by Ali | Feb 23, 2023 | Fiction
Five Powerful Ways to Make Your Novel’s Plot More Complex Is your novel’s plot complex enough? If you’ve drafted a novel and you’re done in 50,000 words when you were aiming for 80,000, or if the pacing feels wrong – perhaps not much happens and you’ve dragged out...
by Ali | Feb 10, 2023 | Motivation
How to Recover Your Writing Confidence (Even if You Think You Never Had Any) This post was first published in June 2011 and most recently updated in February 2023. I don’t think I’ve ever met a writer who felt completely confident about their writing....
by Ali | Feb 2, 2023 | Motivation
How to Write When … You’re Tired This post is part of my ongoing “How to Write When…” series. Are you tired today? Perhaps you slept well, you’re full of energy, and you’re raring to go. But even if that’s the case today, you likely have...
by Ali | Jan 20, 2023 | Fiction
How to Start a Novel: Eight Options Plus Examples Writing the first scene of a novel is tricky. Perhaps you’ve been slowly developing an idea for weeks, months, or even years. You might have written pages of notes or created a full outline. And now you’ve opened up...
by Ali | Jan 12, 2023 | Motivation
My Annual Fiction Writing Goals for 2023 (Plus Goal-Setting and Goal-Adjusting Tips) It’s the start of the year … and, like many writers, you might have set some goals for the 12 months ahead, or even made a New Year’s Resolution related to writing. Most years, I have...
