Point of view is one of the most important decisions you make before you begin writing your first chapter. Whose perspective will you choose–yours, one of your characters, or multiple points of view?
The first thing a first chapter must do is hook the reader with one or more catchy opening sentences. Learning how to write the first chapter of a book is difficult, but mastering how to write a great first sentence is at least as important.
What is a plot convenience? Can you identify examples of plot convenience in books and movies? Learn how to avoid plot convenience in your novels.
We have all seen courtroom dramas where the witnesses called to testify get on the stand and are shown to
Before you send your manuscript to beta readers or to an editor, here are seven more ways to immediately see an improvement in your manuscript.
Before you send your manuscript to an agent, editor, or your beta readers, use these steps to immediately improve your manuscript.
Avoid excessive capitalization of pronouns for God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and divine places. And learn about some other rules.
When you revise, watch for zombie characters you might have created by accident. Seven characterization secrets.
Along the way, I read every craft book I could find, and I learned about things like story structure, characterization,
