The Writing Life Archives

A Secret to Historical Fiction that Won’t Make Historians Cry

October 6, 2016
Staff Writer
Culture, The Writing Life, World building, Writing Tips and Tools
6 Comments

By Rachel Garner, Staff Writer Before suggesting historian-approved ways of actually finding the information you need (next blog post) and exploring philosophies of writing historical fiction (third blog post), I want to explain what the discipline of studying history is and why, when answering writers’ questions, I constantly want to say, “You’re asking this question incorrectly.”

How to Find Out If Self-Publishing Is Right for You

September 29, 2016
Student Contributor
Guest posts, Industry, Novel Submission, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tools
1 Comment

By Miguel Flores, Guest Contributor Each method of publishing a book is its own mix of goods, bads, and surprising uglies. On the one hand, traditional publishing offers better access to exposure, expertise, and a vast amount of resources. On the other hand, self-publishing gives you more control over your choices and is much easier to get into. Is one objectively better than the other? I don’t know.

Creative Writing – A Waste of Time for a Non-Writer?

September 15, 2016
Student Contributor
Guest posts, Homeschooling, The Writing Life
1 Comment

By Blaine Russell, Guest Contributor I'm not planning on ever writing for a career. Not even close to it. My passion is not creative writing. Instead, writing is just a hobby. So, that being said, why have I wasted time and money on the One Year Adventure Novel curriculum and four years of Summer Workshops?

How Do You Become a Freelance Editor?

By C.S. Lakin, Guest Contributor Do you have good proofreading skills? Can you spot a typo in a paragraph without half trying? Can you see how to tighten a sentence, make a paragraph flow better, improve the organization of a manuscript? If you can, you should seriously consider becoming a freelance editor. Here’s how to get started.

How One Smart Scene Can Pull the Weight of Many

August 11, 2016
Staff Writer
Guest posts, Push Your Imagination, Self-editing Tips, Stuck? Discouraged?, The Writing Life, Writing Tips and Tools
2 Comments

By Rachel Garner, Staff Writer For six years, I couldn’t figure out how to write an opening scene for my book. It’s a running joke among my friends that I’m an obsessive editor—I’ve spent nearly ten years now on the book itself—but my struggles with chapter 1 were especially ridiculous.