Fantasy stories, books, and tips for new writers

You finished writing your first draft. Congrats! But before your messy, passionate, and possibly brilliant first draft is ready to be published in any way or form, it needs to be polished like a diamond until it shines. And this polishing means editing. The problem is what do you do when you can’t afford an editor? Many writers tend to think of editing as this one-in-all stop, when in fact, there are different levels of editing a book needs to undergo: Developmental editing L

If plotting feels like too heavy an investment, and pantsing often keeps you stuck, a good approach that can help you make progress on your book is loose outlining. A loose outline is like a plot, only that it doesn’t need to be particularly detailed or even complete; it can be a general idea of the main events or just the next part of the book you’re about to write. Having a plan (even a loosely defined one) is a great way of ensuring that you know where your story is going,

When it comes to writing, some writers rush to take a side—either planning their book to the last detail and following that plan to the letter, or letting the muse guide them, writing when inspiration strikes and figuring things out as they go along. But have you ever wondered if you could be a plotter and a pantser at the same time and combine both approaches? In the previous two posts, I’ve shared an overview of both the pantsing and plotting approaches to writing, discusse