Writing and Editing Tips

In today’s post, we’re going to continue going through the 15 “beats” of Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! Story structure template. Specifically, we’re going to focus on the beats that make up the second half of act two, or the second half of the middle section of...

In today’s post, we’re going to continue going through the 15 “beats” of Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! Story structure template. Specifically, we’re going to focus on the beats that make up the second half of act two, or the second half of the middle section of...

In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to use Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! Beat Sheet to plot the first half of the middle section of your novel.

If you aren’t familiar with Blake Snyder’s work, the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet is a popular...

In today’s post, I’m going to show you how to use Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! Beat Sheet to plot the beginning section of your novel.

If you aren’t familiar with Blake Snyder’s work, the Save the Cat! Beat Sheet is a popular story structure...

Almost every writer struggles with imposter syndrome at one point or another. Usually, this looks like getting stuck somewhere in the process and asking things like, "Who am I to even write a book? What will people think? What if I finish it and it's terrible?"

Can you relate? I know I can....

As an editor and book coach, writers ask me all the time -- Do you have any tips for writing a better first draft? Is there anything I can do to make this whole 'writing a book' thing easier!?

And my answer is YES! Focus your efforts and attention on learning how to write a strong,...

Publishers give many reasons why they don’t want to pick up a particular book.

For example, sometimes the story itself works, but the timing just isn’t right for the publisher. 

And if that’s the case, you can’t do anything about it except start writing something...

In today's post, I'm covering the obligatory scenes of the action genre. If you want to write an exciting action story that works -- and that satisfies fans of the genre -- then you need to nail these six key scenes in your novel.

I’m also going to show you how these key scenes manifest in...

What is a scene? And how do you write a scene that works?

In this post, we're going to talk about how to write a well-structured scene and then I'm going to walk you through my favorite method for structuring a scene. After that, I’ll show you how this structure shows up in one of...

Did you know that over 80% of adults want to write a book but only 3% ever get to 'The End' of a draft? That means that 97% of people who want to write a book never finish. Why is that?

In this post, I'm we're going to explore why so many novels go unfinished, and what you can do to ensure you...