Tag: Brooke Adams Law

Helpful Websites and Resources for Writers

~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment
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If you read my blog, you’re likely embarking on a writing journey, whether it’s toward publishing success or simply trying to finish your first draft. Wherever you are on your journey, there’s plenty of help and advice from writing and publishing professionals. We’re all here to learn from one another.

Over the years I’ve followed numerous writers and editors to understand how to navigate the publishing world. Even though I’ve learned a lot since my own journey began, I still turn to the experts for guidance whenever I feel stuck.

I’ve compiled a list of my favorite experts which I follow regularly on social media or subscribe to their newsletters. No doubt you’ve heard of most of them or even already follow them. If you haven’t, feel free to check them out to see what they offer. Every little bit of advice helps, and reminds us that in our solo writing journeys, we’re never completely alone.

Jane Friedman (www.janefriedman.com). Jane is a former editor at Writer’s Digest, so she is well connected in the publishing industry and has a good, strong handle on the latest trends and news. While she writes some of the posts on her blog, most posts are provided by regular contributors such as Tiffany Yates Martin and Allison K. Williams. Best of all, she hosts numerous online workshops at reasonable prices, some as low at $25.

Janice Hardy (www.janicehardy.com). Janice is another writer I follow regularly. She’s an award-winning author of teen fantasy books as well as the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults. She has also published several non-fiction books about writing, revising and plotting. Sign up for her newsletter, and you’ll get something in your inbox every day, from writing tips to guest posts. 

K.M. Weiland (https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/). If you want a deep dive into plotting, story structure and character arcs, Weiland’s website and newsletter is the place to go. Her specialty is archetypal characters, which may be more detailed that you might need for your own writing projects, but they might be worth a look to see if her insights work for you.

C. Hope Clark (https://chopeclark.com/). Clark is a veteran mystery writer and speaker with a weekly newsletter that is chock full of helpful insights about the writing life. The newsletter also includes resources, such as writing contests, fellowships, freelance opportunities, and publishers. While I have not directly benefited from any of the listings, I do find her insights and support inspirational and uplifting for those times when I feel discouraged.

Kat Boogaard (https://katboogaard.com/). If you’re serious about starting a freelancing business, check out Kat Boggaard, a veteran freelancer who has earned six-figures most of her career. She is incredibly down-to-earth and practical about the business. In her  newsletter, (now distributed monthly) , she is very open about the ups and downs of a freelancing career as well as work-life balance issues while raising a family, which makes her relatable. Check out her website, where she offers numerous forms and checklists that she uses in her own business. Sign up for her newsletter or follow her on LinkedIn.

Brooke Adams Law (https://www.wearewritingbrave.com). Author and host of Writing Brave, Law occasionally hosts a free online summit focused on the emotional aspect of writing, working through fear and self-doubt. It’s a topic that’s rarely touched upon and one that most writers I know deal with frequently. If you’re looking to Write Brave, check out Law’s site.        

Writer Unboxed (https://writerunboxed.com/). This community of writers offers an array of perspectives about the writing business. I especially enjoy the insights of Kathryn Craft and Donald Maass, who are masters of storytelling. Check out the weekly Flog a Pro feature, which highlights the opening page of a current bestseller and asks readers if they would read the book based on the those opening paragraphs. (More often than not, it’s a resounding “no.”) If you’re serious about writing fiction, this is the place to go for valuable tips and motivation.

The Brevity Blog (https://brevity.wordpress.com/). So you say fiction isn’t your thing, but narrative non-fiction is? You should feel right at home at The Brevity Blog. Similar to Writer Unboxed, it’s a community of writers that specialize in writing memoir and narrative non-fiction. Many of the articles, submitted by members of their community, deal with the challenges and triumphs of the writing life. Even if you don’t write literary non-fiction, this site is worth checking out.  

Writer’s Digest (https://www.writersdigest.com/).  WD is the go-to resource for any kind of writing you care to pursue. While they offer numerous online classes and webinars, they can be a bit pricey, and if you sign up for their newsletter, you’ll get a lot of promotional ads for their products. Still, the magazine is top notch and their weekly Monday Motivation is well worth reading.

Reedsy (https://reedsy.com/)  You don’t have to use Reedsy’s online writing app to take advantage of its various publishing resources, such as a weekly writing prompt. Check out their YouTube channel for their backlist of webinars and online discussions about the publishing business. They also lead live write-in sessions, editing sessions and first-line critiques, so even as they assist other writers, you can learn too.   

Writing and Wellness (https://writingandwellness.com/). Writing isn’t just about getting published. Sometimes, it’s also part of a wellness plan, to deal with emotional and mental health. Activities like journaling, writing poetry or personal essays are outlets to deal with anger, grief or sadness. Writing can also help you deal with physical pain, backaches and burnout. Freelance writer and author Colleen Story hosts this site to help writers deal with these issues, and put fear and self-doubt in the rearview mirror.

Hope you find these sites helpful in your own writing journey.

Best Tips from the Writing Brave Summit             

~ The Regal Writer ~ Leave a comment
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Recently, I attended The Writing Brave Summit, a virtual meeting hosted by Brooke Adams Law. The event featured interviews and webinars by authors, editors and publishing experts who shared insights and tips about writing. The summit covered fiction, non-fiction and memoir writing so participants could pick and choose the sessions that they were most interested in.

As a fiction writer, I walked away armed with renewed enthusiasm for my work. I’ve compiled some of the best tips I heard from these professionals and share them with you below. Hopefully, they can help you as much as they’ve helped me.

Tip 1: If your story is stuck, it may be a problem with your protagonist not the plot. It’s not about raising the temperature in the story or adding a new plot twist, said editor and book coach Daniel David Wallace. What may be needed is to raise the temperature on your protagonist. Make sure your main character is fully engaged with the action, making decisions for good or bad about what to do next. That will keep the story moving forward. Focus on developing the character first, including goals and motivation, then develop the plot.

Tip 2: Write scenes from perspective of one POV character. It’s easier to write a story when you have one Point-of-view character per scene, said Savannah Bilbo, developmental editor and book coach. When you switch POVs within a scene with no defined break, it can be confusing for the reader.

Within each scene, give the POV character a goal, something they want to achieve. That could be getting advice from a friend or gathering some key information or take care of a problem. Also make sure the POV character has agency, that they are the one dealing with the conflict and making decisions.  Without that mini-goal and decision-making role, the character isn’t realistic and can’t engage with the action of the story (which piggybacks onto my previous point.)

Tip 3: Use interiority to get into the mind and heart of the POV character. Make sure the POV character reacts internally to everything that happens in the scene, not just what they think and feel, but what they plan to do about the problem they face, said Karyn Fischer with Story and Prose. Interiority matters for several reasons:

  • It provides context for the action
  • It’s the inside story
  • It leads to character transformation.
  • It allows readers to feel the emotion
  • It allows readers to follow the logic of the POV character
  • It connects to the character’s voice

    Tip 4: Create conflict between characters by developing opposing personality traits. Writer and book coach Kat Caldwell described the Big 5 personality traits of POV characters: conscientiousness (highly vigilant vs. complacent), agreeableness (People pleaser vs. cranky curmudgeon), Extraversion (outgoing and engaging vs. reserved), neuroticism as a reaction to stress (anxious/worrier vs. laid-back); and openness to new experiences (willing to try anything new vs. fearing change of any kind)

To use the Big 5, Caldwell suggested creating a main POV character who is out of balance with one of these personality traits. Then develop a side character or secondary lead character with the opposite trait. Alternately, you can choose a different imbalance for a side character. For example, a POV character that ranks high in agreeableness and wants to please people while her best friend is more open to change and will try anything new and thus encourage the POV character to try new things.

Tip 5: Try intuitive outlining to plan your story. If you’re not a fan of plotting or using formulas to plan your story, try intuitive outlining. This is a hybrid approach that combines the power of your own innate creativity and intuition with a loose, flexible plotting structure.

Not everyone has the ability to plan their story from scene A to scene B to scene C. Maybe you think of individual scenes but you’re not sure in which order they should be presented.  That’s okay, says Lewis Jorstad, The Novel Smithy.

“Our brains have a natural way of telling stories,” he said. Over our lifetimes, our brain has acquired an  innate sense of storytelling because it’s been exposed to different stories over the years—through books, movies, TV shows, verbal exchanges, author readings, blogs and social media, podcasts, etc. We’ve all learned how to tell stories. We just may not understand how to put them together.  

In intuitive outlining, the focus is on developing scenes as you think of them rather than developing them to fit some kind of pre-ordained formula. You let your intuition guide you.

That leads into Tip 6.

Tip 6: Think and write scenes rather than chapters. Scenes are where the action takes place while chapters are merely arbitrary breaks in the story and can sometimes contain more than one scene, which can make it difficult to work with and reorganize.

Because scenes are smaller, self-contained pieces, that makes them easier to write. They’re like puzzle pieces that can be mixed and matched and moved around. Jorstad suggests writing scenes as you think of them, then arranging them in the order they might appear in your story. Then if you see gaps in the story’s action, write additional scenes as needed, but not to complete some arbitrary formula.

Do any of these tips resonate with you? Have you learned any cool writing techniques that have helped transform your writing?