How to outline your novel, even if you're a pantser

Posted on 04/07/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Author and editor Christina Kaye wants to dispel a myth about plotting. It doesn’t have to entail listing every single...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Joanna Penn, Writing advice

Writer's Digest offers a free month of tutorials

Posted on 03/25/2020 at 12:30 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Many of us are using the current health situation as motivation to improve ourselves, whether it’s through more mental stimulation,...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Writer's Digest, Writing advice

Five methods for adding humor to your writing

Posted on 03/18/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

We all could use a good laugh right now, and readers are leaping at the excuse of social distancing to...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Writer's Digest, Writing advice

Anne R. Allen: You can ignore these 10 writing/publishing tips

Posted on 03/09/2020 at 10:35 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

With yesterday’s time change, you might be feeling a bit sluggish still this morning. (Guilty as charged here.) So we’ll...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Publishing, Writing advice

Louise Harnby: How to write suspenseful chapter endings

Posted on 03/03/2020 at 03:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

In an ideal world, your book is the one that keeps a reader up well past their bedtime because each...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Louise Harnby, Writing advice

Why one author wants you to read books you don't like

Posted on 03/03/2020 at 11:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The current advice to readers re: bad books is to set them aside because life’s too short. The current advice...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Jane Friedman, Writer's block / writing prompts, Writing advice

How to plant clues about your mystery's villain

Posted on 02/21/2020 at 10:41 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The villain or culprit in your mystery should make sense once his or her guilt is revealed. But how do...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Characters, Mystery, Writing advice

How and when to use foreign language in your novel

Posted on 02/19/2020 at 10:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

Congrats to Fussy author Julie Tetel Andresen for landing a guest post on The Creative Penn! In it, she explains...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Joanna Penn, Language, Writing advice

Martial artist shares her writing tips for fight scenes

Posted on 02/17/2020 at 04:01 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

“The pen is mightier than the sword” is an adage, but many writers perhaps literally live this saying — that...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Joanna Penn, Writing advice

Advice on how to love the writing process more

Posted on 02/16/2020 at 12:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

No doubt you love writing. (And no doubt your life partner has commented on it with … some feeling.) Do...

Categories: Behind the scenes

Tagged As: Writer's Digest, Writing advice