By Leilani Squires When I edit novels, the two comments I most commonly make are, “All the characters sound the same” and “The dialogue is too stiff.” To solve these issues, try using some screenwriting techniques:  Listen You experience a movie through what is seen and heard. Our ears have…

By Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted "I hired a mentor. It was the best thing I'd ever done." Those words were music to my ears because I'd just done the same thing to help me content edit my novel. Why is a writing mentor necessary? Well, it's not NECESSARY, but it is…

By W. Terry Whalin @terrywhalin Have you had golden moments of conversation which stick with you and your writing life for years? These may happen late at night during a writer’s conference or maybe in the car with someone on the way to a conference? During my decades in this business,…

By Amy Bright @AmyBrightwriter This year I had the joy of teaching Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) and stage combat at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. After each class and during the 15 minute strategy sessions, students asked questions about their specific fight scenes. Because several general questions…

by Katy Kauffman @KatyKauffman28 In Part 6, let’s look at five ways to promote your blog and use it to build your platform. We can grow our readership by connecting our blog to tools like social media, author pages, videos, and more.  5 Ways to Use Your Blog to Build…

by Blythe Daniel @ByltheDaniel Where would you like to travel if you could? Can you take a virtual tour of a castle? Or a city that your story is based in? This summer, why not take a virtual tour to some of the places you dream of going and be…