Learning how to write historical fiction requires the skills to a well-drawn story, with the added responsibility of evoking times gone by.

List of 10 Bad Habits Fictional Characters Need Help Breaking.

Writing Resources: Pinterest Writing Boards. Looking for Pinterest boards to help with your next writing project? Check out this Pinterest list.

What's the most important part of your book? Your book's hook. The hook is THE biggest determining factor for readers staying with your novel.

Where have all the free mind mapping apps gone? If you're looking for an inexpensive or free tool, check these out.

It's Preptober! We'll pick up speed and hit NaNoWriMo in just a matter of days, friends! Are you ready?! How will you research your novel?

Ever wonder HOW some authors seem to have an endless imagination? Follow my play by play to boost your imagination like your favorite authors.

Want to write more with less distractions? I'm sharing how I use my Traveler from Freewrite, and how it increased my daily word count.

Sometimes what’s in your head isn’t what comes across on the page. Create a 3-D effect for readers and using sensory details to convey motive/goals/priorities, and emotions.

Explore sunni.brightspot.brown's 4051 photos on Flickr!

Creating characters readers will love is one of the most important parts of writing fiction. Use these tips and resources for characters.

This blog is about the unique phenomenon of being unable to write pain effectively. My theories on how to write pain well so readers will feel it all.

Grammar Girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing and feed your love of the English language.

Worldbuilding plants may be a crucial part of your creative process - most fictional worlds have to have some unique plants too come across as credible.

During Preptober, it's important to outline and develop your character list. Here's how I invest quality time with my NaNoWriMo cast of characters:

Please drop by my new site with all of this content plus much more at All writers have those days when inspiration just seems to fly out the window–when the blank screen becomes a sadly accur…

Beta reading is when we get critical feedback from others on our writing. It is vital to practice utilizing this feedback in order to improve our writing.

When editing a novel, there are many things to look for and eliminate. Start with these four things to make your writing more effective.

So, where exactly is your plot taking you? What happens next? What is this story about? It’s time to think about plot. Plotting Worksheet

It’s been seven weeks since I last did any writing on my novel and the longer I leave it the harder it is to re-start. So this is a writing vlog where I decide enough is enough and crack on with the last two Acts in the outlining process. And that’s when the writing magic happens…

One of my most popular blog posts is my 50 Fantasy Plot Ideas and Writing Prompts, so I thought I’d share a companion post of sci fi story ideas and writing prompts. Some of these may be more…

Learn how to identify weak scenes in your fiction novel. Tips to write a strong scene in fiction writing. Writing and editing tips for authors.

If you're looking for the best publishing podcasts that are up-to-date and fresh, it's here! We have a list of the best publishing & writing podcasts.

How DO you write a character smarter than you? Moreover, smarter than all the other characters around them? It's not as hard as you may think.

There's a lot of little details to write into a character to make an immersive story. Analyzing how The Office does it can help you write stronger fiction.

Interested to try your hand at flash fiction? Here are my 10 tips to help you out, together with examples.

Work is the practice of gathering string. But it is the empty mind that weaves experience, knowledge, and ideas altogether. The apple may have hit Newton’s head, but his insights in…

If you want to know how to write a book with no experience, this post shows you exactly how to get started writing. Yes, even without a degree.

Need some speculative fiction writing prompts to give you some ideas? Check out this post!

Pin it! NaNoWriMo is to writers what marathons are to athletes: an exciting goal to have, but not always one that is achievable. Perhaps you’ve tried NaNoWriMo in the past. Maybe you started out full of inspiration and determined to finish—but two weeks into November and you started to lag behind. Although NaNoWriMo is not an athletic competition, I don’t see why it shouldn’t require just as much preparation as one. Just as a healthy diet is essential for the person who hopes to run a marathon, inspiration is essential to the writer who hopes to complete NaNoWriMo. Inspiration is the fuel that will bring us to the finish line. However--just like it is important for an athlete to run even when he is tired, it is also important for the writer to work even when we do not have the inspiration. But wouldn't it be much easier for the athlete if he was full of energy? Inspiration is to writers what energy is to athletes. And because of that, we need to make sure that we are filled with enough inspiration before we set out on this race. We need to prepare for the days when our inspiration levels are running low and we are tempted to give up. Here are 10 ways you can do this: 1. Make a poster of your favorite writing quotes. Or fill the pages of a journal with your favorite writing quotes. Or pin them on a board on Pinterest. That way, if you ever come across a writer's block, you can open this collection and be reminded of all the reasons why you love to write. 2. Make a sign for your door that tells others you’re writing. It is important that your family understands that you are treating this time to work on your book as if it were your job. 3. Plan your rewards and consequences. Many people reward themselves when they meet their word count. But why not give yourself a consequence when you don’t meet your daily word goal? To do this, first write a list of rewards on strips of paper and place them in a container, then write a list of consequences and place them in a separate container. Every evening during NaNoWriMo, if you do meet your word count goal, randomly draw a reward from your reward bowl. But if you didn't reach your goal then draw a consequence from the consequence bowl. (And yes, you will have to actually follow through with them!) 4. Make your book cover. Since I am a visual writer, it is easier for me to finish a book when I can picture the cover in my mind. Doing this reminds myself that I could some day see this book in print—but only if I continue striving forwards. I recommend creating your book cover and uploading it to your computer desktop during the month of November. Click here for a list of free online picture editing websites. 5. Find latte recipes. If you are a coffee-drinker, go ahead and print out various latte recipes. Tell yourself that the only way you can make these lattes is if you are writing at the same time. (In other words, no writing, then no sipping!) Click here for a list of my favorite autumn-inspired latte recipes. 6. Create a snack-stash pile. Nothing is more frustrating than having your writing interrupted by your growling stomach. To prevent this from happening during NaNoWriMo, make sure that you have some snacks on hand (and not far from your writing space). 7. Clean. You probably weren’t expecting this one! However, it has been proven that working in a tidy space enables us to think more clearly. So go ahead and clean the area(s) that you will be writing in, then make sure that they remain spotless every day throughout the month of November. 8. Plan your writing spaces. When you have a certain place in which you force yourself to write every day, it’s easier to become more disciplined. Ask yourself: Is this spot inspiring? Is the chair comfortable to sit in for hours? Does this area offer any possible distractions? 9. Create a music playlist and Pinterest storyboard. If you are like myself and have to listen to music as you write, go ahead and make the playlist for your story. Make sure that it relates to your book, is music that you enjoy listening to, and only allow yourself to listen to it when you are writing. Also, I’ve discovered that creating a board for my book on Pinterest not only helps me to visualize my characters and setting, but it also inspires me to keep writing when I face a writer’s block. When doing this, remember that you have the option to make this board private instead of public. (Click here for the story board for my novel, Purple Moon.) 10. Plan your breaks, schedule, and word counts. If you have a plan, then you will be more likely to stay disciplined and less likely to give up. When will you write? How often will you take a break, and what will you do during that break? And finally, what are your daily/weekly word count goals? ♡ ♡ ♡ The key to achieving a nearly impossible task often lies in the preparation that is done beforehand. Don’t become the kind of writer that wings it without a plan; instead, go into November completely prepared, determined that your fingers will not rest until you have reached that 50,000-word mark. ♡ ♡ ♡ Have you participated in NaNoWriMo, and did you reach your word count goal? Are you participating this year? What are other ways that writers can prepare for this challenge?

If you're planning to tackle NaNoWriMo, it's important to ask how to outline your novel. I've got three methods to try.

We imagine writing is an isolated activity. But the truth is, every writer needs a writers group. Here's how to find and maintain your community.

Are you looking for a novel writing course? Check out our Novice to Novel email course!

I’m very good at coming up with story “sparks” – too good, in fact – but I always find it a trial to develop those ideas into fully-fledged stories. One technique I use is to create mind-maps. I thought I would share my genre mind maps in case they can help you in your hour…

Welcome, dear humans! Before diving into creative writing, just a small intro (this is my first post, after all). Why create this website, you may ask. Well, writing can be an incredibly lonely cra…

I’ve made a big mistake when literary agents, and it’s hard to recover from. The number one mistake writers make when querying agents is...

Are you writing an action story? If so, make sure to include these key scenes in your draft so that you can deliver on readers' expectations and write a story that works!

Eyes are as the windows of the soul, especially in writing. With so much time and effort spent on describing landscapes, cityscapes, gadgets, knick-knacks, weapons, reasons, plot developments, conversations and whatnot that there's little room or time given to just how a person shows their inner emotions and thoughts to another. Some of this effort goes to clothing, some to expressions and a little bit to the eyes. Yet, the eyes, lips and condition of the hair and hands are extremely important signifiers as to mood and current situation. More so than knowing one weapon is being swung about while another fires. So, for those of you writing a character, here are some eyes that can shine, shimmer, darken, freeze, stare, glare and peer. Choosing the right one for your character adds a little bit more complexity and realism to your work. The human eye. Consider shape, size, position, depth and colour. Blind eyes. Consider why the eyes are blind as this will have an impact on what they look like. Also consider the degree of blindness and the human instinct to widen the eye to catch more of the light flitting about in the darkness. Also, blind eyes can look straight at another character just as often as past them as the character responds to sound. Choosing what happens at which moment will heighten their impact. The slit eye. Consider the amount of light present. The more light the narrower the pupil. The less light the wider the pupil to the point where the pupil looks more rounded than slitted. Demons sometimes have slit eyes but whether they are like cat eyes or goat eyes depends on the cultural background of the writer, the origins of the demon or just personal taste on which is the spookiest. Goat eyes. Consider iris colour, which can vary from brown to blue to silver to a pale whitey green as above. For fantasy creatures, a deep green or red is often chosen. Bird's eye. Consider colour, placement, size and the presence of tiny eyelashes. Eagle eyes. Along with the type of eagle eye, consider the heaviness of the ridge over the eye and the angle as these denote fierceness, strength, sincerity, directness and intent. Lizard eyes. Consider whether the pupil is slitted or round, the depth of the eyes or how far they pop out, how big they are and the colour and pattern of the iris. The fish or bobble eye. These are often considered expressionless but if you consider the position, the amount of bobble, their size and their colour expressions can be formed. Especially when described in conjunction with the mouth, which also varies per fish. Whale eyes. These are easily described as soulful as they have a heavy innocence about them due to the size, colour and the shape of the lids. Shark eyes. The term shark eyes is bandied about as much as eagle eyes but for those writing in characters with actual shark eyes rather than just piecing, blank or greedy ones, consider the presence of a lid, the colour and depth as well as the heaviness of the brow ridge. In some cases shark eyes look similar to eagle eyes and in others to fish or whale eyes. Eyes on stalks. Elephant eyes. To denote wisdom consider the wrinkles, depth, size and colour. For innocence consider the heavy eyelashes, width and slope. For sadness, simply have them hooded or near closed. No eyes. you've likely all see the ripped out eyes of horror movies and can describe them well but having no eyes isn't always due to injury. Any individual in any species can be born with no eyes and the condition is rather similar to being born blind. Parts of the brain are simply missing instead of inactive (the eyes are part of the brain). Instead of a bloody or scarred mess with trauma attached you may want to create a character who never had eyes. Eyes in hands. Usually they are human eyes in the hands but consider whether you'd prefer non-human eyes if the character isn't otherwise human or human-looking. One Eye/Cyclops. Consider placement, depth, size, skull shape and brow shape. Having or using one eye doesn't always mean there's placement for one eye only. The greek cyclops above has placement for three but only one actual eye. Three eyes/Triclops. Consider first whether the third eye is the result of genetics only or is there to peer into the other, be it spiritual or perceive another wavelength of light. Then consider placement, size, colour variance, type, positioning and above all the shape of the skull that must hold it. Having it on a stalk or hand etc. is also possible. Glowing eyes. Consider if the eyes are the only thing to glow, their size, shape, colour, how much is to glow, if the glow is part of or the result of something else like machinery, radiation, contacts or flames etc. Light reflective eyes (nocturnal creatures or characters). Colour and the amount of darkness surrounding them are essential. Also, remember that the shape is the shape of the pupil only. No pupil or iris/All pupil eyes. Snake eyes. Consider placement, colour, whether they are fake or real and the direction of the slit. Fly eyes/Multiple lenses. Consider colour, size, placement and pattern. Dead eyes are any of the above either showing absolutely no expression, a detached expression or no reflection of light. Also, dead eyes are any of the above with a degree of putrefaction, rot, fixedness or even just unfocused lenses.

Explore sunni.brightspot.brown's 4051 photos on Flickr!

Though the term's origins are academic, intersectionality is not a distant theory. It impacts everyday lives and should be a part of every writer's thought process when creating characters.

Are you planning on writing a novel? Click on the link to see how I organize my novel with a plot board!

It's Preptober! We'll pick up speed and hit NaNoWriMo in just a matter of days, friends! Are you ready?! How will you research your novel?

Want to write serial fiction? You have questions. Here are some tips to help you to get started writing today.