The rise of AI-generated books is sparking concern among many. We all know the book market is huge, yet the speed at which new works are being added prompted Amazon to place a ‘3 books per day’ upload limit. I think we all agree that’s more than a little worrying.

It’s frustrating, too. Vying for a reader’s attention has always been challenging, but this new competition has some authors fearing it will soon become too hard (and expensive) to grab the reader’s attention. Dread rises in the form of a question: in this widening sea of books, what are my chances of being found and read?

It’s easy to give over to anger and depression when things change, especially when it feels unfair and unjust. But as authors have always done, we must use our emotions to fuel transformation.

The board has changed. It’s time to change with it.

We’ve weathered disruptions in the book industry before, and while AI is reshaping all industries, as people, one of our biggest strengths is our ability to adapt. Marketing will become more challenging for authors, but we can use our human edge to come out on top. It’s time for us to push ourselves and leverage our strengths, showing readers we have much more to offer them than machines.

Let’s talk about how we do it.

1. Write an amazing book.

Seems sort of obvious, right? Sure, but the real message here is that AI books will only get better in time, so we must continue widening the gap. Readers will have many choices on what to read so our books should be exceptional. To date, many authors have focused on volume to make a living, but moving forward, writing better books will become as important (if not more).

Amazing books in the age of AI should contain something else, too: emotion, insight, and depth rooted in human experience. This is something that machines can’t replicate (although they will try). As humans, we understand how isolating life can be when we experience certain things that stir deep emotions, struggles, insecurities, and vulnerabilities. Who better than us to create authentic characters that our readers can truly relate to and connect with? (Read: How to Leverage Humanity in Stories to Outshine AI.)

2. Embrace authenticity, building trust and connection.

AI isn’t only impacting the book industry–it’s everywhere, with readers being as exposed to it as us. AI curates searches at Google, chatbots claim the bottom right corner of every website. Meta AI bots piss everyone off with their uncanny ability to ignore hate speech but flag that cute picture of someone’s cat as harmful and inappropriate.

Fake social profiles. AI-generated images everywhere.
Every third ad is a new AI tool or service.

It’s the gold rush of AI, but guess what follows? Saturation. People get sick of all things manufactured, simulated, and fake. It’s early still, but a looming saturation is coming. Authors should be ready because, in an increasingly artificial world, people will crave one thing above all else: Authenticity. They will be drawn to human presences, voices, and interactions.

This is an incredible opportunity for authors. By recognizing the universal need for authenticity and connection, they can draw their potential readers in by being someone who shares their human side!

Go deeper with your interactions with readers. Think about points of common ground: What experiences do you and your readers share? Which of your thoughts and perceptions will resonate, making them feel seen and heard? How can you share anecdotes, ideas, sparks of humor, and bits of your personal life alongside discussions about your creative work? What topics and themes in your book suggest areas of common interest? Start some conversations.

It might take practice, but being open and authentic can turn readers into lifelong fans…of you. These relationships are incredible–knowing people are in our corner sustains us when life gets hard. Too, not only will devout readers look forward to the next book, but they’ll want others to discover your books, too.

3. Create a “clubhouse” for your readers.

Adding to the point above, I have always believed marketing is about relationships, not sales. We build strong relationships by caring about others, making them feel valued, and giving them something they need. When this is done right, sales follow naturally.

It’s great to use social media as a way to find potential readers and connect with them, but trying to be everywhere at once is overwhelming. People can become fatigued by social media too. This is why thinking about creating a meeting spot away from the noise of the online world can be a great way to forge meaningful bonds with readers.

Your “clubhouse” can be anything that works for you: an online community or group, a personal newsletter or Substack, a private forum attached to your site, etc. Whatever your clubhouse looks like, don’t bombard folks with promotion. These people aren’t dollar signs and trust me, AI will be targeting them everywhere, trying to sell, sell, sell. So be different. Focus on the relationship: share content they’ll like, ask and answer questions. If you’re communicating through a newsletter, be the person they are always happy to hear from! Your clubhouse should make people feel seen, cared about, and valued.

4. Think we, not me.

As the fight over a reader’s attention heats up even further, we may think we need to isolate ourselves from other authors because they are our competition. Not so. Human authors are our allies.

No matter how well you write or how big your audience is, you only have a sliver of the potential reading audience. Authors with similar books also have loyal readers, and many are different from your own. Collaborating with authors who write similar, high-quality books can be a win for you both as you’ll each reach new people.

Collaboration is about more than sharing audiences—it’s about creating a sense of camaraderie. Readers will notice and appreciate authors who prioritize relationships over sales pitches. Too, every author has unique experiences, ideas, knowledge, and connections. Joining forces with other authors and sharing what you each know means less trial and error.

5. Educate yourself and watch for scams.

Whenever there’s a disruption, people look for opportunities to monetize whatever has changed. Part of thriving as an author will be staying informed and watching for profiteers selling “easy solutions.”

Self-publishing created a ramp-up in vanity presses, predatory promotional and editing services, and low-skill freelancers looking to bleed authors of their cash. This era of AI will be the same.

If you need AI solutions for marketing, research before investing in courses, ad services, or tools. Look to trusted industry leaders like Jane Friedman, David Gaughran, or the Alliance of Independent Authors for guidance. Don’t fall for pressure tactics, FOMO, or fear-based marketing. And remember, if someone is selling something that seems too good to be true, it probably is.

One area to be especially cautious of is Ads. As the book market becomes increasingly huge, pay-to-play platforms (Meta, Amazon, etc.) are the real winners as people run ads (or more ads) to gain visibility. Likely we’ll see a rise in ‘Ad experts’ pitching their company to run your ads or use their AI tools and platform solutions. Some may be a good investment. Others will drain your pockets. Investigate and talk to other authors. Make sure the ROI is clear.

6. Decide how (and if) you’ll use AI as an author.

AI is a threat and a tool. Creatives (and folks in other industries who had their content scraped without content) are rightfully upset about AI. But it’s here to stay so we will all need to eventually decide if (and how) we’ll use it. This is a moral question and a practical one.

You may decide that while you’re morally opposed to using it to write, you use AI solutions to help you with other tasks–researching, marketing, time management, whatever. Or you are a firm no. But whether you use it or not, it’s important to understand how others are incorporating it, and the impacts this may have on our business.

The Key to Thriving:
Using Your Humanity

AI may be here to stay, but so are authors. We can’t control AI’s disruption over our industry, only how we respond. By focusing on what makes us uniquely human, we can create stories that resonate far more deeply than AI-generated books. Best of all, by simply being ourselves, we can forge genuine connections with readers and fulfill a universal longing for authenticity—an ironic consequence of the rise of AI.

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How Authors Thrive in a World of AI-Generated Books appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

AI is reshaping the book industry, and writers are polarized; some have integrated AI into their writing process while others refuse to. No matter which camp you align with I’m sure you share a growing concern: creatives are not the only ones publishing books. Thanks to AI tools, anyone with a keyboard can slap something together (sometimes ripping off the original), leading to a surge of AI-generated books.

Oh, but the books are bad. They don’t matter.

Are they all bad? And even if they are, will they remain that way? The hard reality is that it is the nature of AI to improve and refine, and so improve and refine it will. In the meantime, quality books become harder to find because this AI side hustle is picking up steam. Writers are beginning to worry about having to compete with AI-generated books.

So, is the board set against us–should we give up writing? Heck no! Instead, we write better books by leaning into our strengths and harnessing the one thing AI can’t compete with: being human. Here’s how.

1: Write about human experiences

AI absorbs knowledge about people and learns how to write scenes by training itself on works of fiction. But when it comes to the experience of being human, AI can only mimic. So, put your innate understanding of humanity onto the page. Let your own life experiences guide you in showing the rawness of vulnerability, the subtleties of emotion, and the profound depth of human needs in your characters. Be unafraid to go deep inside yourself. What questions keep you up at night? What thoughts and worries about the world weigh you down? Chances are, your readers have similar questions, so make them feel seen by weaving these into your story.

Consider the duality of life. On the surface, people present an ‘everyday’ version of themselves—their jobs, choices, routines, and social interactions. Yet beneath lies a more complex and private being, one who wrestles with questions of identity, purpose, and belonging. Write characters with this same hidden self, complete with unique doubts, fears, and unspoken dreams. Readers will feel drawn to them, and relate because this deeper, human side mirrors their own.

Another reason to double down on human elements in stories? As customer service bots, AI social profiles, generated videos, news, etc. become commonplace, the world starts to feel artificial. People will crave authenticity and you can give it to them.

2: Share your worldview, culture, identity, and lived truth

You are the subject matter expert in your lived experience, not AI, so consider how you can bring something special to a story. Whether it’s a window into your culture or religion, a worldview based on experiences or identity, or something else like a personal hardship, upbringing, or belief, readers recognize the authority behind a true-to-life portrayal.

AI can write generically about these things using information within its datasets, but only humans can capture a lived truth. So write characters and situations that are echoes of your own life. Bring readers in close so they experience things that come from first-hand knowledge.

3: Master your craft in areas best suited to showcase human elements

A misconception (long before AI) among some novice writers was that they didn’t need to learn how to write well because that was an editor’s job. This led to a painful lesson when reputable editors wouldn’t touch their manuscripts or the cost to do so was too high, causing them to seek cheaper options or a vanity press. Either way, the writer ended up with a poor-quality book.

Thankfully most writers understand that writing well means putting in the work. But some do treat AI like it’s a magic genie, and this laziness affects the quality of their stories. So keep learning your craft, especially in areas that help you showcase human elements readers are hardwired to connect to. For example:

1) Voice. Learn all there is to know about developing your author voice and creating authentic voices for your characters. Write characters who reveal their individuality through observations, actions, and decisions. This is where your story can stand out.

2) Description (especially the art of show, not tell). Being able to describe sensory details, use metaphor, symbolism, etc. to imply something deeper, and bring a character’s authentic emotions to the surface will draw readers in and convey authenticity in a way AI writing cannot.

3) Inner Conflict. A character’s personal struggles illustrate the complexity of being human in a powerful way. Sure, AI can rehash common problems, but only humans can draw from their experiences to create relatable internal battles. Learning how to write about internal conflict to accurately show a character’s clash of fears, desires, needs, duties, and beliefs is well worth the investment.

4) Character Arc. Study character arc and what it will specifically look like for a character. What personal epiphanies will help them move past old hurts and break free of fear? How have they been viewing life and themselves wrong? How must they change and grow to achieve a happier, more fulfilling life? What do the steps of self-examination, personal realizations, and renewed self-belief look like for them?

It may seem like a lot of questions, but the answers give you the knowledge you need to write an authentic journey of highs and lows that readers will connect to. Alternatively, you should know what failure, unfulfillment, and unhappiness will look like for a character because people never make good decisions all the time. Fear and making mistakes can chain them to failure, and if they can’t break free of it, you need to be able to show that, too.

5) Psychology. It may not seem like a traditional writing element, but it is. The more you understand how people think, feel, and behave and why, two incredible things happen. First, you’ll create more complex, authentic characters whose actions, choices, and decisions line up with who they are. Second, you’ll see how to weave elements about the character’s life, journey, and inner struggles in a way that resonates, encouraging readers to connect more deeply with the characters and your story.  

If you’ve read any books in our Writers Helping Writers Thesaurus series, you know how much Becca and I focus on psychology and human emotion. This is why. AI will apply psychology too, but not like you and me because it only has clinical knowledge, not personal experience. And that makes a big difference!

4: Shake it up and experiment

AI likes to draw from character tropes, predictable plots, devices, and story patterns, so color outside the lines! Blend genres and story elements. Shatter stereotypes and twist tropes. Be original and bold as you write, and use craft to serve your vision of the story.

5: Embrace one of your greatest human strengths: adaptability

We enter this career path knowing it won’t be easy. But like our characters, we must find a way forward when things get hard. AI-generated books are causing problems for us, yes, but as they get better, so will we. Learning our craft and leveraging our human knowledge and experiences will help us distance ourselves from the generic stories others churn out.

Worried about the future of writing?

Let that go. You can’t control how AI is used but you can adapt how you write to compete with AI-generated books.

Include human elements. Use your story as a mirror to reflect the reader’s hidden self–their hopes and dreams, perspectives and questions. Leverage your humanity to outshine AI!

Remember, readers love to read and great stories will always be in demand!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post How to Leverage Humanity to Outshine AI-Generated Books appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

It’s glorious. So…how do we do it? Psychology.

People are hardwired for stories. For one, they contain experiences that the primal part of the brain likes to mine for information to help with survival. But there are other reasons, too, like the chance to experience certain emotions that act as a release, and the sense of connection a person gets from discovering common ground with others…in this case, the characters.

This is psychology at work.

Certain psychological processes steer us, even though we may not realize it. They shape how we respond to life’s ups and downs, our behavior toward others and ourselves, influence the goals we seek, and more.

Psychology is the study of mental processes and behavior to understand why people think and behave as they do.

Most of us aren’t experts in psychology. We may not even think much about the WHY behind our attitudes and behaviors. Nonetheless, psychological patterns and processes are whirring in the background, drawing from our personal beliefs, emotions, values, identity, and experiences to determine how we think, act, and behave.

Applying human psychology to characters makes them authentic and relatable to readers.

Psychology is part of what it is to be human. Whether it’s a character’s struggles, choices, values, needs, or mistakes, readers can’t help but see a piece of themselves reflected in the character. A bond forms, and if we wish it, we can make that character important to them, someone whose hopes, desires, and goals are meaningful and worth cheering for.

We don’t need to be experts to use psychology, either. We may not always know the terminology or reasoning behind certain processes, but we know what they are like to experience. We can show a character struggling to mentally or emotionally process something and readers will relate—they’ve had to process challenging things, too. This familiarity creates connection and empathy, which is exactly what we want to happen.

Let’s look at a common psychological process: cognitive dissonance.

The best way to explain what this is will be to ask you a question: Have you ever experienced internal tension from an unsettling situation, like seeing a neighbor chain his dog up day after day?

Or maybe this tension crops up when you’re doing something you don’t feel 100% good about, like pulling into the McDonald’s drive-thru when you committed to making better choices and eating healthier.

If so, this tension is called cognitive dissonance, the psychological discomfort caused by contradicting thoughts, perceptions, values, or beliefs. It’s quite common – we all experience it. A few examples:

• We discover information that challenges our current beliefs and sense of right and wrong
• We must choose between competing values/beliefs because, in our current situation, we can’t live by both
• We are behaving in a way that doesn’t match with what we believe in

Cognitive dissonance causes uncomfortable emotions like confusion, worry, guilt, regret, or shame.

To illustrate, let’s go back to the McDonald’s example. Despite your plan to stick to healthy options, it’s been a hellish week, and you pull into the drive-thru. You feel guilty as you order, but when the food arrives, you park the car and indulge—it’s so good! Unfortunately, your Big Mac euphoria lasts only as long as the burger does, and now you’re regretting the decision to cave to your craving. Worse, you’re mentally beating yourself up for not having the willpower to resist.

Cognitive dissonance is powering this discord because you (a) like eating Big Macs but (b) want to lose weight and be healthy. You resolved inner tension briefly by choosing Team Big Mac, but because this behavior didn’t line up with that internal commitment you made to yourself, guilt and regret followed.

This is a psychological process so common readers will pick up on it in the story. The best part? Even if a character experiences dissonance and makes a choice that the reader would not, they still empathize with the character’s experience of internal strain.

Another form of internal contradiction is emotional dissonance. This happens when a person fakes an emotion that they don’t feel.

Can I use you as an example again? Let’s imagine at work you find yourself faking enthusiasm about your boss’s terrible marketing strategy. After all, you know from experience that he won’t listen to contrary opinions, and because you’re a team player, you put on your rah-rah face like everyone else in the meeting.

In this case, your dissonance is mild. You’ve weathered his bad ideas before and aren’t invested enough to state how you really feel.

But emotional dissonance isn’t always minor. Sometimes the emotion you’d have to fake is so far from what you feel that it clashes with your values or personal identity. Acting in alignment with an untrue emotion can mean sacrificing your belief system and going against who you are.

Let’s up the ante. You discover this marketing strategy is driven by a closely guarded secret: the company needs to dump a supply of expired baby formula that they’ve repackaged with fresh dates. When you confront your sales manager she explains that the product is fine, this happens all the time, so keep quiet and get out there and sell, sell, sell.

Can you, knowing the formula could be contaminated? Will you be able to fake confidence as you hit up those neonatal units and pharmacies to convince people to buy your product? Or is this something you can’t do because it crosses a line and violates your core values, regardless of how badly you need the bonus for meeting your sales quota?

Here, the divide between your true feelings (contempt and shock) and the emotion you’d need to fake (confidence) is much wider. Whichever you express reveals your identity: Are you the sort of person who does what’s right or what makes money?

Everyone protects their self-perceptions—things they believe to be true about themselves. Emotional dissonance in a story raises the stakes by challenging the character’s view of themselves, creating confusion, uncertainty, or regret. These difficult emotions are another point of common ground with readers because at one time or another, everyone has reflected on their own identity and whether they are being true to themselves.

Internal dissonance is the heart of inner conflict.

Showing a character wrestle with clashing beliefs, values, or other inconsistencies, no matter what they are, will resonate with readers. The character’s situation may be new to the reader, but the internal tug of war is something they have experience with.

In short, psychology is awesome. Use it!

If you’d like to know more (and discover the best way to encourage internal tension), dive into The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility. This companion book to The Emotion Thesaurus will show you how to remind readers of the real world and their own human experiences so they bond better with your characters!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Why Writers Should Use Psychology In Their Storytelling appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

No one in the real world is perfect, and so characters shouldn’t be either. To seem as real as you or me, they should have flaws and strengths, and these sides of their personality should line up with who they are, how they were raised, and reflect the experiences they’ve had to date, good and bad.

While we develop our characters, however, we need to remember that flaws come with a tipping point. If we write someone with an overabundance of negative traits and behaviors that are a turnoff, the character will slide into unlikable territory. And yes, if the goal is to make a villain, antagonist, or other character loathsome, that’s fine–mission accomplished. But if we want readers to be on their side, too much surliness, negativity, secretiveness, or propensity for overblown reactions can cause a reader to disconnect.

Like a joke taken too far, it’s hard to claw an audience back once they’ve formed negative judgments, which is why we want to be careful and deliberate when showing our character’s negative side. Antiheroes tend to wear flaws more openly and can be semi-antagonistic as they battle the world’s constraints, so this line of likability is something to pay close attention to if we want readers to ultimately side with them. Here are some tips to help you.

How to Write Flawed Characters
& Not Turn Readers Off

Show A Glimmer: no matter how impatient, uptight, or spoiled your character is, hint there’s more beneath the surface. A small action or internal observation can show the character in a positive light, especially when delivered in their first scene (frequently referred to as a Save the Cat moment.) It can be a positive quality, like a sense of humor, or a simple act that shows something redeeming about the character.

Imagine a man yelling at the old ladies crowding the hallway outside his apartment door as they pick up their friend Mabel for bingo, and then seeing him swear and fume at the chuggy elevator for making him late. Not the nicest guy, is he? But when Mr. Suit and Tie gets to his car outside, he stops to dig out a Ziploc bag of cat food and carefully roll down the edges into a makeshift bowl.

What? Here the guy seemed like an impatient jerk, but we discover part of his morning routine is to feed the local stray cat! Maybe he isn’t so bad after all. (Talk about a literal interpretation of “saving the cat.”)

Use POV Narrative for Insight: characters are flawed for a reason, namely negative experiences (wounds) which create flaws as an “emotional countermeasure.” Imagine a hero who stutters, and he was teased about it growing up. Even his parents encouraged him to “be seen and not heard” when they hosted parties and special events. Because of the emotional trauma (shame and anger) at being treated badly, he’s now uncommunicative and unfriendly as an adult. This type of backstory can be dribbled into narrative with care, as long as it’s active, has bearing on the current action, and is brief as to not slow the pace.

Create Big Obstacles: the goal is to create empathy as soon as possible, and one of the ways to do that is to show what the character is up against. If your character has a rough road ahead, the reader will make allowances for behavior, provide they don’t wallow and whine overmuch. After all, it isn’t hardship that creates empathy…it’s how a character behaves despite their hardship as that gives readers a window into who they really are.

Form a Balance: No character is all good or all bad. Give them a mix of positive traits (attributes) and negative traits (flaws) so they feel realistic, and ensure their negative traits contain a learning curve. For example, their negative traits may be good at keeping people and uncomfortable situations at a distance in the past, but in your story, they won’t help your character get what they want. Your character will have to see this for themselves, and it’ll only happen when that flawed behavior and way of thinking leads to poor judgment, mistakes, relationship friction, and other problems, the poor sap.

Eventually the character will see that they need to change up their behavioral playlist if they want to succeed, and this means letting go of the bad and embracing the good, opening their mind to a new way of thinking, behaving, and being. This is where their positives get to shine, so lay the foundation with qualities that may start in the background, but come forward and show them to be rounded, likable, and unique.

Of Special Concern:
Your Story’s Baddies

It’s easy to give an antagonist flaws because your intent is to make readers dislike them, but even here, caution is needed. Hopelessly flawed antagonists make shallow characters and unworthy opponents, so we want to also give them strengths (like intelligence, meticulousness, dedication, and discipline, for example) to make them formidable and hard to beat.

This forces your protagonist to work their hardest, and in a match up, nothing is guaranteed. Being uncertain about the outcome of these story moments is what will hold the reader’s attention to the very end.

To build balanced, unique characters and find traits, positive and negative, that will make sense for them, take a look at the Positive Trait & Negative Trait Thesaurus Writing Guides. We created these to make character building easier for you.

Happy writing!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Writing Flawed Characters Who Don’t Turn Readers Off appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

I hear writers talking all the time about building their enewsletter subscriber list. Build a subscriber list, the thinking goes, and you’ll sell more books.

Except it’s not that simple. These authors are focused on only the first half of their job: attracting new subscribers to their list.

They’re missing—often, completely neglecting—the other half: pleasing those subscribers once they get them.

Are You Too Focused on Numbers?

Holding a giveaway where you gather a long list of new subscribers may feel exciting in the moment. But how excited will you be when most of those subscribers unsubscribe? Or ignore your enewsletter completely, letting it collect dust in some unchecked inbox?

Dead weight on your newsletter may boost your numbers, but that doesn’t help you much. Those who aren’t regularly opening, reading, and clicking aren’t doing anything except giving you a false sense of how large your email list is.

It’s only by pleasing subscribers that you have any hope at all of ever selling anything to them. That’s because most people need to know you and the value you can deliver before they’ll be willing to part with their hard-earned money for something you created.

You have no hope of establishing that relationship if you don’t keep them opening and reading on a regular basis.

It Starts with Targeting the Right People

First, you have to be sure you’re targeting the right people when you’re building your list. (I’m assuming you’ve established your niche—if not, check out this post.)

However you’re reeling in new subscribers—through a freebie, giveaway, or other dangled carrot—the more that carrot fits your readers’ needs, the more likely they will be to stay with you for the long term. (We’ll talk more about newsletter carrots in a future post.)

In other words, if you write cozy mysteries, it’s not going to help if you join a multi-author giveaway where the rest of the books are in the horror genre.

A report on vacationing in the most famous cozy mystery settings—or even in your favorite cozy mystery settings from your books—might work out great.

3 Ways to Please Your Subscribers and Keep Them Coming Back

Think about how often you open an e-newsletter and READ it. Or click on a link to check it out.

Most likely, there are fewer than five that earn this special place in your life.

That’s because we’re all busy. Managing our email inboxes is just one of a zillion things on our to-do lists. Your subscribers are in the same boat. They’re looking for any reason to dump your email from their inbox so they have one less to deal with.

Not only must you avoid giving them that reason, but you must also give them lots of reasons to keep opening and reading. Yours has to be one of the few newsletters that earn that top spot in your readers’ lives.

How do you do that?

1. Give Them Something They Want

Too often authors fail to focus on that age-old question when it comes to their e-newsletters: “What’s in it for me?”

That’s what your reader is asking. If all you do is talk about you—without relating to them—they’re likely to leave pretty quickly.

Again, think about what you are looking for in your newsletters. Most likely, it’s one or more of these things:

• Helpful information
• Something funny or entertaining that will brighten your day
• Awesome deals you wouldn’t find anywhere else—on something you want

This is where a blog can come in handy. Every time you have a new post—if your posts offer readers something they value—alerting them to that post in your e-newsletter is one way to give them helpful information.

You can also alert them to other posts you’ve found that you think they would be interested in. Share some news that affects your niche, or alert them to a deal on a piece of equipment they may regularly use.

The key is to provide value to your reader. Go beyond talking about your latest book. In general, fill 80 percent of your newsletter with things meant to benefit your reader, and only 20 percent with self-promotional material.

2. Establish a Connection with Them

People stay on a newsletter list for several reasons. One of them is that they feel some kind of connection with the person who’s sending it.

You can help establish that connection with every newsletter you send. Write it as if you’re talking to a friend. One of my favorite newsletters is from Nick Stephenson of “Your First 10,000 Readers” fame. I often open and read his newsletters just to see what crazy story he’s sharing that day.

Nick is very good at taking stories from his life and turning them into valuable takeaways for his readers—all while talking in a way that makes you feel like he’s chatting away with you.

Of course, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. One, stay professional. You want to treat your reader like a friend, but obviously, keep some boundaries in place.

Second, remember to always think in terms of what your reader needs, not what you need. This is not the time to rant about your crazy editor, for example—unless you have some valuable lesson to share at the end of your rant that will benefit your reader.

Protect yourself—you don’t know who most of your readers are or what their intentions are. But sharing a few safe details or stories that help them to get to know you a little better will increase the odds that they stay with you over the long term.

3. Surprise or Delight Them Now and Then

A couple of writing friends of mine regularly give something away in their newsletters. They do this frequently enough that their readers feel compelled to open their newsletters “just in case” they may find some sweet giveaway there that they want to enter.

What to give away? You’re limited only by your imagination. Free books, reports, prizes, swag, quote cards, recipes, special graphics, coupons, and more will work. You could also hold a contest and award the winners.

Another way to surprise and delight is to include photos of your subscribers. If you recently went to an event where you met up with some of them, snap some selfies and then be sure to give those subscribers a shout-out.

You can also ask their opinion about something and then include quotes from some in your next newsletter.

The general idea is to regularly provide value, but now and then, provide a little more just to make your readers happy. That way they’ll be more likely to stick around.

Are Your Subscribers Still Reading?

I have several subscribers that have been with me since I started the Writing and Wellness e-newsletter in 2014. I love reviewing my audience data and seeing that most of those subscribers are highly rated—meaning after all this time, they’re still opening and reading my e-newsletters.

These are your most valuable readers by far, so do all you can to keep them coming back!

“The bottom line is that a newsletter can help you make more sales and reach more readers than any other marketing technique,” writes Catia Shattuck for Book Cave. “The key is to build an audience over time. Remember, you’re in this for a lifetime, not just a few months. Happy emailing!”

Note: Get Colleen’s free report on finding your blogging niche plus free chapters of her award-winning books for writers here!

COLLEEN M. STORY - Resident Writing Coach

Colleen M. Story is a novelist, freelance writer, writing coach, and speaker with over 20 years in the creative writing industry. In addition to writing several award-winning novels, Colleen’s series of popular success guides, Your Writing Matters, Writer Get Noticed! and Overwhelmed Writer Rescue, have all been recognized for their distinction.

Colleen offers personalized coaching plans tailored to meet your needs, and frequently serves as a workshop leader and motivational speaker, where she helps attendees remove mental and emotional blocks and tap into their unique creative powers. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Colleen below. Free chapters | Master Writer Mindset

The post Three Things Your Author Newsletter Must Do to Please Subscribers appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Two novice writers met in an online critique group called the Critique Circle and became fast friends. Angela (a Canadian) wrote about zombies and pirates and a magical bookstore that kidnapped customers. Becca (an American) wrote everything from a coming of age YA during California’s Gold Rush to a dark tale of a doughy gingerbread boy being baked alive (and here you thought Angela was the weird one).

The two also shared something else: a passion for learning and helping others. So they turned to studying the craft of writing and how they could help others work through common writing struggles.

One of the bigger hurdles writers faced was showing and not telling character emotion, so the two collaborated on a list of ways to show fear. This brainstorming list was well-received, and led to the next, and the next. Then in January 2008, they decided to start a blog so they could share these lists more widely. At The Bookshelf Muse, this collection of lists was given an official name: the “Emotion Thesaurus.”

This thesaurus became the first of many on different aspects of description, and finally, on May 9, 2012, they self-published their first writing guide: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression.

Truth be told, it was terrifying. The industry wasn’t so keen on self-publishing back then, and some experts were vocal about how they believed writers were throwing their careers away if they self-published. To know about this bias and then put a book on the same industry-dominated shelf anyway took a lot of inner convincing, especially as this was their first publication, meaning they had no bestselling-this or editor-that to give them credibility.

But they did have something special. You.

Right from that first list, first blog, and first book, YOU were in their corner. You supported, cheered, and encouraged. You helped spread the word, told other writers about the helpful nature of this book, and then did the same for all the ones that followed.

Thank you for being in our corner!

Becca and I are stunned that a million of our books are in the world. Never could we have dreamt of being able to help so many writers, but we’ve been able to because of all of you. Your kindness, generosity, and support is unmatched. We are so grateful–thank you so, so much!

(Find Out More: Press Release & Quick Facts)

Giveaway Alert

A milestone like this calls for a special giveaway, so we reached out to our Resident Writing Coaches for help.

And boy, did they ever deliver!

Look at this incredible load of writerly things you can win…

The Prizes

A Story Audit from RWC & Editor, Lisa Poisso

This small but powerful diagnostic examines your one-page synopsis, a comprehensive assessment of the story’s narrative elements (story structure, plot, character arcs, conflict, and more), and an overview of the writing in your full manuscript. It will help you determine if your book is ready for editing, saving you time, energy, and money by diagnosing any big-picture issues before you pay someone for editing. A winner can redeem this Story Audit anytime after July 2023. (Psst. Lisa is great to work with!)

First 5000 Critique from RWC & Editor Michelle Barker

Your query letter and synopsis are important parts of the submission package, but your writing sample is the true test. In fact, many agents read the sample first. This service includes a developmental edit of your first 5000 words & complimentary access to Query Quest. Find out more.

Online Confidential Platform & Networking On Demand Course from RWC, Script Editor & Author, Lucy V. Hay

Marketing and platform building can be a challenge, but this step-by-step guide will help you utilize the online space to your best advantage as a writer or screenwriter. If you feel you aren’t getting traction online now, or you just don’t know where to start, this course will help you! Find out more.

A Wicked Good Bootcamp Seat from RWC, Editor, & Author Suzy Vadori
The 8-week virtual book coaching experience will teach you to write a book that readers will love. Get clear on the story you’re dying to tell (and WHY you want to tell it), so you can turn it into a book readers actually want to read without compromising your creative vision. Skip the writers’ learning curve and get over a decade’s worth of Suzy’s insider writing industry tips in just 8 weeks to make your writing as strong as possible. Come away with a detailed action plan to get your ideal book written and into the world this year.

A Crime Scene or Climax Critique, (Winner’s Choice) from RWC & Thriller Author Sue Coletta

Attention, mystery, thriller & crime writers! This unique prize has been designed just for you from an expert in crime scenes, serial killers, tension, and suspense! (Did I mention she has her own Murder Blog?) Sue will assess your scene and offer feedback to help you ramp up the intensity. Note: the winner will need to provide a short synopsis of the story so Sue has context for the scene.

A $150 credit toward a Cruising Writers Writing Retreat with RWC & Author Christina Delay

Have you ever dreamed of joining a bunch of writers on a writing retreat in some beautiful location? Then imagine a situation where you get to visit several stunning locations, be pampered as you relax, and have a chance to learn and network with industry pros! Cruising Writers is a fantastic option for retreaters – rest, relax, and fill your creative well aboard a stunning cruise ship. The winner will get a hefty $150 discount on your package when you book! (Stating the obvious, but you must be a writer to win.)

A 20-Page Critique of Your Middle Grade or YA Novel by RWC & Editor, Marissa Graff

Wouldn’t it be great to have help with the opening of your story, especially from someone who was a freelance editor and reader for former literary agent Sarah Davies (ranked #2 in middle-grade fiction sales) for over seven years? Someone who has had clients go on to nab agents, sell their books, and even win the Newbery Award? Heck yes it would! Marissa Graff will help you bring out the best elements of your MG or YA opening by critiquing your first 20 pages.

A Full Picture Book Critique from Our WHW Blog Wizard & “PB Fairy Godmother” Mindy Alyse Weiss

Mindy is the mastermind behind PBParty, an annual contest that connects talented picture book writers and author/illustrators with agents and editors. This has led to many success stories. Mindy has a ton of experience in what agents and editors are looking for in a picture book. The winner of this prize can send up to three PB manuscripts. Mindy will give light comments on two and in-depth feedback on the PB with the most potential.

A 1-Year Subscription to One Stop for Writers from your biggest fans… Becca and me!

We have created many thesauruses over the years, but not all of them become books…some go straight to a THESAURUS Database at One Stop for Writers. This web app is how we help writers beyond our books and where we’ve built powerful tools that make it much easier to plan, write, and revise your way to a publish-ready book. Take the tour, start a free trial, and make sure to enter below for a chance to win a 1-year membership! We’d love to help you bring your best story to the page.

To Enter:

Want a chance to win one of these amazing prizes? Click the link below.

WHW’s 1 Million Book Milestone Giveaway

(Final day to enter is May 9th, 2023, EST).
Winners are being notified! Watch your inbox!

Note, one entry per person. Prizes have no cash value and cannot be transferred. For full legal rules and conditions, please go here.)

Thank you again for all your kind support. We are honored to be part of your storytelling journey!

If you’d like to help us celebrate this milestone, feel free to share this post. And good luck in the draw!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post We’ve Reached the One Million Books Milestone! appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

This 40-minute recording is packed with great takeaways, and gives you a window into how Becca and I think when it comes to characters, psychology, and making sure only the strongest details make it to the page. It will be available until January 8th, so we hope you get a moment before then to watch it!

Need a Last Minute Gift?

We hope you’ll consider one of our bestselling thesaurus guides, or a One Stop for Writers subscription. We love helping writers, and your support allows us to keep doing that, so thank you!

Strengthen Your Description for Stronger Characters & Scenes

Each guide focuses on a specific topic, educates you on how to best use it in your story, and provides you with brainstorming lists to help you describe it with authority. (To see a sample from each book, download our free Show-Don’t-Tell Pro Pack.)

Available in Print, Ebook, and PDF.

VISIT OUR BOOKSTORE

Everything You Need to Create In One Place

Become a powerful storyteller with One Stop for Writers! Angela & Becca have built you the largest show-don’t-tell Thesaurus Database anywhere, intuitive tools to make story planning easier, a Storyteller’s Roadmap that guides you step-by-step as you plan, write, and revise, & much more.

Visit One Stop for Writers

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Writers, Have You Watched This Free Webinar on Reader Engagement? appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

I’ll be honest – life’s been hectic. Both my boys had weddings this October (so awesome!), but then a house move and my husband’s major surgery followed (he’s recovering well, thank goodness!). Needless to say, my mental tank is pretty low, so we made the call to skip Advent this year.

But are we skipping the gift-giving? Heck, no!

If you’re interested in how to hack a reader’s brain using psychology and would like to know how a show-don’t-tell mindset steers you to opportunities to do more with your description, then this free webinar is for you!

Unfortunately because of some technical difficulties, it’s just me yammering away, but Becca’s there in spirit. We hope you find this dip into our process helpful, and that you walk away with ideas on how our thesauruses can help you write stronger characters and scenes. So, have a watch, and enjoy:

Psst! This is a limited time webinar, so make sure to view the recording before January 8th. Happy holidays!

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post A Gift for You: Secrets to Engaging Readers (Webinar Recording) appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

Some characters have more shape and weight than others, feeling so authentic we can almost believe they walked right out of the real world. Their emotions, vulnerabilities, needs, and desires ring so true, we can’t help but be pulled in by them. These characters hold us hostage while we read, and as writers, we start analyzing why we care so much so we can duplicate this magic in our own stories.

So, what’s the secret sauce that creates such a powerful connection?

Recognition.

When readers see something within the character that resonates, something they themselves think, feel, or believe in, it becomes common ground that binds them to the character.

But wait, you say. That makes no sense! What does my thirty-two-year-old, baby Yoda collecting schoolteacher-slash-reader have in common with the fiery, laser-zapping sky captain in my steampunk sci-fi?

Oh, not much, except maybe…

• The pain of a loss
• Making a mistake that can’t be fixed
• The agony of hurting a loved one
• How time stretches in a moment of humiliation
• Knowing a love so pure they’d sacrifice anything for it
• The dark thoughts that accompany a desire for revenge
• Failing and letting others down
• The chest-expanding rush of pride or validation
• The relief that comes with getting a second chance
• Experiencing the sting of betrayal
• Worrying the past will repeat itself
• Finding the courage to live one’s truth

…and so on.

Experiences, Good and Bad, Connect Us All

No matter who your character is, human or not, protagonist or antagonist, they will have experiences in common with readers. These may look very different, but in the hands of a strong storyteller, they will be recognizable, holding a core truth that stirs a reader’s thoughts and emotions. In some form, readers feel an echo of having lived the same moment, stood at the same crossroads, or felt the same thing, as the character.

Recognition is a powerful tool, hooking readers and keeping them engaged. By thinking about what it is to be human, and how to use that to find areas of common ground, we can create mirrors within our characters that draw readers in and trigger their empathy.

Two of the best places to look for common ground experiences that will really resonate are Emotional Wounds and Meaningful Goals.

Emotional Wounds

Trauma is an unfortunate side effect of life. We all carry the burden of painful experiences – you, me, and readers. People can hurt and betray, they can let us down, and we can do the same to them or ourselves.

Anything that is a big part of the human experience is something we should weave into our character building. By brainstorming a character’s emotional wounds, we make them authentic, and it gives us a powerful way to reveal their vulnerabilities to readers.

Emotional wounds come in all shapes and sizes: Betrayal. Humiliation. Rejection. Injustice. Neglect. They cut, bruise, and most importantly, change the character. Just like us, the person a character was before a traumatic event and who they become after will be different. In the aftermath they carry scars in the form of unmet needs, fears, and false beliefs. They may believe they are less worthy, less capable, or somehow at fault. A wounding event can also reshape how the character sees reality, causing them to think people can’t be trusted, that the world is callous and unfair, or believe life’s cards are stacked against them.

Watch how the Character Builder helps you uncover your character’s backstory wounds.

As readers, we may see all the ways their thinking is flawed, yet still understand why they believe what they do. Their experience informs their opinions, just as ours inform us. And even as we root for them to see the truth and be free of their pain, we recognize and relate to the experience of missing what’s right in front of you.

We’ve all experienced wounds and seen loved ones be swallowed up by fear these events create. We’ve witnessed their dysfunctional behavior and unhealthy coping mechanisms cause problems. So when a character misbehaves, lashes out, or holds back because they are afraid of being hurt again in the book we’re reading, we get it. We connect to their struggle. Their fear is our fear. We carry the burden of it together.

Meaningful Goals

Imagine a line where an emotional wound is on one end and the other, a meaningful goal. One represents fear, the other hope. And as powerful as fear is, hope can best it, which is why we give characters goals to aim for.

Hope is having trust and belief that something can change. In the story, hope tips the scales in the moment when a character decides what they want is more important than what may hurt them. They hold to hope, step out onto the ledge, and move forward despite fear.

Your character’s goal can be anything: To find a lifelong partner. Succeeding where they once failed. Forgiving themselves. Pursuing justice, Protecting a loved one. The only qualifier is to make this goal meaningful so they have strong motivation to achieve it. When obstacles appear, or adversity and conflict batters them, hope that they can get what they need most keeps them on course.

And beside them as always is the reader, willing them to succeed. Neck bent, readers consume words, desperate to know the outcome because the biggest recognition of all is unfolding: a shared journey.

Character Arc: Where Readers and Characters Collide

Why are readers so fascinated by the character’s journey? After all, it’s only fiction right, a bit of entertainment, an escape.

Or…could it be something more?

Okay, that’s a trick question. A character’s journey to leave behind a hurtful or limiting past and cross into a better, more fulfilling future should remind you of something because life is a series of journeys. Like the character, we are always moving toward a better tomorrow. We yearn for internal completeness just as they do, so when we read, we recognize the steps they take, and the courage, growth, and sacrifice along the way. We root for characters to win because deep down, we are rooting for ourselves to win, too.

So, when you write, find common ground. Put those shared experiences on the page for readers to recognize! Readers should see themselves in the character’s vulnerability and uncertainty, their wounds and fears. But most of all, showcase the character’s hope and goals. These remind readers what’s worth fighting for both in fiction, and in life.

Need help with character arc? This tool pays attention to specific details while you brainstorm and creates a Character Arc Blueprint for you.

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post Want Readers to Connect to Your Character? Include this Element. appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

It’s a big anniversary for us, folks! Ten years ago today we hit the publish button on The Emotion Thesaurus.

10 Years. Can you believe it?

We wrote this book hoping to help others who struggled with showing character emotion, but deep down, we were terrified. It was our first book. We were nobodies…who would take us seriously? And we were self-publishing at a time when the industry wasn’t too fond of that just yet.

We had no idea it would go on to become so well-loved book. And oh my gosh, guys–thank you so much for that!

Many of you have told us the Emotion Thesaurus never leaves your desk, and it’s hard to describe how good that makes us feel. Talk about honored. It got us thinking about the many other must-have resources that help writers create, publish, and build satisfying careers. That led to a very big question:

What would the Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit look like?

So, we polled other writers, made a list of the best of the best, and then reached out to the leaders in our industry to see if they would help us build an ULTIMATE toolkit and give it away.

The Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit Giveaway

Buckle in, writers, because one of you will win…

A 1-Year Subscription to Jane Friedman’s The Hot Sheet: An award-winning newsletter that will keep you up to date on the market, industry news, author earnings, trending topics, and new opportunities. (Value: $59) 

Writer’s Digest’s Get Published in 2022 Bundle: Nine amazing resources to help you stay productive, get published, and keep a positive mindset, so you reach your creative goals. (Value: $79.99)

Joanna Penn’s Author Business Plan Course: Learn the elements of an effective business plan, questions you need to answer to discover what lies behind the plan, and how to act on decisions made to take your author career to the next level. (Value: $99)

A 1-Year Subscription to One Stop for Writers: Everything a writer needs to create fresh, breakout fiction: powerful character and plotting tools, worldbuilding surveys, worksheets, the largest show-don’t-tell database available anywhere, and a Storyteller’s Roadmap to guide you from that first idea all the way to a publish-ready book. (Value: $105)

A Scrivener Writing Software License: Provides all you need to write and brings together your notes, research, and writing…so it’s always at hand. It also lets you set word targets for your entire manuscript or for the current writing session—which can be great motivation. (Value: $49)

A 1-Year ProWritingAid License: More features than any other manuscript editing software on the market! Improve your writing quickly and efficiently with thousands of grammar, spelling and readability improvements delivered in real-time as you write. (Value: $79)

The Hero’s Two Journeys Video Access: Two of Hollywood’s top Story Experts, Michael Hauge & Chris Vogler, reveal the secrets of mastering Plot Structure, Character Arc, Identity, Essence, Archetype and Theme. (Value: $39)

A 1-Year Subscription to StoryTeller: Get ready for revision to get a lot easier! Use Fictionary’s 38 Story Elements to evaluate your story scene to scene so only your best writing makes it to the page. (Value: $200)

A 1-Year Premium Membership to The Critique Circle: Continuously improve your writing by critiquing others and building relationships with authors who will help with your manuscripts. You can receive multiple critiques and compare feedback to see what’s working and what areas need to be strengthened. (Value: $50)

A Publisher Rocket License: Publisher Rocket helps get your book in front of more Amazon shoppers with four tools to increase book sales. It makes finding keywords, sizing up the competition, and choosing profitable categories quick and easy. (Value: $97)

A 1-Year Subscription to Book Brush: The easiest way to create professional ads, social media images, and 3D book covers using author-specific stamps, templates and animations. (Value: $99)

A 1-Year Subscription to StoryOrigin: Build your mailing list, increase sales, and find reviewers for your book all in one place. Everything an author needs to super-charge their marketing! (Value: $100)

A Writers Helping Writers Thesaurus Set*: Nine bestselling writing guides to help you activate the power of show-don’t-tell to involve readers more deeply in the world, events, and emotional undercurrents of your book. *US winner: print, International winner: digital. Emotion Amplifiers is digital only

Say, are you drooling?
It’s okay, we don’t blame you!

We can’t wait to see who wins this unbelievable writing toolkit. It won’t just improve someone’s writing – it will accelerate their career!

Runner-Up Prize Alert!

Because Writer’s Digest is so generous, they are also offering a runner-up prize:

Writer’s Digest NaNoWriMo Prep Bundle: Tons of tools to get your creativity flowing, keep you motivated, and complete your first draft in 30 days. ($56.99)

Thank you to all the generous sponsors who contributed to this Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit!

A little something from Becca & Angela

Many of you have The Emotion Thesaurus, either the original (75 emotions), or the 2nd edition (130 emotions), but you may not know it’s also at One Stop for Writers where we expand it from time to time.

In fact, we recently added 5 NEW EMOTIONS: Joy, Indignation, Misery, Giddiness, and Revulsion, so if you like, start a 2-week free trial to check out these entries (and the rest of the database), or…

Give yourself a 30% discount by using the code EMOTION when you sign up to any paid plan.

(Code valid until May 18th, 2022.)

Ready to enter the Giveaway? Find it below & good luck!

All the usual giveaway legalese applies – no purchase necessary, must be 18, and the winner is subject to our giveaway policies here. Additionally, these prizes have no cash value and cannot be exchanged. Some may have a time limit for redemption or other prize-specific conditions.

ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post 10-Year Celebration: Win the Ultimate Writer’s Toolkit appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

By Harrison Demchick

One of the cornerstones of effective writing is specific detail. Specific detail is what grounds the action of a scene in a tangible reality. It’s how we enable readers to see our characters and settings—and not only see them, but also hear, smell, taste, and touch them. When you’re imprecise, you’re unengaging, and that’s where you lose readers.

But what if you want to be ambiguous? What if that’s the whole point?

Imagine two characters in a lonely antique store at the start of a mystery. The conversation they have is meant to set up the action of the entire novel to come. Yet because this is, in fact, a mystery, you can’t reveal everything—or even much of anything. Readers aren’t supposed to know yet what the characters are talking about. Readers are meant to read on to find out.

In the case of a mystery, ambiguity is necessary. But the truth is, it’s important for all stories, because no matter the genre, we don’t want to give everything away all at once. We always want to leave a little mystery for readers to figure out. So how do we make that ambiguity compelling? How little information is too little? How much is too much?

Well, I find it’s best to imagine your story as a maze.

The Maze

It’s easy to regard a maze as the empty spaces—the corridors and passageways that bend and turn on themselves, leading you down false directions and straight into dead ends.

But what defines those empty spaces?

The trick to a maze is that it’s not about the paths. It’s about the walls. Without clearly defined walls to guide you in the right (or wrong) direction, a maze is nothing but empty, undefined space.

It’s the same when it comes to writing any story with an element of mystery: You define what readers don’t know, and want to know—in direct contrast with what they do know.

In other words, the walls of a good literary maze are built on bricks of specific detail. It’s just that the specific detail in question isn’t yet explained to readers.

It’s one thing to suggest that, but another to wrap your head around the concept. So let’s look at a specific example.

Prophecy

One element of writing that especially calls for this specific ambiguity is prophecy. This came up in a fantasy novel I edited earlier this year. Prophecy is by its nature uncertain and open to interpretation, but that can easily be taken for granted or taken too far. If your all-knowing sage were to suggest that with the turn of the day, the person will do the thing and the other thing will happen, it’d be a pretty lousy prophecy. Yes, it may technically be true, but it’s so vague as to be meaningless, or to be applied to virtually anything. The same is true if you drown your prophetic vision in generalized concepts like good rising to face evil or the chosen one fighting for all she holds dear.

But suppose you write that the towers will crumble where the beginning meets the end as the stars fall from the sky.

This isn’t any more intrinsically meaningful than the other examples. With no other context, it doesn’t on its own reveal itself. It’s still ambiguous. But there are specific images you can hold onto. A tower crumbling. Stars falling. Sandwiched between the images, the notion of the beginning meeting the end feels precise enough to mean something.

With this touch of specificity, ambiguous becomes cryptic. We have a prophecy we can believe will have meaning in time. We’ve constructed the walls solidly enough for readers to start navigating the maze.

Authenticity

When our two characters are having their talk in the antique store, they might provide the name of a place we don’t yet know, or refer to particular events—cleaning up the blood, or dropping the bag in the Hudson River, or crashing the gala—that reveal something without revealing everything.

This is more intriguing. It’s also more authentic.

Sure, your readers aren’t supposed to know yet what’s happening—but your characters do. They know the details. It’s just the two of them. So they’re not going to couch their language in meaningless ambiguities. They need to have a real conversation—a conversation that would read every bit as real if readers did know everything. If your characters are being unrealistically oblique to hide information from readers they’re not supposed to know about—if it’s all about dropping the thing in the place and so forth—then you’re introducing a logic issue into the story. 

Think of this as anti-exposition—characters revealing less than they naturally would for the benefit of the reader. Not only is it a struggle for readers to engage with writing like this, but they’re not going to believe the action on the page.

Fortifying the Walls

The benefit of using specific details doesn’t only apply to the mystery itself.

Consider the antique store. It’s not just a place: It’s the context in which our scene occurs. Taking the time to craft a very clear and particular setting provides more of that basic context readers need to navigate the maze. Readers who can see, feel, and smell the store—they’ll be more absorbed and readier to engage with what they don’t know because it falls within the context of what they do know.

Setting builds the walls. Character builds the walls. Who are these people in the antique store? Is there a scar on her face? A rip in his shirt? And how are they relating to one another—like long-lost friends, or close siblings, or two people meeting for the very first time?

The dialogue itself still needs detail, of course. But the more specificity we can build all around, the more precise we can be in exactly what the blank spaces in this story are—revealing to readers exactly what path they’re meant to follow.

Conclusion

We’ve focused mostly on the premise here, or the standalone scene, but all these things are important to remember as you continue to guide your readers through the maze. Let the details you reveal be concrete so as to clarify the shape of the secrets yet to be uncovered. With that constant hook of even ambiguous specificity—or especially ambiguous specificity—readers will be as compelled by what they don’t know as what they do. And that will keep them reading all the way through the end of the maze.

Developmental editor Harrison Demchick came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than eighty published novels and memoirs. He’s also the author of 2012 literary horror novel The Listeners and short stories including “Tailgating” (Tales to Terrify, 2020) and “The Yesterday House” (Aurealis, 2020), and as a screenwriter, his first film, Ape Canyon, was released in April 2021. Harrison is currently accepting new clients in fiction and memoir at the Writer’s Ally.

BECCA PUGLISI

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

The post The Art (and Importance) of Specifically Ambiguous Writing appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.

As writers, fusing our protagonist with the reader creates the ultimate reading experience. Teacher and writer John Gardener referred to this as “the fictional dream.” It’s a state the reader reaches whereby they feel as though they are inside the story, inside the character’s skin, going through events themselves. Achieving this dream-like state is difficult, while undermining it is surprisingly easy to do. But there are three simple tricks you can utilize that increase the odds of drawing your reader into a literary dream from which they won’t want to wake up.

Remove Filter Verbs

If our goal as writers is to allow the reader to experience our stories as though they ARE our characters, then filter verbs are the enemy. Filter verbs (sometimes called distancing verbs) are sensory verbs like look, smell, hear, taste, feel, think. (Note: variations on these words also count, such as see, listen, notice, wonder, etc.).

They look harmless, right? But these words subtly remind the reader that the character’s eyes are doing the seeing, or their brain is doing the thinking, or their heart is doing the feeling. They subtly tell the reader, psst, this isn’t actually your story. Take a look at the following examples, paying attention to the underlined filter verbs and how they can be removed:

Example: He smelled maple syrup and thought of the last time Dad took him to breakfast.
Instead, try: The sweetness of maple syrup took him back to that booth at the diner, sitting across from Dad.

Example: She peered into her boss’ empty office and wondered why he was gone so much lately.
Instead, try: Her boss’ office was empty yet again.

See the difference? We are inside the characters’ senses in a far more bold and confident way. And yes, the latter examples are harder to write. They require intention. But we must trust the reader to understand that the filter verbs are implied and bring them into the character’s viewpoint.

Note: those examples are both in third-person POV, which is harder to imbue with immediacy and intimacy. But as you can see, it’s worth the effort. There’s room for your reader to feel as though they are in the moment, behind the character’s senses and inside their brain and heart.

Eliminate Time Words

Another way we often gently sabotage ourselves and say, “Hey reader, the narrator is talking to you,” is by using time words. Yes, it’s important to orient your reader with passage-of-time phrases, particularly when there’s a gap in time to account for (the next day, later that evening, the following week, etc.). But in terms of time movement within an active scene, consider cutting words like then, next, after that, finally, and when. Time words are often implied because sentences are linearly structured. They add unnecessary clunk and they subtly send the message the narrator is telling the reader what happened and in what order. Just like the previous examples, time words are underlined below:

Example: When they climb into the car, their face is scrunched up in anger.
Instead, try: They climb into the car with their face scrunched up in anger.

Example: As soon as I walk into the house, I jog upstairs and then answer my phone.
Instead, try: I walk into the house, jog upstairs, and answer my phone.

Minimize Internal Dialogue

Notice how I said minimize—not cut—internal dialogue. Novels can and should include internal dialogue. There are times where, without it, the reader would be lost. Confused. Dying to understand how a character is feeling. Or desperate to know what the character is thinking. Internal dialogue oftentimes is the window that affords the crucial meaning of how the character is making sense of what’s happening around them.

But it’s important to imagine your scenes like a coil that you are working to tighten, word by word. Each time we step away from dialogue or external action, that coil threatens to lose tension. Working with editing clients, I often see internal dialogue sending a subtle signal that says, “Here, let me do the thinking and analyzing and feeling for you, dear reader.” 

Some questions to ask as you reevaluate your own usage of internal dialogue:

*It is otherwise impossible to show what’s been told via action and/or dialogue?

*Does it let us know feelings or thoughts the character is hiding from everyone else?

*Is it brief?

That last one is crucial. The longer internal dialogue goes, the more that coil you work to tighten starts to unwind. Author Tim Wynne Jones has referred to long swaths of internal dialogue as Pause Button Violations. Within an active scene, it’s as though the author hits the pause button on all action and dialogue to allow for the internal dialogue. The pause is unnaturally long given the fact that it sits inside an active scene, and can oftentimes be done in a far shorter way or be done using dialogue and action on the page instead.

Consider combing your manuscript in search of these three fictional dream killers. Once you pull them out, you’ll have a far better chance of reeling your reader in.

MARISSA GRAFF - Resident Writing Coach

Marissa has been a freelance editor and reader for literary agent Sarah Davies at Greenhouse Literary Agency for over seven years. In conjunction with Angelella Editorial, she offers developmental editing, author coaching, and more. Marissa feels if she’s done her job well, a client should probably never need her help again because she’s given them a crash-course MFA via deep editorial support and/or coaching. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Marissa below.

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