writing tips
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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…
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The worst thing a writer can do is neglect their characters. It doesn’t matter how exciting your plot is, how interesting your world building and lore are, or how much steamy romance you include if you don’t create realistic and relatable characters. Many writers often mistake the plot or action of the story as the
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Transcript: At the risk of sounding like Chef Gusteau in Ratatouille, I believe everyone can and should write a novel. A lot of people would probably tell me I’m crazy for saying that, but I still stand by it. Now, I’m not saying you need to show it to anyone or try to publish it.
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On Saturday, I officially started training as a book coach by enrolling in the Author Accelerator’s book coaching program. This is a self-paced coarse with a nine-month deadline, and I am planning on completing it in six months, by the end of April 2025. My goal is to have it done before the lighter summer
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As often as I’m able with a toddler and husband who works long hours, I attend a Wednesday night workshop for writers. It’s a group of six or more people to whom you read 15 minutes of your writing, followed by 5 minutes of critiques from everyone in the room. And let me tell you,
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“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put on word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.” – Neil Gaiman There are many ways to plan and develop a novel, and it’s up to you as a writer to figure out what works best
C. Sloan Lewis | Your Virtual Writing Coach 