Writers Helping Writers^®

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How Morals and Basic Needs Influence a Character’s Strengths

October 28, 2014

How Morals and Basic Needs Influence a Character’s Strengths

October 28, 2014

Since writing The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes, I’ve been thinking about how personality traits are formed. Flaws are important for a character to have—and, let’s be…

Emotional Description: 3 Common Problems with Show & Tell

September 23, 2014

Emotional Description: 3 Common Problems with Show & Tell

September 23, 2014

Writing compelling emotional moments is the lifeblood of any story and the key to building a relationship between characters and readers. Yet steering clear of the show-don’t-tell pitfalls requires practice…

Book Cover Copycats: Is It Flattery or Copyright Infringement?

June 16, 2014

Book Cover Copycats: Is It Flattery or Copyright Infringement?

June 16, 2014

A while back, a reader of our book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, sent me an interesting email. In it, she explained that during her Amazon…

Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them

June 11, 2014

Story Midpoint & Mirror Moment: Using Heroes’ Emotions To Transform Them

June 11, 2014

I recently read a Huff Post psychology piece on Turning Negative Emotions Into Your Greatest Advantage and immediately saw how this could also apply to our characters. Feel free to…

Writing Emotion: Does Your Hero Shrug, Smile & Frown Too Much?

March 8, 2014

Writing Emotion: Does Your Hero Shrug, Smile & Frown Too Much?

March 8, 2014

Crutch gestures can sometimes get in the way of good writing. They come in all shapes and sizes–maybe an eye roll, a clenched stomach, curled fists or shrugs–cues we writers…

Creative Book Launches That Command Attention

November 12, 2013

Creative Book Launches That Command Attention

November 12, 2013

Being an Indie author means tremendous pressure lies at our door as we release a book. Without the backing of a publishing house, we are on our own. Success or…

Welcome to Writers Helping Writers!

October 12, 2013

Welcome to Writers Helping Writers!

October 12, 2013

Welcome to Writers Helping Writers, the upgraded home of our original blog, The Bookshelf Muse. Becca and I are super pleased to open the doors to new website, which embodies…

Foreign Rights Agents: Everything You Need To Know (& Why You May Want One!)

June 11, 2013

Foreign Rights Agents: Everything You Need To Know (& Why You May Want One!)

June 11, 2013

Foreign Rights. Now more than ever, we’re seeing translation rights buzz and increasing a book’s global range. And why not? Authors work incredibly hard to create the best book they…

The Path To 10K In Sales: Strategy, Luck & Mistakes

October 11, 2012

The Path To 10K In Sales: Strategy, Luck & Mistakes

October 11, 2012

I’ll admit my mind is blown knowing there are over 10,000 Emotion Thesaurus books out in the world. Becca and I are thrilled, and so appreciative to all the writers…

Want to Write a Best Seller? Change Your Mind

July 5, 2012

Want to Write a Best Seller? Change Your Mind

July 5, 2012

By Dr. John Yeoman Teenagers know better than we do, how to write great stories. Sounds absurd? We’re experienced authors, right? We know the craft tricks. We’ve pounded the keypad…