By Lisa Phillips, @LisaPhillipsbks Back in my career, I felt like it was hard to grasp what parts of craft I was good at and what I wasn’t so strong …
The Real Backstory
By Lisa Phillips, @LisaPhillipsbks When your character walks onto page one of your novel they are (or should be) more than the sum of their actions, their dialogue and the …
5 Tips for Better Backstory
by Rachel D. Russell, @RDRussellWrites “Mom, what’s your question?” I interjected, as gently as possible, when she paused to take a breath. The light on my multi-line phone base had been blinking …
Six Tips for an Unforgettable First Line
by Rachel D. Russell, @RDRussellWrites By the time your reader opens your novel, it’s already passed the front cover and back-blurb tests. Next up? Win the reader with a hard-hitting, attention-grabbing, tell-me-more …
3 Tips to Optimize Your Pre-contract Writing Life
by Rachel D. Russell, @RDRussellWrites I forged ahead writing my first two novels under contract with a gripping realization. I had squandered my pre-contract writing time—my life when I thought of myself …