Blog
Writing tips, techniques and inspiration
How to Edit & Proofread in Microsoft Word
If you're editing a document or manuscript for someone, you need to use Microsoft Word and its Track Changes feature. Track Changes does exactly what it says - it tracks all your edits so the author can see what you've changed and can approve, reject or amend your...
How to Become a Copy Editor in the UK (without Experience or a Degree)
If you have a keen eye for detail, a passion for language, and a desire to help others communicate effectively, a career as a copy editor might be the perfect fit for you. Editing and proofreading are also ideal work-from-home jobs or side hustles for anyone who is...
Writer’s Block: Overcoming the Perfectionism of Beautiful Writing
"The first draft of anything is garbage." – Ernest Hemingway "The story is crystal clear in my mind," the writing student told me. "But when I try to write it down I spend hours obsessing over the expression. I can't continue until the sentence is perfect. What can I...
How to Start Writing When You Don’t Know Where to Start
Write where it's hot! "Horses speak to me," said the young woman on the couch. "They say I must write a book – but I have no clue where to begin." I was at a dinner party and the woman, Anne, had overheard me talking with another guest about my author coaching work....
I’m calling bullsh*t on the belief that if you do what you love the money will follow
Busting the myth of magical support for authors and artists I’ve lived most of my life believing that love conquers all. Along with it came a related belief that if you just do what you love, everything will work out fine - or in a more popular phrasing, do what you...
How to Format a Manuscript for an Editor or Agent
Text formatting guidelines for submissions to editors and agents Once you’re satisfied that your story works and you’ve done your best to iron out any text and expression issues, it’s time to prepare your manuscript for an editor. Or if it's already been edited,...
How to write a Nonfiction Book Premise
State your brilliant book idea in just 3 sentences A premise is the main idea behind your story or writing project. In nonfiction, it takes the form of a two- to three-sentence statement of the book’s basic idea, usually identifying the central problem or question and...
Plot Your Novel Like Dean Koontz
A bare-bones plot formula by a master of suspense If you're looking for the simplest method of plotting a page-turning novel then I think I've found it. It's thriller author Dean Koontz's Classic Story Structure, as outlined in his book How to Write Best-Selling...
Tap Into Your Subconscious Mind for Wildly Inspired Writing
Write from the stillness beyond words As a writer you feel called to tell a story and create worlds that entrance and captivate your readers. But have you ever wondered where stories come from? For me, one possible answer is given by spiritual teacher Eckhart Tolle,...
How Authors Waste Their Money on Editing (and What to Do Instead)
This one mistake costs authors hundreds of dollars I was super excited to be working on my first private editing job - a memoir by a young woman who had succeeded despite a childhood marked by poverty and abuse. It should have been a winner! But by the time I was half...
The 4 Levels of Editing (and Which One You Need Most)
Choose the right editing service for your manuscript Editing is the process of reviewing and polishing text to reduce errors, improve clarity and create a more impactful reading experience. This means checking grammar and spelling while also looking at issues like...
Basic three-act structure for nonfiction
An ultra-simple plan to get your nonfiction book started You've got ideas for a work of nonfiction, but how do you begin laying out the information in a cohesive narrative? One way is to borrow the basic three-act plot structure commonly used in fiction. Even though...
Write Powerful Opening Lines
Hook your readers from the start A common complaint of editors and publishers is that a lot of the manuscripts they see have weak opening lines and take too long to get going. The truth is that potential readers aren’t going to hang around waiting for your story to...
Choosing Your Story’s Point of View
Point of view, along with tense, is another big decision you’ll need to take in the early stages of writing a story. Point of view is about the grammatical ‘person’ who tells the story. There are three possibilities: First-person - ‘I’ or ‘we’. Second-person - ‘you’....
Past vs Present Tense: Which is Best for Your Story?
How to choose your narrative tense When writing a story you need to decide on the grammatical tense you are going to use – i.e. whether it will be told in past tense, present tense or future tense. The tense is indicated by the form of the verbs. For example, here’s a...
Show, Don’t tell: The Key to Great Fiction Writing
If there’s one piece of writing advice you’ll get about a zillion times in your writing career, it’s this: Show, don’t tell. Telling is when you give your readers direct information about a character or part of the story. For instance, you’ll say “Joe was really...
Write Authentic Dialogue that Makes Your Story Come Alive
Fiction is all about creating the experience of real-life through made-up stories and characters. And because so much of what we experience in reality happens in conversations, it’s no wonder that dialogue is a defining feature of fiction. The following principles...
Building Your Story With Scenes
How to write scenes with power and purpose Once you have the basic structure of the story you can begin writing it. The basic building block of structure is the scene. A scene is a section of a story made up of a character (or characters) performing an action that...
Create Dynamic Characters
Characters arise from premise and plot Your story plot begins with a main character (the protagonist) who faces a problem and must take action to resolve it (as described in the premise). This means that the protagonist is not just some random interesting person to...
Basic Three-Act Plotting for Fiction
Create the structure for your story In the previous article in this series, I outlined how to construct a premise for your story. Your premise gives you the initial setup, the main conflict, and the action that starts the adventure. That’s enough to get you through...