Writing Tips & Techniques

Every well-known author has a “brand”. Think of Dr. Seuss, J.K. Rowling, Judy Blume, John Green. When you see their names and their books, you get a sense of what’s important to them and how they see the world.

You may have done our own branding, composing a banner for your blog

Pull a Character and Plot from Your Idea

Brainstorming is an important step when developing your story idea. Once you have an general idea that feels right, use brainstorming again to start building your characters and plot.

Perfect Your Pacing

As you’re building your plot or moving bits of information around in a nonfiction book, here are some tips to keep your readers glued to the page.

Use Pacing to Your Advantage

Books that have a very even tone start to finish tend to lull the reader

VIDEO: Alice Kuipers Talks About How Writing Picture Books Makes Her a Better Novelist

Alice Kuipers, the award-winning young adult author, sat down with Laura Backes to chat about her transition to picture book writer, and how writing picture books helps authors learn the craft for every age.

Check out all of Alice Kuipers’ books at alicekuipers.com.

Top Ten Grammar Bloopers

We’ve all seen blooper shows on television. Family bloopers. Actors’ bloopers. Talk show bloopers. But have you ever seen a grammar blooper show? Probably not. Well, I can’t provide you with an actual show on grammar bloopers, but I can give you my top ten.

You may ask why I

Active or Passive Voice — Make the Right Choice

We know the importance of writing in the active voice whenever possible. The active voice gives immediacy, even urgency, to our writing. It engages the reader and allows him “inside” the character’s thoughts and feelings. However, it is not always the right choice. Read on to find out when to

Writers’ Block—Under, Over, Around and Through

What causes writers’ block and how can we conquer it? Does writers’ block even exist? Is it best to “take two aspirin and go to bed” until it passes? Or is it best to fight it?

I’ve done both. And, depending upon what’s causing the block and my own mood,

How Labels Can Help Build Characters

What do you notice when someone enters a room? How he’s dressed. How he wears his hair. How he carries himself. A moment or two later, you observe how he interacts with others, his choice of words and gestures.

With that in mind, how do we introduce a character? Are

Thrust Your Character into the Unknown

When we start a story, we usually know our main character’s background, or at least some of it. We also know his environment or his milieu. Taking a character from one milieu and thrusting him into an entirely different one can be a source of great conflict and growth as

Taming Writer Gremlins

Writing is hard work. It is also fragile work in that we, the writers, are sometimes open to hurt as we engage in the delicate process of putting words, the right words, on paper or screen. Though we might like to think that we write in our ivory towers or

Understanding Copyright and Fair Use

COPYRIGHT

Did you know that you have invoked a copyright as soon as you write something—putting it on paper or other media? For many years I didn’t understand this concept. I thought I needed to take out a copyright on each short story, article, or book I wrote.

Don’t Get in the Way of Feelings When Writing with Emotion

Evoking emotion is a crucial piece to effective writing. Sometimes, however, writers find themselves sabotaging the emotional impact in their stories by failing to address other story elements. How do we keep other parts of the story from interfering with the emotion and serve to enhance it?

What are some

Using Connectives to Make Your Prose Flow

Do you ever wonder how to use connective words? I do. I am constantly second-guessing myself on the proper use of such words as “than,” “as,” “nevertheless,” “neither,” “either,” etc.

Like transitions, connectives serve as a bridge, connecting anything from a word, a clause, a sentence, or a paragraph with

Mastering the Vital Art of Transitions

I grew up in the Washington, DC/Maryland area. In navigating your way through the city and its many suburbs, you often need to cross over rivers, the Anacostia, the Potomac, to name just a few. Bridges provide the means for you to cross the rivers.

Bridges also provide the means

Nailing Down the Interview

Most writers at one time or another will conduct an interview to learn more about a career, a person, a historical event, etc. Interviewing does not come naturally to many individuals, especially those writers who tend to be introverted (like me). But there are skills we can learn to make

Three Common Grammar Mistakes that Make Your Work Look Unprofessional

When do we use who and whom?
What is an antecedent and how do we use it?
What is an appositive?

Can you answer each of these questions? If so, you’re on your way to becoming a grammar expert. If not, maybe you need to brush up on the

Author Tamera Will Wissinger Talks About Gone Fishing, A Novel in Verse

interview by Anne Tews Schwab

Novels in verse are most often written for young adult readers and typically tackle difficult subjects. But Gone Fishing: A Novel in Verse by Tamera Will Wissinger is a novel in verse written for a different audience (the middle grade crowd) and covers a

To Build a Career, Give ‘Em What They Want

Nordstroms is a department store with a well-deserved reputation for providing not only quality goods but also quality service. Customer loyalty to the store is legendary. Associates are schooled in “the care and feeding” of customers.

Okay. You get it. Nordstroms is a great store. (And no, I’m not

Finding the Right Names for Your Characters

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet …” So go Shakespeare’s iconic words in Romeo and Juliet.

What is in a character’s name? Could Scarlett O’Hara been named “Pansy,” as Margaret Mitchell originally intended? Could her

Start with One Sentence

Practically speaking, there’s nothing more difficult than staring at an empty computer screen, willing yourself to be creative. You may be stuck trying to find the perfect place to start your story. Or you’re contemplating the entire story arc—an intimidating process at best. From start to finish, your book must

Perfect Your Writing Style

Fashionistas talk a lot about style. So do writers. Interestingly, both groups use the word in much the same manner. Style, in fashion and in writing, is unique to the individual and revealed in the details.

I will never be a fashionista, so I won’t be instructing you in that.

Get Targeted Feedback Through Response Sheets

Writers need feedback. Unfortunately, feedback can be hard to come by. What to do?

Your first reader should, of course, be yourself. After you’ve read through the manuscript and revised to the best of your ability, find several other readers to offer critiques. These first readers are often referred to

A New Classic Easy Reader: Penny and Her Doll

When you blog about books, the publishers usually send you the books several months before the book is available to the public.

This is because print magazines have a long lead time. It’s a matter of timing. Publishers want reviewers to have enough time to read their books

Using Public Domain Stories

Kids often ask me how I was able to “copy” The Night Before Christmas and not get in trouble.

“It’s in the public domain,” I say, “so I don’t need permission.”

What does public domain mean? Material – such as stories, songs and movies – that is unprotected by intellectual

Make Friends with Your Setting

You’ve done your character sketches. Maybe you’ve even interviewed your characters, had them write letters to you, and pinned pictures of them on your Pinterest page. You’ve written a detailed synopsis, done a chapter-by-chapter outline. You’ve identified your story’s theme. You’re all set to start writing. Right? Wrong.

What about

Increase Your Writing Income (and Even Make a Decent Living!)

Unless you have a full time job writing, whether for a newspaper, a technical journal, or somewhere else, making a living wage by writing is tough. In fact, everything about writing is tough.

So, how do you go about making a decent living with freelance writing? The short answer

Opening Lines: Make Yours Count

“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, if the was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of

Claire Rudolf Murphy Talks About What’s Hot in Nonfiction Today

In the December 2014 issue of Children’s Book Insider, author Claire Rudolf Murphy spoke with Anne Tews Schwab about her newest nonfiction book, My Country ‘Tis of Thee: How One Song Tells the Story of Civil Rights. Here, they continue the discussion on what’s selling today in the nonfiction market,

Give Your Story an Emotional Core

by Natasha Wing

A while back, I had a talk with my agent about my career and what I could do to revive it. After writing for 22 years, I have produced A LOT of stories (at least 100 and counting), and consequently, she has submitted a great number

VIDEO – How to Write Compelling Dialogue, Part 2

In Part Two of her dialogue tutorial, writing coach Teresa Funke covers the most common dialogue challenges, including using slang and cussing, dialect and accents, inserting humor into the conversation, and linking the dialogue with the character’s movements.

To download a pdf transcript of this video, or to learn

How to Use Fiction Techniques in Nonfiction

by Sue Bradford Edwards

To sell your nonfiction, you have to hook your reader, including your first reader – an editor or agent. When I write narrative nonfiction, I grab my reader using the same techniques used by fiction writers. I create a story full of interesting characters who

Do You Have to Write From Beginning to End?

Many writers believe they have to begin with “Once upon a time” and finish with “The End.” In between, every word must be written exactly in the order that it will be read. There is little flexibility in this approach – and it’s difficult to continue the entire way through

Is Your Story Plot-Driven or Character-Driven?

Should you start with a well-crafted plot? Or with a memorable character? You want to start typing, but you have no idea where to begin. Many writers debate whether to start with a plot or character; there is no “correct” answer to this dilemma. Your decision impacts not only how

Five Ways to Write Romance into New Adult Fiction

In this exclusive Insider bonus video, Deborah Halverson, author of Writing New Adult Fiction, gives five pointers for adding romance (and sex!) to your fiction for readers age 18-25.

To see Laura’s entire interview with Deborah Halverson, go to writeforkids.org.

How (and Why) to Eliminate Passive Writing

According to Strunk and White’s classic The Elements of Style, “The habitual use of the active voice…makes for forcible writing.” In its most basic sense, the active voice involves the subject of the sentence being the doer of the action, whereas in the passive voice the subject is being acted

6 Ways to Simplify Your Writing

A former workshop student of mine recently thanked me for reminding her that query letters are best when they’re short and to the point. A published writer, she said she’d gotten away from the KISS method of querying (Keep It Simple, Stupid).

The more I thought about her acronym, the

Prologues, Epilogues, and Other Useful Bookends

What if the reader needs more information than what you can squeeze into the body of your book? You have several elements at your disposal that can lead the reader into your work and ease them through the ending. But to use them, you have to understand each element’s distinct

VIDEO – How to Write Compelling Dialogue, Part 1

If you’re struggling with writing dialogue, this video is for you. Our writing coach Teresa gives her best tips for creating conversations between characters that sound authentic and keep your story moving.

To learn more about Teresa or her coaching services or download a transcript of this video,

Understanding Cause & Effect

When we write fiction, we see the story in our mind long before it’s down on paper. We know why our characters are acting the way they do because we are familiar with their past and in control of their future. We understand the significance of every event in the

Using Slang in Children’s Books

If someone told you to “fade”, would you ignore them or guard your wallet? The answer depends not just on who is doing the talking, but when. Joe College in the early 1930’s use the term to mean “to leave”; a 1940’s zoot-suiter “faded” by covering a bet; it meant

Insider Bonus: Our eBook Experts Give Their Single Best Tip for Creating eBooks

If you haven’t watched my talk with eBook experts Deb Drum and Amy Harrop click here to watch it.

Now, here’s the bonus video that’s only for CBI Insiders. Enjoy!

How to Attend the Bologna Book Fair as a Writer

by Allison Pomenta

Editor’s note: Attending an international book fair is a terrific way to see what’s happening in publishing on a global scale, and also allows indie authors an opportunity to make connections with foreign publishers who might want to publish their books. Plus, it’s a tax-deductible trip! But

VIDEO – How to Give Your Children’s Book a Great Title

Children’s author and writing coach Teresa Funke is back with another powerful video. This time, she talks about the process of creating a memorable title for your fiction children’s book.

Teresa, our Expert Guide At-Large, is the owner of Teresa Funke & Company and Victory House Press, which offer products, programs,

CBI Insider Exclusive Video: Emma Dryden on the 5 Biggest Pitfalls That Kill Children’s Writing Careers

insider bonus

When Laura sat down with acclaimed children’s book editor Emma Dryden for her writeforkids interview, she saved something very special just for our Insiders. In this CBI Clubhouse-only video, Emma describes the 5 things that can kill your career before it even gets rolling. This is really powerful advice

5 Ways to “Teach, Don’t Preach”

In my writeforkids video “Show, Don’t Preach”, I examined five books that teach the readers life lessons without being didactic. Here, now, in this bonus article exclusively for Fightin’ Bookworms, are five ways you can incorporate these techniques into your own writing.

Show, Don’t Tell. This

Show a Character’s Emotion Using Body Language

Emotion is integral to character. We reveal emotion through dialogue, through action, through narrative, though we try to avoid telling the reader what the character is feeling. (Remember: show; don't tell.)

If this is all that we are using, though, we are missing a prime way to show emotion:

Write What You Know — Research What You Don’t!

From the first time I began reading about being a writer and attending a writer’s group, I heard that I should `write what you know.’ It made sense, and for a long time, I limited myself to personal experience writing, interviews, or easy fiction where I `knew’ all about the