If you haven't heard, I've been building a web app for writers called BetaBooks . The idea is pretty simple: upload your manuscript, send it to your readers just by entering their email address, and receive all their feedback in one super-organized and searchable place. In my parallel lives as ...

Recently a writer friend told me he was having trouble figuring out how to end a chapter. "It just ends," he said. "I feel like every chapter fizzles out at the end." I read some of his stuff, and saw what he meant. I offered the following advice, and if ...

Something I picked up from the Story Grid : Let's say you have a scene that is straightforward or obvious, totally expected for your genre. For example, if this was a love story or romantic comedy, let's imagine that your POV character is a girl who is at a wedding ...

Anyone who writes a lot must also spend a lot of time proofreading. But if you're anything like me, you probably find it hard to see the flaws in your own work. I've found two tricks that help me a lot. The first trick is sort of boring: just give ...

One major thing I've learned from a year of writing every day: writing is a mirror. What I mean by this, is your writing reveals a lot about you. Not to your readers, necessarily, though obviously you can open yourself up to your readers through your writing. Rather, writing reveals ...