Writers Helping Writers^®

Writing Craft

How to Avoid Author Intrusion in First Person

November 5, 2024

How to Avoid Author Intrusion in First Person

November 5, 2024

Author Intrusion happens when the author butts into the story to address the audience directly, interrupting the character who’s supposed to be narrating. Sometimes this can be used deliberately to…

Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Coveting Someone Else’s Life

November 2, 2024

Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Coveting Someone Else’s Life

November 2, 2024

What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain…

Why Every Writer Should Try Their Hand at a Horror Story

October 31, 2024

Why Every Writer Should Try Their Hand at a Horror Story

October 31, 2024

By Savannah Cordova Affiliate links below It’s that time of year again: the leaves are changing color, the wind is getting chillier, and pumpkins are decorating doorsteps. And given that…

Best Communities for Marketing Your Writing

October 29, 2024

Best Communities for Marketing Your Writing

October 29, 2024

By Eleanor Hecks Whether you publish traditionally or independently, getting the word out about your books requires a lot of work and monetary investment. Social media is an obvious choice…

Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Being a Serial Killer

October 26, 2024

Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Being a Serial Killer

October 26, 2024

What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain…

How to Hook Readers with Character Descriptions

October 24, 2024

How to Hook Readers with Character Descriptions

October 24, 2024

I think we can all agree that characters are the heart of a novel. We build worlds around our story’s cast, spend dozens of hours plundering their psyche to understand…

How to Write Unputdownable Psychological Thrillers

October 22, 2024

How to Write Unputdownable Psychological Thrillers

October 22, 2024

“I read your pages,” said my critique partner. “And I think it’d really increase the tension if you tore the one page out of the book that your main character…

Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Monitoring Someone Without Their Knowledge

October 19, 2024

Character Secret Thesaurus Entry: Monitoring Someone Without Their Knowledge

October 19, 2024

What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain…

Phenomenal First Pages Contest – Guest Editor Edition

October 17, 2024

Phenomenal First Pages Contest – Guest Editor Edition

October 17, 2024

Hey, wonderfulwriterly people! It’s time for Phenomenal First Pages, our monthly critique contest. So, if you need a bit of help with your first five pages, today’s the day to…

Three Ways You’re Losing Your Reader’s Trust

October 15, 2024

Three Ways You’re Losing Your Reader’s Trust

October 15, 2024

There’s no better feeling than being in the hands of a great storyteller. They have command of the details we need to know, the scenes we need to see, and…