it into a full story? While many writers struggle with even coming up with ideas in the first place, there are many more who have amazing ideas that they just don’t know what to do with. If…
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Transcript: On my classroom wall, I have a sign that reads “the expert in anything was once a beginner” to remind my students that we all have to start somewhere. And being new to anything, it’s inevitable that you will make mistakes —a lot of them. While many people who have surpassed the beginner stages…
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A few years ago, I sat down to write a story with only a short scene in mind. In three months, I had a roughly 130,000 page manuscript written. Was it in desperate need of rewrites and revisions? Yes, of course. But the beautiful part was it was completely written. I had the chunk of…
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Transcript: The number of times writing teachers, critique partners, or coaches tell a writer to “show, don’t tell” without any explanation is way too high. It’s a problem because it gets treated like a magical cure-all for your writing. If you just show and never tell, all your writing problems will disappear, right? While it’s…
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I’m currently in the process of earning my certification as a fiction book coach through Author Accelerator, and I need your help to complete my practicum! To earn my certificate, I need to work directly with a client on a completed manuscript draft of at least 75,000 words. Here’s how it works: This entire process…
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Even though we learn to talk well before we learn to write, writing dialogue can prove to be quite a challenge for many writers. If you’ve spent most of your life writing academically or professionally and are just now diving into creative writing and storytelling, dialogue can often feel impossible to master. But don’t worry,…
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In the first video of my series, “Unpacking Common Writing Advice,” I dive into the phrase “Write What You Know.” This often-repeated advice is frequently misunderstood—either taken too literally or leaving writers, especially those in speculative fiction, scratching their heads. What does it actually mean, and how can you apply it to your writing without…
C. Sloan Lewis | Your Virtual Writing Coach 