Category Archives: Reader Feedback
Improve Your Novel Writing: 11 Tips For Newbies
Writing a novel is flipping difficult. It often takes years to complete your first novel (and even more years after that to write a good one). You heard that right — writers’ first books are usually a hot mess. That … Continue reading
Story Feedback: Free and Paid Options for Writers
It’s a sad fact, but most writers don’t have a basement full of money, meaning the word BUDGET is kind of a big deal. We want to publish but to do it, we have to think carefully about where we … Continue reading
Diversity in Fiction: Writing the Character You’re Afraid to Write
In the last two years, diversity in fiction has become more and more prevalent. We’ve seen blockbuster film and TV hits from award winning books like The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas or Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. The … Continue reading
Writing Feedback: Should We Seek It Out?
As most of you know, Becca and I have been writing and publishing for some time now. Many thing have changed in the industry, including how a book reaches the shelf. Thankfully the slush pile of doom is no longer … Continue reading
How Writers Are Part of a Humanitarian Chain
As we head toward the end of the year, I find myself thinking more about what writers do and the opportunity that arises every time we settle our fingers on the keyboard. Beyond the words and flow of the story … Continue reading
Overcoming Negativity Bias
As human beings and writers, we all struggle with maintaining a healthy balance between the positives and negatives of life. A disappointing review, a less-than-successful launch, critique feedback that wasn’t what we’d anticipated, a manuscript disfigured by an editor’s red strokes—it’s so easy … Continue reading
5 Reasons Why Every Author Should Join a Book Club
Today we have a post on a topic that has never been discussed at Writers Helping Writers. Can you believe it? After 9 years, that’s almost impossible. So I was very excited to hear about Kelly Miller’s proposed post. It was also beyond awesome to … Continue reading
Want To Grow As A Writer? Transform Your Critique Group
My mentor Art Arthur, a successful Hollywood screenwriter for five decades, once told me, “There are four kinds of Hollywood producers: the ones that say, ‘Here’s what I don’t like about your script,’ the ones that say, ‘Here’s what I … Continue reading
Six Rules that Keep Critique Partnerships Golden
A long time ago, two enthusiastic yet green writers met on an online critiquing site called The Critique Circle. They wrote stories riddled with hollow characters and cliched plots, but that didn’t stop them from becoming fast friends. Through practice, … Continue reading
Weathering Reviews and Taking Criticism
As a kid, I read a ton (a TON) of horse stories. It’s a genre that I don’t believe will ever go out of style, so I’m happy to have Jennifer Lyne here to post at The Bookshelf Muse. Her new … Continue reading