Eleanor Hecks joins us to share seven writing fears common among writers and how they may be holding you back.

Writing is a journey filled with challenges, many of which stem from internal fears that can stifle creativity and hinder progress. Recognizing and addressing these fears is crucial for writers and educators aiming to foster a productive writing environment. Here are several common writing fears and strategies to overcome them.

1.   Fear of Failure

Writers worry their work won’t be good enough, that publishers will reject them or that readers will criticize their ideas. This fear often leads to self-doubt and procrastination, making starting or completing projects difficult.

Tip: The key to overcoming this fear is reframing failure as a learning experience rather than a final verdict. Every rejected manuscript, critical review or abandoned draft is an opportunity to refine your skills. Seeking constructive feedback from trusted peers and mentors can help you improve and build resilience.

2.   Fear of Inadequacy

Writers often struggle with imposter syndrome — the nagging fear that they aren’t truly skilled or deserving of success — but this phenomenon isn’t exclusive to writers. Over 80% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point. For writers, this can manifest as hesitancy to submit work, reluctance to call themselves “real” writers or constant comparison to more established authors.

Tip: One of the best ways to counteract this fear is through continuous learning. Attending workshops, reading widely and writing regularly can build confidence and reinforce skill improvement with practice. Every writer — no matter how experienced — starts as a beginner. Acknowledging your progress over time can help shift your mindset from insecurity to self-assurance.

3.   Fear of Judgment

Writing is an intensely personal endeavor, and sharing your thoughts with the world can be intimidating. Whether it’s fear of criticism, misunderstanding or personal exposure, worrying about how others will react can hold writers back from sharing their work.

Tip: One way to counteract this fear is by embracing the reality that no piece of writing will resonate with everyone. Some readers will love your work, while others may not connect with it. The most successful writers focus on their message rather than trying to please everyone.

4.   Fear of Financial Instability

One of the most pressing concerns for writers is whether they can make a living from their craft. The financial pressure to support oneself or a family can be overwhelming. Even just owning a home costs an average of more than $500,000, while raising one child to adulthood costs more than $233,000 on average — numbers which many believe a writing career can’t begin to support. Writers may fear that pursuing their passion won’t provide reliable income to support their families or themselves, leading them to abandon their creative aspirations.

Tip: To mitigate this fear, setting realistic financial goals and budgeting wisely can help manage expenses. Many successful writers balance their craft with other income streams, such as teaching positions, editing jobs or speaking engagements. Establishing a financial cushion can provide peace of mind, allowing you to focus on writing without constant monetary stress.

5.   Fear of the Blank Page

Staring at a blank page can feel like standing at the edge of an abyss. The pressure to produce something meaningful can be paralyzing, leading to writer’s block and avoidance.

Tip: Breaking the task into smaller steps can help. Instead of aiming for a perfect draft, focus on getting words on the page. Freewriting, setting timers and outlining can ease the pressure and make the process more manageable. Developing a daily writing habit — even just a few sentences — can also help overcome the inertia of starting a new project.

6.   Fear of Wasted Time

Many writers worry that the hours spent writing will be for nothing if their work isn’t published or recognized. This fear can make it difficult to invest time in writing, leading to stalled projects and unfulfilled ambitions.

Tip: One strategy to help you overcome this fear is shifting your perspective on what makes writing valuable. Writing is not just about publication — it’s about growth, self-expression and mastery of a craft. Even if a particular piece doesn’t gain external recognition, it contributes to your writing development. Setting achievable goals and celebrating progress — rather than just outcomes — can help maintain motivation.

7.   Fear of Success

Some writers fear what comes after success. The pressure to replicate a well-received work, meet reader expectations or handle increased scrutiny can feel overwhelming. Success often brings new challenges, including higher stakes, deadlines and public attention.

Tip: To navigate this fear, focus on what success means to you personally. Rather than being driven by external markers, define your own creative goals. Surround yourself with a supportive network of fellow writers, mentors and loved ones who help keep you grounded. Accept that growth is a continuous journey, and success is simply another step along the way.

Embracing Courage in Writing

Acknowledging and confronting these fears is a vital part of the writing journey. Remember, courage is not the absence of fear but the determination to forge ahead despite it. Writing is a growth process, and every challenge overcome is a step toward mastering your craft.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine and a freelance writer passionate about helping other writers of all genres grow their following and community. You can find her work featured in publications such as IndependentPublishing.com and Self-Publishing Review, or connect with her on LinkedIn to keep up with her latest work.

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By Savannah Cordova

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: you’re at your desk, laptop or notebook open, hours stretching out before you… but you can’t seem to get the words down. You feel stuck, hopeless, and incapable of moving forward; in other words, you’ve got writer’s block.

Luckily, there are countless methods out there to combat this condition — and one of the best ways is to use writing prompts. As a judge for Reedsy Prompts, a weekly prompts-based competition, I’ve seen firsthand how our prompts have inspired hundreds of thousands of writers around the world — how they can spark creativity and get you out of even the worst of slumps!

On that note, this post will explore how you can use prompts to push through your slump and help you get back into the flow of writing.

First Off: What Causes Writer’s Block?

Before we dive into the prompt stuff, it may help to identify the root cause of your own writer’s block. That way, you’ll know exactly how to adjust your mindset — and select the right prompts — to defeat it! Here are some reasons why you might be struggling:

You’re obsessed with perfection.

As a perfectionist myself, I understand how the desire to create something flawless can become a huge roadblock. I often fixate on the tiniest details, ending up in an infinite cycle of editing and rewriting. If you also identify as a perfectionist, you’ve probably experienced moments of doubt and creative paralysis — and you’ll need some fun, even silly writing prompts to help you loosen up and move forward!

You can’t focus.

One of the more mundane causes of writer’s block — and another one I’ve experienced myself — is simply the inability to focus. Particularly when you hit a less interesting part of your writing (often called the “muddy middle”), you’ll find it much easier to get distracted. In this situation, you need a prompt that doesn’t take you away from your story, but instead feeds back into it; for example, you could look at some character questions or worldbuilding prompts to reignite your interest and re-focus on your story.

You lack inspiration.

Lastly, if you don’t have clear direction or motivation, you’ll inevitably come to a standstill as you write. Experiencing this kind of creative drought is beyond frustrating, and you might even feel like giving up — in which case you’ll need a Hail-Mary prompt, something so irresistible that it gives you a whole new catalyst to create!

With all that in mind, let’s look at four types of prompts and why these types are so useful for providing inspiration and “unsticking” writer’s block.

1. Conflict prompts

Getting into these key categories, “conflict” prompts are — as one would expect — prompts that introduce a challenge or problem for your characters to navigate. Whether the conflict is internal (“Center your story around someone facing their biggest fear”) or external (“An apologetic letter or email from an old flame suddenly arrives — many years too late”), this can really help you consider how your character(s) would respond and grow when faced with a tricky situation.

Perfect for: Writers who are stuck on “what should happen next?” in their plots.

2. Setting prompts

These prompts focus on a particular environment or place — bonus points if you choose a type of setting you’ve never written about before! Some prompts of this ilk include: “Write a story set in a world of darkness where light is suddenly discovered” or “Set your story in a place where the weather never changes.” As you can gather, setting prompts don’t have to focus on location alone; they can also give you the building blocks of a dystopian world, for example, or a place where a setting’s physical elements are uncontrollable.

Perfect for: Writers who want to start something brand-new, particularly with different genre conventions. (For example, if you’re blocked on a literary fiction project, try a setting prompt — and then challenge yourself to write a sci-fi or fantasy story!)

3. Dialogue prompts

Dialogue prompts give writers a straightforward starting point, yet at the same time, allow them to go in basically any direction they’d like. Prompts like “Start or end your story with a character asking a question” or “Write a story that includes the line, ‘Is nobody going to say it?’” are great conversation starters to show not just characters’ emotions, but also their values, desires, and even their fears.

Perfect for: Writers who need to reveal something about their characters, but aren’t sure how to do it organically.

4. Genre-specific prompts

Lastly, genre prompts are incredibly useful for anyone who wants to explore the signature themes, tropes, and styles of a given genre. Mystery, thriller, dark fantasy, romance… there are so many out there! Trying out a prompt like “Write a story where the laws of time and space begin to dissolve” or “Write a story about two characters who like each other, but don’t get a happily ever after” might even lead you to discover a love for a genre you never knew before.

Perfect for: Writers looking to sharpen their skills in a specific genre, whether that’s their “typical” genre or not!

If none of these speak to you, you can always browse our full archive of 2,000+ prompts — with plenty more filters — from past Reedsy Prompts contests.

3 More Tips for Using Prompts Effectively

There aren’t any set rules when it comes to incorporating writing prompts into your routine; indeed, if you’re trying to tackle writer’s block, you should do whatever it takes! However, if you’d like some final bits of advice — particularly if you haven’t worked much with prompts before, and feel apprehensive about it — read on.

Start small.

When trying something new, it’s almost always best to ease into it; this helps reduce the pressure and bolster your motivation to continue. In that vein, start by dedicating just a few minutes each day to writing prompts, writing on 1-2 simple prompts at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Over time, you’ll be able to take on more complex prompts and extend your writing sessions without breaking a sweat.

Set a timer.

Additionally, to ensure you don’t spend more time on writing prompts than the actual writing you need to do, grab your phone and give yourself only 5-15 minutes per prompt. This is also a great way to stay motivated — instead of wasting precious seconds looking out your window or staring at your ceiling, you’ll feel more compelled to write something — anything!

Keep it free-form.

Remember, no one needs to see what you’ve written besides you, so don’t feel the need to adhere to a certain structure or style. Instead, take this opportunity to experiment with new perspectives, hybrid forms (such as prose poems), punctuation, generic conventions… whatever floats your boat! Just let it all out — this is all about having fun, trying new things, and seeing where your writing takes you.

Finally, don’t forget that writer’s block happens to everyone; the good news is that it’s only temporary. With so many different tools and strategies to defeat writer’s block, you can push past any slow or rough periods and come out feeling even more invigorated than before. You’ve got this — wishing you the best of luck.

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. You can read more of her professional work on Litreactor and the Reedsy blog.

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By Eleanor Hecks

Many writers are all too familiar with rejection. You pour your heart and soul into a piece, imagining how it might sound to readers, only to face the crushing reality of a “no” in response.

For writers, the publishing world can feel like an endless uphill battle paved with setbacks and self-doubt. It is enough to make even the most steadfast question whether it is all worth it.

The truth is that hope is what keeps you going. While rejection is part of the process, so is resilience, and learning how to maintain that resilience is key to flourishing as a writer.

1. Develop Resilience Through Practice

Resilience takes time to build. Yet, you can cultivate the grit needed to prosper as a writer through consistent practice and willingness to push your boundaries.

Set Small, Achievable Goals

One effective way to develop resilience is by setting goals. These could be as simple as writing 500 words daily, completing one short story a month or submitting to a handful of publications each quarter. Small goals create a feeling of accomplishment, helping you maintain momentum even when larger milestones feel far away.

Over time, these efforts build perseverance and teach you to push forward in the face of setbacks. By celebrating these small victories, you remind yourself that progress is happening.

Experiment With New Styles or Genres

Consider stepping outside your creative comfort zone. Experimenting with a new genre, style or format can be a powerful way to reignite your passion for writing. Try your hand at screenwriting or explore creative nonfiction — these experiments make the process of writing feel fresh and exciting again. Even if the results are far from perfect, trying something new can help you develop confidence in your ability to adapt.

2. Gain Peace and Mental Clarity

With constant noise and rejection in the publishing world, finding moments of peace and clarity can feel like a lifeline. They are essential because they quiet doubts, clear mental clutter and create space for creativity. Whether through mindfulness or age-old traditions, these strategies can restore balance and keep optimism alive.

Finding Solace in Nature

Sometimes, the best way to clear your mind is to step away from the page and into the great outdoors. Take it from Al Roker — the beloved journalist and Today Show weatherman — who finds peace by walking along the lake. On his walks, he prays, meditates and allows the rhythmic sounds of nature to help him process life’s challenges.

This simple but profound activity of reconnecting with the natural world can offer renewal, helping you return to writing with fresh eyes and a calmer spirit.

Cultivate a Positive Mindset

Rejection can cloud your vision, making it hard to focus on the progress you have made. However, building and maintaining a positive mindset enables you to reframe those feelings.

Instead of seeing rejection as a stop sign, consider it a detour leading you to refine your craft and find the right audience. Practicing gratitude journaling helps you reflect on the wins and reminds you of the joy that writing brings.

Engaging in Labyrinth Prayer

Labyrinth prayer is an ancient practice that promotes peace and introspection. Walking a labyrinth’s purposeful, winding path mirrors life’s journey, offering a chance to reflect and release burdens. As you walk, you can focus on a word or phrase to center your thoughts and open yourself to creativity.

3. Build a Support System

Writing may feel like a solitary pursuit, but surrounding yourself with a community of fellow writers can make all the difference.

Online or local writing groups offer a space to share struggles, celebrate wins and exchange constructive feedback. Hearing others’ stories of persistence can inspire you to keep going, even when the odds feel stacked against you.

4. Reframe Rejection with Growth

Rejection is an inevitable part of any writer’s journey that can feel like a dead end. Rather than viewing it as a failure, consider it an opportunity to grow.

Every “no” you receive can share some insight. Many of the world’s most successful authors — including Stephen King — faced repeated rejections before finding the right publisher. Therefore, persistence is key.

Use rejection as a stepping stone by implementing the following:

• Extract the lesson: If feedback is available, read it carefully and objectively. Identify areas where you can improve and incorporate that into your next draft.
• Celebrate the effort: A rejection means you dared to put yourself out there — a feat in itself. Celebrate the progress you have made by submitting your work.
• Diversify your submission: Avoid pinning all your hopes on one opportunity. Submit to multiple outlets or publishers to increase your chances of success.
• Keep a rejection journal: Track your submissions and rejections. Over time, this can help you see patterns, measure growth, and remind yourself how far you have come.

Holding Onto Hope and Moving On

The publishing world may feel overwhelming, but hope keeps writers going. To keep that optimism flowing through you, use practices to help you get through the ups and downs with grace and determination.

Every rejection, challenge, and moment of doubt is a step toward honing your craft and finding your place in the literary world. So, keep creating and trust that your voice will find its audience.

Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine and a freelance writer passionate about helping other writers of all genres grow their following and community. You can find her work featured in publications such as IndependentPublishing.com and Self-Publishing Review, or connect with her on LinkedIn to keep up with her latest work.

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By Julie Artz

A writer once told me they’d created their query list specifically to avoid agents who asked writers for a synopsis because writing one was harder than getting a whole novel reader-ready. I laughed at the time, but since then I’ve encountered a lot of fear and trepidation about writing a synopsis, especially as the move toward Query Manager has made asking for a synopsis common practice. But the synopsis is a powerful tool to assess story structure via the convergence of plot arc and character arc, so creating one that is accurate not only makes your pitch package stronger, but it can help you better understand your story and know when it’s truly ready for readers.

So what even is a synopsis? James Scott Bell has some great information about what a synopsis is and what it’s for in his post, Synopsis Writing Made Easy. But essentially, it’s a 2-3 page snapshot of your plot and how it moves your main character(s) through their change arc. This is exactly why I ask all my clients to write a synopsis as part of their planning and/or revision process—because, as Michelle Barker described in her post, The Dreaded Synopsis, doing so will help you identify story-level problems before you send your novel out into the world. That’s exactly why agents and editors ask for one: they can assess quickly whether your story hangs together well enough for them to take the time to read the pages.

So let’s walk through the building blocks of the synopsis! I’ve also created this handy downloadable workbook to help you work through the process step-by-step.

The Four Essential Questions

The first building-block of your synopsis (and your story as a whole) is what I call the four essential questions. These big-picture questions are the foundation of your synopsis and your story:

1. What is the main character’s story goal? What do they really want?
2. What is the external plot? What does the main character do to try to achieve that goal and what obstacles stand in their way?
3. What is at stake if they do not achieve that goal? What are they risking or what might they lose?
4. What is their internal arc? How do the events of the plot change the main character over the course of the story as they work to achieve their goal?

These four questions may seem simple, but if you can’t answer them in a few sentences each, your story may be too complicated. If you can’t answer them at all, you may have a weakness in plot, character, motivation/goal, or stakes that needs to be addressed at the manuscript level before you pitch.

The Key Turning-Point Scenes

Once you have a big-picture idea of what your plot, character, and stakes are all about, you can identify the key turning-point scenes that move your main character through their change arc in pursuit of their story goal. 

• Opening Scene: Poses a question to hook the reader.
• Inciting Incident: A scene that sets the plot in motion.
• Midpoint: The moment that changes everything for the main character.
• All is Lost Moment: A major plot setback for the main character and her gang.
• Dark Night of the Soul: Something goes very wrong in the character’s internal arc, often related to or as a result of what happens in the All is Lost moment.
• Climax: The events of the All is Lost and Dark Night force the main character to dig deep and learn whatever it is they needed to learn so they can save the day in the final (metaphorical or actual) battle.
• Resolution: And now that the main character has achieved some version of their story goal at the climax, they live happily ever after.

Weave these key turning-point scenes into the answers to the four essential questions above to create an outline for your synopsis. Try to keep this under 500 words because we still have a few more pieces to add.

The Connective Tissue

If you write out a sentence or two for each of the key turning-point scenes above, the overall narrative might not make sense without some additional connective tissue. The good news is that you’ve got room: submission guidelines can vary from 500-1500 words or more, so I generally recommend shooting for a 750 word synopsis.

The connective tissue can be things like introducing subplots and side characters. Stick to no more than five named characters in the synopsis if possible and focus on the main ones like love interests, antagonists, best friends, or sidekicks that have a major role in the action of the story. A good rule of thumb is that these are the folks who are there at the climax!

Depending on your genre, the connective tissue might also include mystery elements, red herrings, and breadcrumb trails, world-building elements like cultural norms and power structures that create obstacles for your main character, and moments in the story that raise the stakes or complicate the plot.

Note that connective tissue does not include backstory or a great deal of world-building. It also doesn’t include voice or dialogue. That said, you do want your synopsis to give a sense of tone and atmosphere appropriate for your chosen genre. This can also help the agent or editor determine if this is primarily a plot-driven or character-driven story (either is fine, but readers will have preferences on that score).

If Your Synopsis Exposes a Story Problem

So you’ve written out the answers to the four essential questions, woven them in with the Seven Key Scenes, and added the connective tissue that makes sense for your story. But one of your key scenes or four essential questions feels a little weak. This might mean there’s a big-picture problem with your story. If that happens to you, don’t despair—you’ve discovered a fixable issue before you sent this to your dream agent or editor and that’s a very good thing.

For a deeper dive into story structure, check out these helpful articles on Writers Helping Writers:

• Story Not Behaving? Try Going Deeper into Structure
• Adapting Story Structure for Any Project
• Story Structure as a Fractal

If you’ve read all these posts, downloaded my Synopsis Step-by-Step Workbook, and are still feeling really stuck, watch this space on November 21 for a chance to win a synopsis consult from yours truly—we can figure out a solution together!

Julie Artz has spent the past decade helping writers like you slay their doubt demons and get their novels and memoirs reader-ready. She’s worked with both award-winning and newer authors across the publishing spectrum from Big Five to small and university presses to indie and hybrid. She is an Author Accelerator-certified Founding Book Coach, a sought-after speaker and writing instructor, and a regular contributor to Jane Friedman and Writers Helping Writers, and a regular instructor for AuthorsPublish, IWWG, and more. Her work as a Pitch Wars and Teen Pit mentor, a former SCBWI Regional Advisor (WWA), and her memberships in The EFA, the WFWA, AWP, and the Authors Guild keep her industry knowledge sharp. A consummate social and environmental justice minded story geek, Julie lives in by an enchanted stream in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband, two strong-willed teenagers (when they’re not off at university!), and two naughty furry familiars. She’s built a thriving book coaching business based on her values, her editing chops, and her knowledge of story. 

Julie’s stories have been published in Crow Toes Weekly, the Sirens Benefit Anthology Villains & Vengeance, and the speculative anthology Beyond the Latch and Lever. Subscribe to Julie’s weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, or connect with her below:

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By Savannah Cordova

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It’s that time of year again: the leaves are changing color, the wind is getting chillier, and pumpkins are decorating doorsteps. And given that today is Halloween, there’s no better time to pen a spooky story of your own — even (perhaps especially!) if you’ve never done it before.

True, horror stories might not be everyone’s cup of tea… but as they say, variety is the spice of life, and attempting to write horror can be incredibly valuable for writers looking to refine their abilities. So light a candle and sharpen your quill — here are three essential reasons why every writer should try their hand at writing a horror story.

Horror Teaches You to Build Great Tension

Knowing how to properly build tension is a must for any writer, no matter your genre of choice. At its core, creating narrative tension requires you to understand your reader’s expectations; they may know that something bad is coming, but it’s your job to make them wonder when, where, and how. This is no easy feat — in order to properly scare your readers, you’ll need a strong understanding of how to methodically build anticipation, gradually raising your story’s stakes until its dramatic crescendo.

If you’re searching for inspiration, look no further than Edgar Allan Poe’s classic The Tell-Tale Heart. In this tension-building masterclass, Poe immediately puts the reader on edge by having the narrator insist on his sanity, despite clear evidence to the contrary. The anticipation builds as the narrator patiently (and then not-so-patiently) watches the old man — the sound of the man’s heartbeat acting as an auditory indicator of the ballooning tension — and the erratic commentary creates a pervasive sense of unease throughout the story.

Your tale may not be as twisted as The Tell-Tale Heart, but there’s still plenty to be learned from Poe’s sinister style. Tension comes in many forms, depending on the kind of climax you’re leading up to. For example, when writing romance, you might draw out the “will-they-won’t-they” moments between your characters to hook your readers. Much like how a horror writer will add a creak in the floorboards or a bump in the night to put readers on edge, romance authors can sprinkle in small conflicts or misunderstandings to create emotional investment and keep readers guessing.

Similarly, if you’re writing sci-fi or speculative fiction, you might not fully explain certain parts of your worldbuilding in order to increase the tension — i.e., readers might know that a certain element exists in your world, but they don’t know why until the critical moment. These kinds of unanswered questions are great for engaging readers in all genres, but it may be particularly useful to practice posing them in horror, wherein the stakes are often high.

You Can Practice Weaving Internal and External Conflicts

Horror also offers a whole host of classically creepy phenomena you can draw on to spook your readers — silence, darkness, isolation, etc. These elements are all effective on their own, but you can elevate the fear factor and introduce some characterization by linking your character’s internal conflicts and vulnerabilities with the external horrors they’re exposed to. This will make things all the more terrifying for the character, and far more gripping for the reader.

The characterization of Rosemary Woodhouse, from Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby, is an excellent example of this tactic in action. In the novel, Rosemary becomes pregnant shortly after moving into a new apartment with her husband. Rosemary’s internal struggles — her longing for motherhood, human connection, and social acceptance — become a source of vulnerability that the novel’s antagonists are able to take advantage of, as her greatest fears slowly become her nightmarish reality.

On paper, Rosemary’s story would still work even with less insight into her character; the horrors she faces are unnerving enough to disturb your average reader. However, it’s the intersection of those external terrors and her deepest internal fears that makes her experience so profoundly terrifying — and makes Levin’s novel such a paragon of the horror genre.

Mastering this technique will add another notch to your own writing toolbelt. Every story has some kind of conflict, and understanding how to intertwine that conflict with something personal for your protagonist is sure to level up your characterizations (again, in horror and beyond).

It Tests Your Ability to Write Believable Dialogue

Writing dialogue is one of the trickiest things for any author to master. Readers will be able to recognize when dialogue sounds fake or unrealistic, so understanding how to make your characters sound authentic is essential for immersion.

And writing a horror story puts this skill to the ultimate test — when you’re trying to construct a life-or-death scenario, the dialogue needs to feel authentic in order to keep readers engaged. After all, nothing makes a terrifying scene fall flat more than forced or unnatural dialogue!

In order to sell your readers on the stakes of the scenario at hand, you need to understand how people really communicate when they’re under a lot of stress. When characters are in danger, they aren’t going to wax poetic or remain highly logical. Instead, their dialogue needs to be raw, emotional, even incoherent at times. Still, you need to be careful not to go too far in the other direction, as overly-dramatic dialogue can also break immersion. Writing horror forces you to walk that tightrope between authentic panic and forced dramatics.

The ability to write realistic dialogue in high-stress, emotionally-charged situations will help build your characters’ authenticity — regardless of genre. For instance, if you’re a mystery writer, you can use your experience in horror to craft a gripping interrogation scene between detective and suspect. The key principles remain the same: understanding how people actually speak when emotions are running high, rather than how we imagine they might speak.

As you can see, horror isn’t all about crafting scares — it’s an excellent way to brush up on some fundamental writing skills that you can use across all genres. So, embrace the darkness and face your writing fears! You might just find that your writing becomes a little more thrilling along the way.

Looking for the perfect setting for your dark fiction scene?
Along with hundreds of other locations, you can find lists of sensory description for a Haunted House, Graveyard, Ghost Town, Mausoleum, Medieval Castle, Abandoned Mine + more inside our Setting Description Database at One Stop for Writers.

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. You can read more of her professional work on Litreactor and the Reedsy blog.

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The post Why Every Writer Should Try Their Hand at a Horror Story appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By Eleanor Hecks

Whether you publish traditionally or independently, getting the word out about your books requires a lot of work and monetary investment. Social media is an obvious choice for promoting your writing because you can zone in and target your reader base.

You also don’t have to spend a fortune for a chance to succeed. However, knowing which social media platforms work best for your particular genre can be a bit trickier.

Making the situation even more complex is the fact that many authors cross genres with their work. For example, a writer might create a science fiction novel with some elements of romance. Effectively branching out into other genres’ communication channels can expand your reader base and bring you more sales, catapulting you onto bestseller lists.

Fantasy/Paranormal/Science Fiction

Out of the thousands of writers in America, fantasy and paranormal writers have a very narrow niche in which to attract readers. Promoting your books where your target audience spends the most time is crucial to success in a saturated marketplace. For this genre, the best places to promote include:

• Reddit: The amount of fantasy and sci-fi conventions available for readers of these genres proves that people who love fantasy often enjoy engaging with other fans. These readers want to discuss the complex worlds authors have built in-depth. Finding a communicative audience is easy if you join the right subreddit — for example, r/Fantasy, r/horrorlit and r/scifiwriting all boast large communities on the platform. Be careful about how and where you post as some subreddits frown on any type of self-promotion.
• Discord: Discord is a platform with a chatroom format that makes it perfect for encouraging readers to chat about your fantasy worlds or roleplay as your characters. You can even create your own section to directly interact with your readers.

Mystery/Suspense

Mystery has several subcategories, such as cozy, suspense, true crime and hard-boiled. Figuring out where you fit can help you narrow down the best places to market your writing.

• Facebook: The largest demographic of mystery readers are those over the age of 65, so it’s important to build your community around platforms that older readers navigate towards. Since Facebook is the most popular social platform among this age group, it’s beneficial to join Facebook groups aimed at mystery readers. Be sure to read the group rules to make sure you are allowed to self-promote. Once you get a feel for the group and participate in some other posts, it’s okay to share your own special offers and new releases.
• YouTube: YouTube is the second most popular social media platform frequented by older adults, so you might consider marketing your writing towards YouTube’s vast reader community. As of 2024, YouTube attracts around 2.49 billion active users each month. Consider creating a thrilling video trailer for your book or film a series of live or uploaded book readings for your audience.

Romance

Romance is one of the most varied genres with subgenres such as historical romance, sweet, steamy, suspenseful and inspirational. Finding the right place to promote your books may boil down to tapping into reader emotions.

Romance is a genre marked by emotion, so your social media efforts should likewise pull at readers’ heartstrings and create emotional bonds with your audience. Since emotion often has the most significant impact on customer loyalty, doing so could help you develop lifelong readers who anticipate every future romance novel you release.

• Instagram: The age range of romance readers is especially broad — while the average age range is between 35 and 39 years old, half of frequent romance readers are ages 34 and below. Thus, it’s important to find a social platform that appeals to a wide audience. Instagram is one such app in the top social platforms among both millennials and Gen Z readers. Posts could be aesthetic images that encapsulate the vibe of your novel or a video sharing your book’s synopsis.
• TikTok: In recent years, many romance authors have turned to TikTok’s #BookTok community to spread the word about their books. A short video clip that plays like a movie trailer can attract readers. Look at the types of posts going viral, which hashtags the users included and try different tactics to attract new readers.

Horror

If you think of Stephen King when you hear the horror genre mentioned, you aren’t alone. However, there is a huge range of possibilities you might have as a horror writer. Some books focus on realistic crimes while others add paranormal or supernatural elements.

• X (formerly known as Twitter): The Horror Writers Association has a strong presence on X, so it makes sense you’ll find a lot of posts and engagement from horror writers. Keep posts short and to the point. Also, because of horror’s particularly political nature, X is a great place to keep up with current events and trends related to your work.
• Goodreads: Goodreads is an Amazon-owned platform that allows readers to review books and interact with authors in the form of polls and discussion threads. You’ll find numerous groups dedicated to the horror genre in particular, such as Horror Aficionados and Paranormal and Horror Lovers, which makes the platform a particularly good place to market your writing and communicate with fans.

Children’s/Young Adult

Knowing where to reach younger audiences for your books can be a bit tricky. If you write picture books, you’re promoting more to the parents than the kids. However, young adult novels can be taken directly to Gen Z.

• TikTok: A vast audience of millennial parents and young adult Zoomers frequent the video-based app. This audience is also the most likely to buy a product directly from a social media app, so a sponsored post or TikTok Shop ad could go a long way with this target market.
• Snapchat: Millennials, in particular, seem to enjoy Snapchat’s immediacy. While you will have to promote a bit differently on Snapchat’s platform than on others, if you can gain a following with engaging content, you’ll make regular sales by adding details on there.

Pssst…Mindy popping in to say that there’s an amazing, rapidly growing kidlit community on BlueSky–plus gatekeepers such as teachers and media specialists! If you’re new to BlueSky, check out these helpful tips.

Finding Your Niche

Creating a personal brand as an author takes time and trial and error. Try different platforms and ideas until you hit the ways that drive the most traffic to your books. Over time, you’ll grow your reader base and wind up selling more books each time you release something new.

Eleanor Hecks is Editor in Chief at Designerly Magazine, as well as a freelance writer who’s passionate about helping other writers of all genres grow their following and community. You can find her work featured on publications such as IndependentPublishing.com and Self-Publishing Review, or connect with her on LinkedIn to keep up with her latest work.

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By Savannah Cordova

It’s been said that every good story needs a villain. While that villain doesn’t have to be another character — it can be something more abstract, like a supernatural force or even fate itself — this “person-to-person” conflict is often what’s most compelling for readers.

But just because you’ve landed on this form of conflict for your story, doesn’t mean everything will naturally fall into place; far from it! An antagonist in this sense must be just as carefully developed as your protagonist, and it’s crucial to avoid the classic traps that people fall into when creating villains.

Here are five pitfalls to avoid when developing your antagonist, with illustrative examples to help you along the way.

1. Making Them Completely Unsympathetic

You’ve probably heard this one, but it bears repeating: if your villain has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, their journey — and their relationship to the protagonist — won’t be terribly exciting. Readers might be glad to see them get their just desserts, but they’re unlikely to get invested, and won’t remember much from your story beyond its generic “good vs evil” arc.

This doesn’t mean readers must have equal amounts of sympathy for your hero and your villain; it does, however, mean that the latter needs some grounding, realistic traits and goals. Think about their core motivations in your story. Why are they opposed to your protagonist in the first place, and how does that tie into their personality?

A low-stakes example: say you’ve established that your protagonist is a schoolteacher, and their nemesis is a grouchy school principal who thwarts the teacher’s ideas and initiatives at every turn… but why? Maybe the principal has been burned by bureaucracy and is disillusioned with the system; maybe they’re trying to prevent the teacher from getting promoted and leaving the school; maybe they’re jealous of the teacher’s good ideas and work ethic, etc.

Remember, these motivations don’t have to be flattering, but they do have to have to be comprehensible. Even if the reader wouldn’t take the same actions as your antagonist, they should be able to grasp their reasons for doing so — basically, a good antagonist doesn’t require total reader empathy, but they do require some sympathy and understanding.

2. Failing to Consider Their Backstory

In conjunction with that first point, don’t just stop at your antagonist’s immediate motivations re: your protagonist! If you really want to develop a worthy opponent, you must consider their entire backstory: their childhood and formative experiences, their turn to the “dark side” (whatever that means in your story), and other aspects of their life beyond the page.

Indeed, unlike the sympathetic elements to include in your story, your antagonist’s backstory may not be fully revealed to readers. If you’re familiar with the “iceberg theory” of fiction, that’s the technique to employ here; the details you divulge should only be the tip of an “iceberg” of backstory. The rest remains beneath the surface, largely unseen, but adding meaningful subtext to the details you do mention — and ready to be deployed in future books if needed.

Think about one of the most famous villains of all time, Voldemort from Harry Potter. One reason why he’s so effective as a character is because we know just enough about him to see him as a legitimate threat… but plenty about him also remains mysterious and frightening.

Over the course of the books, we learn more about Voldemort’s family trauma, orphaned childhood, and fundamental misconceptions about things like love, power, and immortality. Through this process, we see how his backstory has subtly informed his character all along. And when he and Harry have their final confrontation in Book 7, we’re invested in the outcome partly because we know both characters intimately now, not just Harry alone.

3. Barely Letting Them Interact with Your Protagonist

Speaking of final confrontations, another surprisingly common mistake with antagonists is to not ever let them encounter the protagonist until the very end — if they interact at all!

Some authors might think this creates a sense of mystery and narrative suspense. But while this tactic might work well for a short story, it starts to feel tedious and flat-out strange in a novel. A few times I’ve gotten well past the halfway point in a book and thought: “Okay, but when are these two going to meet?”

One popular novel I read a few years ago (I won’t mention the title) was particularly guilty of this, with chapters that alternated POVs between the protagonist and the antagonist. The villain kept trying to meddle with the hero in roundabout ways, but the hero didn’t really understand what was going on, so it was frustrating to keep going back and forth. The two never metuntil a climactic battle at the end of the book… at which point the story had already lost a lot of steam.

So don’t take this approach to your own villain’s arc. Instead, try doing the opposite — that is, intertwining your protagonist and antagonist’s paths as early as possible. Another novel from a few years ago (which I will name), Vicious by V.E. Schwab, does a brilliant job of this: the two main characters, Victor and Eli, are college roommates and friends before they turn enemies, and their established relationship and history makes their dynamic all the richer.

4. Having Them Do Stereotypical “Villainous” Things

This is another one that seems obvious to avoid, but comes up surprisingly often! It’s unfortunately true that even once you’ve rounded out your antagonist with backstory and strong motivations, you can still find them slipping into stereotypical actions. These include: delivering evil monologues at the protagonist, laughing the quintessential “mua-ha-ha” laugh, shooting a man in Reno just to watch him die, etc.

You may be more susceptible to this issue if you write fantasy, horror, or any sort of “epic” fiction in which the hero and villain have an archetypical relationship. But just because your genre can occasionally get trope-y, doesn’t mean you’re doomed! Really, the best way to combat this pitfall is just to stay aware of it. Try to remain meticulous as you write your villain’s scenes — and when the time comes to edit, do so with fresh eyes and a staunch intolerance for clichés.

Alternatively, depending on what kind of fiction you’re writing, you could try subverting or lampshading certain stereotypes… but you need to have a lot of confidence in your satire in order for this to land! As a result, I’d generally advise to simply steer clear.

5. Creating Multiple Antagonists Who Are Very Similar

Finally, this piece of advice is for those writing a series, particularly if you have the same protagonist from book to book (which, to be fair, not all series have).

Basically, if you remove or kill off a villain in one book, don’t bring back a nearly identical villain in the sequel — not just in terms of looks (though best to avoid that as well!), but in terms of key motivations and personality. It might feel natural to have similar antagonists — especially if your protagonist is defined by a worldview that their enemies always oppose — but remember that the majority of a villain’s character details should be unique to them.

This is what makes villains in media like the Batman comics so vivid and memorable: though Batman’s enemies are united in their criminality, they all have different motives for their crimes, different modi operandi, and certainly different personalities (just think about the Joker vs the Penguin, for example). If you happen to be writing a series of books or even stories, you should strive for the same degree of differentiation.

With that, I do wish you the best of luck in creating your own iconic antagonists. If you avoid these all-too-common pitfalls, you’ll be well on your way to character dynamic success!

Savannah Cordova is a writer with Reedsy, a marketplace that connects authors and publishers with the world’s best editors, designers, and marketers. In her spare time, Savannah enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing short stories. You can read more of her professional work on Litreactor and the Reedsy blog.

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By Julie Artz

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After nearly ten years working with writers, I’ve decided the only inviolable rule in writing is that a romance must have either a happily ever after (HEA) or a happy for now (HFN) ending. And yet blog posts like these are full of writing “rules.” I loved Jami Gold’s post on rule breaking in fiction right here on Writers Helping Writers. Today I’d like to talk about one of the first rules she mentioned: Avoid Prologues.

Most writers recognize one of the most famous prologues in English-language literature, William Shakespeare’s sonnet opener in Romeo and Juliet that begins “Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona where we lay our scene…”

But at the same time, you’ve probably been told in a blog post, a conference talk, or writing course to avoid prologues at all costs. I’ve certainly cautioned many a writer against including a prologue. And 75% of the time it’s good advice, because prologues are often catch-all repositories for info-dump, world-building deep-dives, and spoilers. When a prologue works, though, it adds so much to your story. Here’s a checklist you can use to make sure your prologue is strong enough to break the “no prologue” rule:

Does it Pass the Prologue Test?

Does the prologue you have planned:

• Provide a hook that will leave the reader wanting more? This can be a mystery, a unique speculative element, a shocking/cliffhanger event, foreshadowing, or a gripping voice. See “The Importance of a Great Opening” by Lucy V. Hay for more on the hook.
• Foreshadow something that you couldn’t achieve via the main character’s point of view? See “No, Don’t Tell Me” by Jami Gold for more on foreshadowing.
• Introduce speculative elements in a story that starts in an otherwise contemporary or historical world? This can help you ensure you’re making the right promise to your reader.
• Introduce a mystery element or a question that the main character(s) might not be able to convey to the reader? Set up questions the reader will have to puzzle out as they read and you’ll have them turning pages into the wee hours of the night.
• Avoid cliche openings? Even in a prologue, you can’t start with a dream, a character looking in the mirror, or the classic dark and stormy night.
• Keep it short? No info-dump or onerous world-building. You don’t want the reader to be disappointed to learn the first voice they encounter in the story goes away after a short opening chapter, so give them just enough and move on to the main POV character in Chapter One.
• Prove itself absolutely essential to your story? If you can cut it and the story still holds water, you probably should. Make an agent/editor/reader feel that the prologue is crucial and they’ll love it as much as you do.

If your prologue doesn’t tick any of the boxes above, don’t just rename your prologue “Chapter One” and assume you don’t have to worry about it. If it’s a different POV character, a vastly different time, or sometimes even a different setting, it’s probably still a prologue. And that’s OK, as long as you avoid the pitfalls discussed here. Now that you know the elements of a strong prologue, you know what to do to make yours better. And if you’re still struggling, I’ve included some great examples below for further study.

Three Examples of Prologues that Work

Learning to read like a writer is one of the cheapest, most self-directed ways to improve your writing. Examining these three prologues with a writer’s eye will help you peek behind the curtain and think about what makes them work. Then you can go apply what you’ve learned to your own prologue. For more exercises to learn how to read like a writer, get my free workbook here.

Spoiler Alert: The prologue examples I’ve provided below are, by definition, only the opening few pages of lengthy novels, but there are some spoilers below. Understanding why a prologue works includes not only thinking about the opening of the story, but the prologue’s function in relation to the later events of the book. If you have not read one of these stories and don’t want spoilers, skip to the other two examples.

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

A Pinnocchio retelling set in a post-apocalyptic future, In the Lives of Puppets tells the story of young Vic and the mystery he kicks off when he brings a new robotic friend home from the junk heap. The prologue is from Vic’s father’s point of view and shows both how they ended up living alone in an isolated set of tree houses in the forest and how he came to adopt Vic. It immediately establishes the lonely father’s deep love of his new charge, which creates reader sympathy, and the fact that someone very bad is after Vic, which creates tension and mystery. But, and here’s the kicker, it also contains a lie that is the lynch pin of the mystery. Neither Vic nor the reader discovers the lie until the end of the book and that tension packs an extra gut-punch into an already wonderful story.

The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

I don’t know this for sure, but I bet at least one person told NK Jemisin to cut not only her prologue, but the entire 2nd person point of view the prologue sets up in the first book in her stunning Broken Earth trilogy, The Fifth Season. Talk about a rule-breaker!

Jemisin’s world-building is second to none, but it’s also extremely complex. The prologue draws the reader in by beginning with the personal–the story of a mother losing her young child. Then she brilliantly addresses the reader with “You need context” and goes on to deftly, but briefly, paint a picture of the fantasy world. She continues to be the exception that proves the rule as she zooms out and takes on a more omniscient POV, introducing the reader to several important characters, the concept of “stone eaters,” which is central to the conflict, and ends with the apocryphal “This is the way the world ends. For the last time.” Chills! This rule-breaking prologue works because of the tension, mystery, and voice.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

Like In the Lives of Puppets, this prologue includes a misdirection that isn’t revealed to the reader (or the POV character, Konstance) until late in this mind-bending, multi-timeline, multi-POV novel by Anthony Doerr. This prologue is shorter than the other two examples, but makes excellent use of introducing mystery elements. It introduces some of the key threads that will be explored in the story–the Diogenes, the siege of Constantinople, and also poses a question–why is this 14 year old girl alone in a spaceship? The reader doesn’t know how all these pieces come together, but they’re curious enough to read on, even though the ultimate mystery of Konstance’s story isn’t revealed until the very end.

For more information on a Prologue Done Right, check out Becca Puglisi’s post by that name, which deep dives into the prologue of Ruta Sepetys’s Between Shades of Gray.

Do you have a favorite prologue? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Julie Artz spent her young life sneaking into wardrobes searching for Narnia. When people started to think that was too weird, she went in search of other ways to go on magical adventures. Now she finds those long-sought doors to mystical story worlds in her work as an author, editor, and book coach. She helps social and environmental justice minded writers slay their doubt demons so they can send their work out into the world with confidence. Her clients have published with the Big Five, with small and university presses, and indie/hybrid as well. An active member of the writing community, she has volunteered for SCBWI, TeenPit, and Pitch Wars and is a member of the EFA, the Authors Guild, and AWP. A consummate story geek and wyrdo, Julie lives in an enchanted forest outside of Redmond, Washington. Julie’s stories have been published in Crow Toes Weekly, the Sirens Benefit Anthology Villains & Vengeance, and the speculative anthology Beyond the Latch and Lever. Subscribe to Julie’s weekly newsletter, Wyrd Words Weekly, or connect with her below:

Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Substack | Bluesky

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By Sarah Kolb-Williams

In part one, we looked at a few production mistakes new authors can make. Today, we’ll focus on mistakes to avoid while finalizing your files and publishing your book.

6. Skipping the Ebook

If you love holding printed books, you might assume your readers feel the same way. But if you’re considering skipping an ebook entirely, think again.

A 2022 report by the Pew Research Center revealed that nearly one in ten readers read exclusively ebooks. That may be just a slice of the pie, but shouldn’t your book be available to everyone?

Publishing a Kindle version of your book with KDP gives you other important benefits:

• You can list your ebook on Kindle Unlimited.
• With two sets of keywords and categories to work with, you can double your optimization potential (more on that later).
• Amazon reviews for one format automatically transfer to the other.

You’ve worked hard on your manuscript. You’ve gone through multiple rounds of revisions. You’ve had your book designed, edited, and proofread (right?). For most authors, it makes sense to maximize that time, money, and energy by releasing multiple formats.

7. Not Owning Your ISBNs

If you publish through KDP, you have the option to use a free ISBN. But should you?

If you’re only ever planning to publish on Amazon, and if spending $250 for two ISBNs—one each for your print book and ebook—is a financial burden, go ahead and use KDP’s free ISBNs. But understand that other distributors can’t use those ISBNs, and Amazon (not you) will be listed as the publisher on record.

If you later decide to “publish wide” with other retailers, you’ll need to create a whole new edition. At the very least, this means a new cover, a new copyright page…and a new ISBN for each format. Suddenly, that “free” ISBN has cost you a lot of time, money, and frustration, and you ended up having to buy your own anyway. To keep your distribution options flexible, buy your own ISBNs to begin with.

(Pro tip: If you even suspect that you’ll publish another book or format, grab a block of ten ISBNs from Bowker for $295 right off the bat. Three hundred bucks isn’t nothing, but it’s not much more than the cost of two individual ISBNs, and you’ll be covered for up to eight more formats, editions, or titles.)

8. Failing to Optimize

Optimizing your sales description may sound intimidating, but it’s easier than you might think—and it can mean the difference between online success and total oblivion.

For book listings, optimization comes down to three key elements:

• good keywords
• good categories
• good metadata

So what makes a keyword “good”? The sweet spot here is finding terms that are appropriate for your book and have a high search volume but a low use volume. In other words, lots of people are using them to search for books like yours, but they aren’t finding much. That’s where your book comes in!

What makes a category “good”? Same principle: categories that are appropriate for your book, but that don’t have so much competition that you’ll never have a shot at climbing the ranks.

What makes metadata “good”? This means you’re filling the back end of your book listings with information that accurately describes your book and makes sense to anyone looking for books like yours.

Many authors simply fill in the fields marked “required” and leave the rest blank, but that doesn’t help them get discovered. Look for opportunities to add all the useful information you can when you set up your book listings, and you’ll give your book the best shot at being found by your ideal readers.

9. Not Understanding Book Distribution

Here’s the hard truth: with nearly 11,000 books published every day, seeing your book on the shelves of stores like Barnes & Noble just isn’t the reality for most independent authors. Before you decide on a distribution plan, be realistic about your goals.

Even if you can get them interested, most corporate retailers will expect to order your book through standard channels at a wholesale discount of 55%. They’ll also expect the ability to return unsold copies of your book. That discount can seriously cut into your margins, and a mess of unexpected returns can wreak havoc on your accounting.

But think about it: today, many readers shop primarily online for books. For most new authors, the best distribution strategy is meeting those readers right where they are: online. If you’re focused solely on online sales to individual consumers, there’s no reason to set a steep discount or make your book returnable.

The good news is that you can always change your discount and return status later. For now, consider your current goals, and plan your distribution accordingly. Remember, they’re your goals and no one else’s.

(Pro tip: Check that the trim size you’re interested in is compatible with your chosen distribution plan before you start working with a book designer.)

10. Skipping the Post-Publishing Tasks

Publishing your book might feel like crossing the finish line, but in many ways, the race is only just beginning.

After you celebrate (and turn your computer off for a while and get some well-deserved sleep), here are a few extra steps to consider:

• Sign up for Author Central through your KDP account and create your Author Page. (This is also the place to add any editorial endorsements your book has received.)
• If you haven’t already, set up an author website with a book page, about page, and newsletter sign-up form.
• Consider ads to increase your sales. Many distribution and social media platforms offer ad packages to increase visibility and encourage readers to buy your book.
• If you decide to purchase ads, track your numbers carefully to find the right spend amount and ensure the cost of your ads is worth the ROI. (ScribeCount and Publishwide are two low-cost options that can make this task easier.)
• Don’t stretch yourself too thin on social media. To begin with, focus on the networks you’re most comfortable with, show up consistently, and don’t post only about your book.
• Sign up for HARO (Help A Reporter Out). Many reporters and bloggers use HARO to find experts to interview about topics they’re writing about. You could be one of them!
• Try using Google Alerts, Giga Alert, or another web monitoring tool so you know when your name or book title is mentioned.

Self-publishing on your own can be intimidating, but it doesn’t need to be. Avoid these mistakes, and you’ll be off to a successful and enjoyable publishing journey that leaves you with the flexibility to control your author career.

Do you have any self-publishing questions?

Sarah Kolb-Williams has been a freelance editor and writer for over fifteen years. She is currently lead editor at Spoonbridge Press, a small publishing services company she cofounded to help independent authors navigate the confusing world of self-publishing. When she’s not working with independent authors, she’s relaxing with her family, enjoying the local live music scene, or tracking down the spiciest food she can find.

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By Sarah Kolb-Williams

I’ve been a freelance book editor for over fifteen years, and I’ve had the privilege of editing hundreds of books. Unfortunately, I’ve seen authors invest serious money only to make publishing mistakes that cost them visibility, sales, and hope.

If you’re self-publishing, you’re wrangling a lot of tasks. After spending so much time on your manuscript, you might feel like you just want to get the thing out there already. But please, fight the urge to skip any of these important steps—any one of them could make or break your chances of success.

In part one of this two-part series, I’ll highlight the biggest book production mistakes I’ve seen new authors make. Next week, I’ll touch on some of the publication mistakes that can tank your chances of succeeding as an independent author.

1. Skipping the Revisions

Writers Helping Writers is full of incredible advice on crafting captivating stories. Even so, when you finally finish that first draft and you’re sick of the sight of it, you might be tempted to jump right in and hire an editor. After all, isn’t it time to start working on your next book?

There’s a lot of advice out there to publish fast, fast, fast. But that’s not the only way to do it. For many reasons, it’s better to focus on quality than speed—especially if this is your first book—and the best way to do that is through diligent author revisions.

So what’s the secret to successful revisions? Time.

While you’re mired in that first draft, you can’t always see what it will be like for a new reader to approach the book. Come back later with fresh eyes, and you’ll be able to recognize where you glossed over key details. You’ll see where your characters aren’t acting characteristically. And you’ll spot leftover debris from moving a section from one spot to another.

Then, after you’ve put your manuscript away for a month or so, it’s time to start your revisions!

2. Skipping the Editing

If you’ve never worked with an editor before, you may be skeptical about what editors can really do for you. It’s your book. Why turn it into somebody else’s?

But a good editor can actually help you sound more like yourself—or at least what you hoped you’d sound like.

A developmental editor can identify holes in your logic and suggest new ways to connect with your audience. A substantive editor can help liven your prose or temper your tone. A copyeditor can ensure that every sentence says exactly what you intended, every mark is pulling its weight, and every word is spelled how it’s supposed to be.

Editors don’t want to take over your manuscript; they want your book to be the best it can be. And isn’t that what your book (and your readers) deserves?

3. Not Prioritizing Book Design

Most authors understand the importance of professional cover design. After all, readers absolutely judge books by their covers, and yours has only a fleeting chance to grab attention. Unfortunately, many new authors treat the interior layout as an afterthought.

You might think that Word document you formatted yourself looks just fine, but readers may think otherwise. Outside of poor editing and lackluster cover design, an amateur interior is one of the biggest ways to lose a reader’s interest.

Here’s just a short list of interior book design principles that new authors often overlook:

• Body fonts should be readable, not “interesting”—save those for chapter titles and headings!
• Text should be fully justified
• Words should be allowed to break at the end of a line (but not across spreads)
• The last line of a paragraph should not appear alone at the top of a page

Book designers have to juggle all of these design principles and more. Upholding one might mean bending another, and a good designer has the skill and experience to handle these issues appropriately. And, importantly, they know to finesse the spacing of the occasional paragraph or line so they can implement proofreading corrections without creating new issues.

4. Failing to Manage Proofreading

When you’re publishing on your own, you can’t just send your Word document to a proofreader and call it a day. There are more steps involved in proofreading than some authors realize.

Let’s take a look behind the scenes. During proofreading, a publisher might take these steps:

• Compare the typeset interior to the copyedited manuscript to ensure no text has gone missing
• Send to the proofreader to check for text and layout issues
• Review changes to ensure nothing will offset the design (and propose light edits as needed to minimize design disruptions)
• Send changes to the book designer to update the interior
• Confirm all updates and check for any new layout issues
• Send any corrections back to the book designer as needed

Phew!

A traditional publisher or self-publishing company has a whole team of players (or at least a lead editor) to pull it all off. If you’re just one person, review the list above with your proofreader to clarify what they’ll be responsible for, and plan to fill any gaps yourself.

5. Misunderstanding the Purpose of Back Cover Copy

The purpose of that short bit of text on the back of your book is sometimes misunderstood. It isn’t the place to introduce readers to every character. It isn’t a synopsis or a summary. And it definitely isn’t a place to tell readers how the book ends.

In fact, back cover copy (and its online cousin, the sales description—more on that next time!) is an important sales tool. It’s marketing copy, plain and simple, and it should be focused on giving a reader that extra push to pick up your book.

For nonfiction, bullet points help make the copy scannable. Don’t just focus on what your book does; explain how readers will benefit.

For both fiction and nonfiction, start with an opening hook that asks readers a question or piques their interest. Keep it short; between 150 and 200 words is a good goal. And remember, don’t give away the ending!

(Ready to put your back cover copy to the test? Check out “How to Craft a Top-Notch Blurb.”)

This is by no means a comprehensive list of publishing tasks, but I hope it’s got you thinking about the hidden steps involved in producing a high-quality book. Check back next week for more tips on positioning and distribution that will keep you in the driver’s seat!

Check out Part 2 of this post which focuses on mistakes to avoid while finalizing your files and publishing your book.

Sarah Kolb-Williams has been a freelance editor and writer for over fifteen years. She is currently lead editor at Spoonbridge Press, a small publishing services company she cofounded to help independent authors navigate the confusing world of self-publishing. When she’s not working with independent authors, she’s relaxing with her family, enjoying the local live music scene, or tracking down the spiciest food she can find.

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The post Don’t Make These 10 Self-Publishing Mistakes! appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By Erica Converso

This post contains affiliate links

Your book is unique – unlike any other in the world. But the structure of a well-crafted blurb will not – and should not – be. A blurb is the copy on the back cover of a book or the sales webpage, explaining what the book is about, usually about two to three paragraphs in length.

Blurbs are a tool for writers to explain to future readers what they’ll be getting if they choose your book. To appeal to them effectively, writers should answer the reader in the same way. This means that blurbs from nonfiction to romance have much in common.

Your reader will want to know certain things before they settle in with your story. And everything they want to know will begin with:

Who?

For fiction, who is your protagonist? Give us something about her. Let’s look at the blurb for The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.

“Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband.”

As you can see from the bold text, we can learn a lot about who from this blurb. In only two sentences, we’ve found out Celie’s background, her early hopes and dreams, and the struggles she will have to overcome during the course of her story.

For nonfiction, the who is somewhat different. In memoir or biography, the who is the subject of the work, and they’re introduced in just a sentence or two. For works where the author is an expert, the blurb might instead begin with:

What?

A good example is in the blurb for the book The Coming Wave:

“Everything is about to change. Soon you will live surrounded by AIs. They will organise your life, operate your business, and run core government services. You will live in a world of DNA printers and quantum computers, engineered pathogens and autonomous weapons, robot assistants and abundant energy. None of us are prepared.

As co-founder of the pioneering AI company DeepMind, part of Google, Mustafa Suleyman has been at the centre of this revolution.”

We began with what – the issue that the book plans to explore. The blurb personalizes the subject, by using language like “you” and “us.” It then follows with a reason that the who – in this case, the author – is capable of explaining that topic to you. By contrast, the Nobel Prize-winning poetry book The Wild Iris gives you only a brief mention of who, followed by a what:

“From Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Louise Glück, a stunningly beautiful collection of poems that encompasses the natural, human, and spiritual realms.”

Note the use of adjectives to encourage the reader to pick up this stunning, beautiful book? Whether you’re pitching fiction or nonfiction, don’t be afraid to talk up your work. If you’ve created a magical land, seductive characters, or compelling research, say so! Even if your reader picks your book up for free from the library, you are still trying to sell it to them. You are trying to sell your reader and all of their friends and family on this single, extraordinary concept: that it’s worthwhile for the reader to voluntarily give up time and effort – which they could spend on any other book, or anything else in the world, for that matter – to read what you have written. If you want to convince people to pick up your book, give them lots of good reasons to read it!

How?

How is also a very useful question for nonfiction. Summarize the main points of your book, focusing on your thesis.

In fiction, use how to give a preview of your plot. Who/what + a few details about the story like any interesting side characters, the stakes, and your main character’s approach to problem-solving in the narrative = your how. Don’t overdo here. Think of your blurb like an overture to a musical, with your first pages as the opening number.

Where? and When?

Where and when both function to give your work boundaries. For these questions, let’s take a look at the first sentence of the blurb for Jeannie Lin’s Butterfly Swords:

“During China’s infamous Tang Dynasty, a time awash with luxury yet littered with deadly intrigues and fallen royalty, betrayed Princess Ai Li flees before her wedding.”

What you choose to leave out of your blurb is as important as what you choose to put in. Many people try to cram the entire summary of their book into the blurb. But that is not the point. A good blurb doesn’t spoil the whole story for you – it gives you only enough information to make you ask questions. Readers want to be surprised, to learn, to discover. Explain why they should follow you into the world of your book, give them the limits of where it will take them so they know they’re following a guided tour of that world, and tell them what’s so important about bothering with this particular book. Anything else is irrelevant.

And this brings us to the final question:

Why?

Why should readers choose this book? For that, you will need to resolve your blurb with either a hook or a call to action.

The Hook

This is a statement to grab readers’ attention. In fiction, it should come in one of two forms: a question directly to the reader, or an either/or statement. This important declaration lets readers know there is a way for the protagonist to win or lose, and either could happen by the end of the novel. Depending on your genre the stakes could be huge, such as saving the world or dooming it. Consider the blurb for The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman:

“Throughout the worlds, the forces of both heaven and hell are mustering to take part in Lord Asriel’s audacious rebellion. Each player in this epic drama has a role to play—and a sacrifice to make. Witches, angels, spies, assassins, tempters, and pretenders, no one will remain unscathed.”

But the stakes could also be less catastrophic, though important to the protagonist: “Will Beezus find the patience to handle her little sister before Ramona turns her big day into a complete disaster?” (from Beverly Cleary’s Beezus and Ramona)

A Call to Action

A strong CTA instructs the reader to do something or perform an action. Sometimes it’s as simple as advising them to read your book.

Here’s a good example from Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: “This international bestseller will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home – and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.” This final sentence both encourages you to do something – clean up – and tells you about the rewards you will receive from doing so – enjoying your home and a calm mind.

So there you have it – the basics of how to build a perfectly structured blurb. Figure out the answers to the questions above and you’ll have all you need to craft a winning description that will attract readers’ attention, resolve the question “Why this book?” and pose new questions that the reader will want to dive right in to find the answers to.

Start working on your blurb now…because we have a new contest on October 19. TEN lucky winners will receive a blurb critique from guest editor Erica Converso!

Here’s an incredible worksheet that will help you build an eye-catching blurb! Ready Chapter 1 is celebrating the launch of their free Peer Critique forum and shared this to prepare people for their blurb contests (where you can win agent feedback). They generously allowed me to share this resource with you.

Here are a few additional helpful posts about writing blurbs.
Please let us know in the comments if you have any questions.

Back Cover Copy Formula (Writers Helping Writers Resident Writing Coach Sue Coletta)
Blurbs that Bore, Blurbs that Blare (Writers Helping Writers)
How to Write a Book Blurb (Fictionary)
How To Write Book Blurbs: 8 Tips for Selling By Summary (Now Novel)

Erica Converso, author of the Five Stones Pentalogy, (affiliate link) loves chocolate, animals, anime, musicals, and lots and lots of books – though not necessarily in that order. In addition to her writing, she has also been a research and emerging technologies librarian. Check out Erica’s blog for free resources!

As an editor, she aims to improve and polish your work to a professional level, while also teaching you to hone your craft and learn from previous mistakes. With every piece she edits, she sees the author as both client and student. She believes every manuscript presents an opportunity to grow as a writer, and a good editor should teach you about your strengths and weaknesses so that you can return to your writing more confident in your skills. Visit her website astrioncreative.com for more information on her books and editing and coaching services.

Guest Contributor

Interested in posting at Writers Helping Writers? Review our content guidelines to see what we’re looking for and how to pitch us your ideas.

The post How to Craft a Top-Notch Blurb appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By C. S. Lakin

Every person or character, at any given time, is in a particular mood. Generally, mood is a person’s state of mind, but it’s more than that. Mood can also describe the disposition of a collective of people, a certain time in history, or the ether of a place.

Regardless of what kind of mood we speak of, it’s always subjective. Ten people can be experiencing the same event at the same place and time, yet, depending on their perspective, their individual mood will differ.

We all know about moods and have a range of them we express and feel, whether we’re aware of them or not. We can sense others’ moods just as they can sense ours. The mood of the character should affect the way he perceives his environment, and expert writers will carefully choose words and imagery that act like a mirror to their emotions.

First, Consider Your Scene’s Purpose

Your story may have an overall tone or mood, but every scene is a microsystem of mood that depends on the emotional state and mindset of your character. When you plot out your scene, you need to first think about how your character will interact with his setting based on his mood and the purpose of your scene.

Remember: it’s the purpose of the scene that determines all the setting elements—what you choose to have him notice (and not notice) and react to and why.

Words Are Everything

However, learn this truth: it is not the originality of a world or the degree of creativity in the world itself that makes a fantasy novel shine with brilliance; it’s the choice of words and phrases that the author uses that evokes not just a right sensory experience but makes readers fall in love with the writing.

Please note: this doesn’t just pertain to fantasy novels. Every novel involves the creation of a “world,” and so writers need to take just as much care in the creation of any world in any genre. Take a look at this hastily written sentence:

Bill walked through the forest until he found a cottage set back in the trees . . .

Now consider the reworked description below that I spent a bit more time on:

Bill slogged along the leaf-choked path, the spindly arms of the bare maples quivering in the cold autumn wind—a feeble attempt to turn him back. But he pressed on until he spotted, nestled in a copse of willows, the derelict cottage slumped like a lost orphan, the lidless windows dark and vacant. Hardly a welcoming sight after many tiresome hours of travel.

A specific mood is created by bringing out Bill’s mindset and emotional state. Without knowing anything else about this scene (if I’d written one), a reader can clearly sense the purpose of the action by the things he notices and the words used to describe them

To immerse your readers in the world you’ve created, you need to spend time coming up with masterful description. And the components of such description are the nouns, verbs, and adjectives you choose.

Mood Nuances

We all know about moods and have a range of them we express and feel, whether we’re aware of them or not. We can sense others’ moods just as they can sense ours. The mood of the character should affect the way he perceives his environment, and expert writers will carefully choose words and imagery that act like a mirror to their emotions. It’s a reciprocal factor: mood informs how the character sees his setting, but the setting also informs his mood—shifting it or intensifying it.

Take a look at this passage from The Dazzling Truth (Helen Cullen):

Murtagh opened the front door and flinched at a swarm of spitting raindrops. The blistering wind mocked the threadbare cotton of his pajamas. He bent his head into the onslaught and pushed forward, dragging the heavy scarlet door behind him. The brass knocker clanged against the wood; he flinched, hoping it had not woken the children. Shivering, he picked a route in his slippers around the muddy puddles spreading across the cobblestoned pathway. Leaning over the wrought-iron gate that separated their own familial island from the winding lane of the island proper, he scanned the dark horizon for a glimpse of Maeve in the faraway glow of a streetlamp.

 In the distance, the sea and sky had melted into one anthracite mist, each indiscernible from the other. Sheep huddled together for comfort in Peadar Óg’s field, the waterlogged green that bordered the Moones’ land to the right; the plaintive baying of the animals sounded mournful. Murtagh nodded at them.

 There was no sight of Maeve.

Culler is masterful in her usage of imagery to convey sensory detail. The feeling of rain on Murtagh’s skin is described by flinching at spitting raindrops. The blistering wind attacks his pajamas. Dragging the heavy door shows the sensation of his muscles working—proprioception. And of course we have visuals, which paint the stage for us.

We also have the sound of the brass knocker—used for a specific purpose—to tell us he’s concerned about the children waking. This is a good point to pay attention to: sensory detail should serve more than one purpose. Don’t just add a sound or sight without thinking of the POV character’s mood, concerns, mindset, and purpose in that moment. The more you can tie those things to the sensory details, the more powerful your writing.

Weather

Writers are sometimes told not to write about weather. It’s boring, right? But weather affects us every moment of every day and night. We make decisions for how we will spend our day, even our life, based on weather. And weather greatly affects our mood, whether we notice or not.

Since we want our characters to act and react believably, they should also be affected by weather. Sure, at times they aren’t going to notice it. But there are plenty of opportunities to have characters interact with weather can be purposeful and powerful in your story.

Strong Verbs and Adjectives

Using strong and effective verbs and adjectives will help you craft setting descriptions that are masterful. Every word counts. To borrow unfaithfully from Animal Farm: All words are created equal, but some words are more equal than others. Some words are plain boring, and others take our breath away.

Mood is one of the 3 M’s of character setup, and you’ll want to make sure you get the character’s mood, mindset (what she’s concerned about), and motivation on that first page. What happens in the scene will shift the mood in some way, resulting in some change in mood by the end of the scene. So think about what that mood will be like at the start of the scene and what’s changed in the mood by the end. Using the setting interactively with your character is the most powerful way to masterfully accomplish this!

C. S. Lakin is an award-winning author of more than 30 books, fiction and nonfiction (which includes more than 10 books in her Writer’s Toolbox series). Her online video courses at Writing for Life Workshops have helped more than 5,000 fiction writers improve their craft. To go deep into creating great settings and evoking emotions in your characters, and to learn essential technique, enroll in Lakin’s courses Crafting Powerful Settings and Emotional Mastery for Fiction Writers. Her blog Live Write Thrive has more than 1 million words of instruction for writers, so hop on over and level-up your writing!

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The post How to Create Mood Effectively in Your Fiction appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.