How to Set Your Writing Goals for the New Year

How to Set Your Writing Goals for the New Year

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the number of tasks you want to complete in 2019, never fear. I’ve definitely been there before. When everyone is posting on Facebook or their blogs about what they’re going to do come January 1, it can be easy to feel like you aren’t doing enough or that you don’t even know where to start.

Luckily, I have some prompts to help you decide what writing goals you want to focus on next year.

How to Fix Your Plot and Pacing With the Four Act Novel Structure

How to Fix Your Plot and Pacing With the Four Act Novel Structure

I recently went on a writing retreat with several other Young Adult writers, and Beth Revis helped each of us to fix the pacing and plot holes in our novels by using her four-act structure for a novel.

Some writing techniques aren’t for everybody, but as soon as she walked me through this outlining process, I was hooked. It gave me the perfect guideline for plotting all of my future novels. In fact, I used it to plot my NaNoWriMo novel for this year.

So let’s talk about the four-act novel structure and what some of the key points are in the outline to help you plan out your next book.

4 Speedy Strategies to Boost Your NaNoWriMo Word Count

4 Speedy Strategies to Boost Your NaNoWriMo Word Count

Happy prep-tober! If you’re as excited for NaNoWriMo as I am, October is probably pretty busy for you. Now is the time to start printing your novel worksheets, introducing yourself on the NaNo forums, and scheduling time to write.

But NaNoWriMo isn’t always stress-free. Attempting to write 50k in a month is hard work. Luckily, I’m here with four tips to boost your word count.

Flash Fiction: Mastering the Art of the Shortest Short Stories

Flash Fiction: Mastering the Art of the Shortest Short Stories

In the writing world, flash fiction is like an appetizer. These “short short” stories may be small and end quickly, but they can be so satisfying. The trick isn’t to treat them like a short version of a longer work, but rather as an art form all its own. That’s not to say it isn’t challenging to write, because it is, but there are several strategies you can use to help you perfect your work.

Why Genre Mashups Are Not Just for Music

Why Genre Mashups Are Not Just for Music

Everyone loves a good mash-up. Taking two (or more) different songs and seamlessly blending them together to create an entirely new song turns old music into something fresh and exciting. The same thing goes for novels. If you take old concepts and mix them together, you can write something worth raving about.