First off, what is beta reading? Not everybody thinks of it the same way, so always know your reader’s definition of the term before agreeing to anything. For me, beta reading means outlining my general impression of a story in a simple 3-4 page report. Characters (development and arcs), pacing, and the “big picture” are…
Category: Craft
Writing Resources
Are you a new writer? Here’s a list of free and affordable writing resources I’ve collected on my own five-year journey.
Writing a Query Letter
Writing my first query letter has been transformative. I have lived the life of a phoenix. Taken my beak to shell. Swelled with the glory of flight. Burned into ashes. And then, in a chorus of mystical chemistry, I remade myself. Eh, in short, it was really effin’ hard. Here’s my personal path from zero…
How Do You Finish a Story?
How do you know a story is done? Or if not a “story,” a piece of writing—your flash fiction, your novella, your book. How do you know when it’s a ready, submission-worthy, finished piece? Reading the classics in high school, and even in college, I had this underlying assumption that every poem, every novel, was…