Simply put, stakes are the negative consequences of failure. If your protagonist fails, bad things will happen. Unlike an intriguing hook or compelling protagonist, stakes put readers under tension.
I treat it like a job, because it is a job. I retain control of content, cover, blurb, and marketing. I am happier for it. I bring a healthy income into our household after years outside of the workforce. I actually found a career where walking the towns of Ireland and seeing the interior of a pub is in my job description.
Julie de Lestrange is a true KWL superstar in her native France. Her first independently published novel was such a success that she caught the attention…
One of a potential reader’s biggest “sell” points is your book description. Sadly, it’s also one of the things that I most often see get mangled by authors. But fear no more! I’m going to give you a quick rundown on the elements you need for great cover copy.
What’s happened in the book world this week?
By Angela Ackerman Show, Don’t Tell is one of those writerly phrases thrown out often enough that many writers can’t help but roll their eyes when…
10 great TED talks to inspire you to start writing!
By Joni Di Placido It’s a new year and we’re bringing this feature back: a place to share the most interesting book news and author tips…
Happy New Year from us all at Kobo Writing Life! As we leave 2018 behind, let’s take a moment to celebrate and revisit some of the…
By Sierra Delarosa Are you aiming for your next book to become a bestseller? Why do some books become more popular than others? While there’s no surefire…
How do you feel about swearing in your books? Hard no, or appropriate when the narrative calls for it?
By Signe Pike “I’m working on a novel” If you’ve ever uttered these words you are most likely acquainted with the particular horrors of trying to…
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) began today! Wishing all you NaNoNovelists a fantastic month of writing!
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month: a frenzy of writing with the goal of producing a 50,000-word novel during the thirty days of November.
By Vannessa Barnier After working 9-5 for six months, I was itching to get into the woods and wash my hair with dirt. I organize poetry…
By Mackenzie Belcastro For eight months, my novel went through a series of identity crises. My high fantasy morphed into magical realism, as I killed my…
True revision, in which a writer takes apart a book and puts it back together again, terrified me. How could anyone pull it off?
I’ll tell you how: step by step, little by little, just like you wrote the book.
The opening of the novel is so important. It’s your pick-up line; you need to catch your reader’s attention, and hold it.
KWL EP 110 – Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant Join Chrissy and Stephanie as they sit down with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant, the…
by Michele Sabad We define ourselves in various ways, depending on time, mood, inclination. Many of our identities are stable throughout life. I am a woman.…
This week we’re announcing our upcoming takeover of the Reedsy short story contest!
Great authors are seldom born; instead they’re moulded, sculpted and polished over time.
A character in a story is an action figure . . . a fun, functional component necessary to a story. Just like literal toys, characters have pieces and joints, edges and options, a fixed appearance and range of motion that begs to be played with
When I’m asked why on earth I write gay and bi protagonists, the answer’s really very simple. I’m bi, I grew up around a lot of LGBT+ people, and the majority of my close circle are LGBT+, so I’m doing what writers are told to do again and again—I’m writing what I know.
Do you have any quirky writerly habits? Share yours in the comments!
By Joni Di Placido Sometimes the biggest challenge in writing is finding the time and the focus to just sit down and do it. Between the…
By Mignon Fogarty Today’s topic is hyphens. Recently a friend was watching the cable channel CNBC and called me over to the TV because the hosts…
Everybody loves a twist, right?
A great twist is an enticing prospect for many readers in choosing their next read and it is my view, this is never more important than in the psychological thriller.
By Lisa Lepki As the Editor of ProWritingAid’s blog, I am constantly reading submissions from writers, and few things irk me more than common technical gaffes…
By Carrie D. Miller If you’ve taken the self-published route, you have a little more than a hint of control-freak in you. I know I do.…
Which gender-specific nouns do you still use?
by Tracy Cooper-Posey Here’s a question for you: Why did you get into indie publishing?
As authors we are constantly under pressure to do so much that we’re left with little time to actually write. How to find that balance and use our time wisely?
by Mignon Fogarty Some time ago, Grammar Girl distributed an editing checklist that turned out to be so popular we decided to make it widely available. Go…
by Mignon Fogarty We have a special top-10 post to celebrate the end of the year, and—before you argue—read the whole explanation about why each of…
Dialogue is hard to write and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Getting characters to have individual voices has caused more sleepless nights than too much coffee late in the day. Once the dialogue sounds right and reads right on the page, there is the problem of attributives.
By Mignon Fogarty Should you write your novel in present tense? I usually deal with topics that can be widely applied to fiction and non-fiction writing, but…
In Episode 98, Mark Lefebvre interviews bestselling Australian thriller author Rachel Amphlett, who came to Kobo HQ during her international author tour. Rachel, her husband Nick, and Mark sat down to talk about how she finds inspiration, never giving up, sticking to a schedule, and more
What’s your favourite book and why? Share in the comments!
Clichés can be a writer’s worst enemy, and the reader usually doesn’t like clichés much either. Writers from Jonathan Swift to George Orwell have ranted against the cliché like it was the Devil tempting an innocent seminary student.
By Joni Di Placido I got a lot of dark glares when I asked the Kobo team for updates this week. Everyone is all out…
Mark Lefebvre interviews James Alan Gardner and Spider Robinson, co-editors of the Tesseracts Twenty: Compostela anthology. The stories in this anthology in their own way tell the tale of futuristic travelers who journey into the dark outer (or inner) reaches of space, searching for their own connections to the past, present and future relics of their time.
It’s no wonder that people are confused about apostrophes, because new uses were introduced in the 1600s and again in the 1700s, and it wasn’t until the mid-1800s that people even tried to set down firm rules.
Today, I wanted to know where everybody has set their novels, and what inspired them to choose that setting?
You’re down to the wire. The deadline for NaNoWriMo (or another writing project) looms on the horizon. But you’re behind. You’re afraid you’re not going to make it. You simply don’t have enough time to write the requisite number of words at your typical writing pace. Or the words just won’t come. Or both. What’s a writer to do?
Today’s topic is active voice versus passive voice. Many people believe they should avoid the passive voice, but fewer people can define it or recognize it.
So how’s it going so far? I wanted to find out the challenges and triumphs our writers have experienced over the past week.
It’s day 8 of National Novel Writing Month, which is perfect timing to listen to some excellent inspiration from Grant Faulkner, Executive Director of NaNoWriMo. He…
When it comes to acknowledging what hurts us, the old saying, Deny, deny, deny! comes to mind. It’s no different with our characters, and in both cases, refusing to deal with wounding events carries a steep price.
By Mignon Fogarty How to Use Commas Commas are always tricky because there are so many different ways you can use them, but one of the most…