Stacks of Useful Articles for Writers! #WritingCommunity #writers #WritersCommunity #writerslife

.... by me, and others.  It's ongoing; I will add to this list as I come across new ones that are particularly good.  I've sorted them into sections to make it easier to find those that will be of interest to you.  Just click the title of the article to read it.  Hope they help!

Sections:
Debut Author Advice
Editing and Proofreading 
General Writing Advice
Publishing
Reviews
Writers and Social Media/Promotion

ps, if you have come across another article that really helped you, please add the URL in the comments, and I will take a look at it with a view to adding it. Thanks!
 

Debut Author Advice

New Writers: Is this what you're doing on Twitter?

Pauses for Thought - ten pieces of advice for the new writer.

What to do if you have just decided to write a book by Lucy Adams on Nicholas Rossis' blog.

Helpful Advice for Aspiring Writers by Jacqueline Woodson

3 Misconceptions That Can Hinder New Writers 

My Top 10 Writing Tips, from Shelley Wilson's interview series. 

My Review of Back to Creative Writing School by Bridget Whelan

Dos and Don't for First Time Novelists

Ten Miscellaneous Tips for Debut Writers

7 Myths That Can Hold New Writers Back

The Number One Misconceptions Writers Have About Writing by Rachel Thompson

Three Mistakes New Writers Are Still Making

Not another 'how to write' article ~ but it many help new authors

Your first novel is ready to go - five things to consider 

Building an Author Platform (for the total beginner) by Shelley Wilson 

Writing Tips For Beginners by Shaz Goodwin - Jera's Jamboree blog (a series of tips from various authors, collated by Shaz over the years)

How Art Has Saved My Writing by Jodie Beckford

Top 10 Writing Tips on Shelley Wilson's blog (series of interviews with various authors, giving their own tips)

Editing and proofreading

Choosing the right proofreader and editor

How To Choose An Editor by Alison Williams

How To Find A Good Proofreader (And Avoid The Bad Ones!) by Julia Gibbs


Content Edit by Linda Acaster

What being an editor taught me about writing by Anna Pitoniak

The Five Most Common Errors to Avoid in your Writing by Alison Williams

All you need to know about Proofreading by Julia Gibbs 

Authors - please choose your editor CAREFULLY by Alison Williams 

Is the editor you hired actually doing the editing?  by D G Kaye

General Writing Advice

10 Dangerous Critiques by Anne R Allen

The Greatest Menace to the Writer is the Reader by Emily Temple/Shirley Jackson

On Writing Sequels

5 parts of your writing personality that need to die now by Colleen M Story

4 Character Traits that will Derail your Writing Career by Colleen M Story

#amwriting ~ or would be if I could string a sentence together 
(what to do when the words just won't come) 

Please learn from my mistakes - someone should by D E Haggerty

Writers - Respect Your Readers by Alison Williams

Historical Fiction: Info Dumps and how to ditch them by Deborah Swift

The difference between 'Imply' and 'Infer' by Alison Williams

The importance of a good ending by Cryssa Bazos

Writing Action Scenes - Quick Tips by Alison Williams

Ten Things About Show and Tell  by Joanne Harris

The difference between a phrase, an independent clause, a subordinate clause and a sentence 


10 Tips on Writing That First Chapter by Anne R Allen

How to show what a character looks like without having them looking in the mirror and describing their reflection by Neha Yazmin

The Blurb and the Synopsis by Alison Williams

6 Ways To Create Characters That Readers Will Care About 

Do your characters talk too much? by Anne R Allen

Excellent article on outlining your novel before you start - and why you should by Meghan Barnard

3 Things To Omit From Your Dialogue by L M Lily 

Em dash versus ellipsis by Kathy Steinmann

8 Mundane Elements You Should Cut From Your Story by Jane Friedman

How to Handle Writers' Block by Alexandria Szeman

What Reading Has Taught Me About Writing

Three Writing Rules to Disregard by Benjamin Dreyer

Stephen King's 10% rule and the Secret Power of the Delete Button by Anne R Allen

The Grammatical Error That Even The Most Intelligent People Make

Turning Your Back On The 'Rules'

Links to lots of general writing/editing advice,  by Linda Acaster

An article about professional jealousy on Girls Mean Business

Publishing

The Myths of Publishing by Jan Ruth 

An A-Z of independent publishers (ongoing) by Jill Doyle (book blogger)

28 Things I've Learned About Publishing by John Boyne

Publishing scams to watch out for in 2021 by Anne R Allen

Amazon exclusivity or publishing 'wide' - which is best? 

How to Self-Publish an ebook by Alison Williams

 

Signing with a small publisher? Here's what to look for by Alison Williams

Novel, novella, novelette - the differences explained

How to self-publish a book: tips from indie authors on BookBub

Choosing Amazon Keywords  by Dave Chessan/Kindlepreneur

Publishing: A lot of smoke and mirrors by Jan Ruth

Why there is no point querying a book that has already been self-published by Meg La Torre

15 Things I Learned after reading 100 Query Letters by Ryan Lanz

Read This Before Signing With A Small Independent or 'Hybrid' Publisher

It's A Jungle Out There - article about vanity publishers, by Alison Williams

New Writing Scams to watch out for in 2019 by Anne R Allen

Self-Publishing and the Snobbery Issue by Alison Williams

Why Self-Publishing is a Creative Choice, not a Last Resort

Yes, We Do Judge A Book By Its Cover by Alison Williams

Writing a Blurb by Alison Williams

Book Blurbs: As Hard as Writing the Book Itself?

The Only Post You Need To Read About Getting That Novel Finished

Reviews

My review of Getting Book Reviews by Rayne Hall

A Beginners' Guide to Requesting Reviews by Lilyn from Scifi and Scary

The DNF by Alex from Spells and Spaceships

Ten Reasons Your Book Is Getting Ignored by Book Bloggers by Rosie Amber

How To Deal With Bad Reviews

Why You Shouldn't Ignore Bad Reviews by Alison Williams

64 Book Bloggers who will work with self-published authors by Jo Linsdell

Spotlight on Rosie Amber, book blogger 

Authors Reviewing Authors - it'a a Minefield! 
(what to do if you're expected to review a friend's book and it's... just not that great) 

Writing A Book Review by Joan Hall

Tips on writing a book review by Shaz Goodwin

Addressing some of the recent book blogging BS by Sarcastic Enigma 

Reasons why a blogger declines your review request and doesn't want you on their blog by Sarcastic Enigma

Writers and Social Media/promotion

Why won't you buy my book?  by Leonard Tillerman

Don't be a 'humble-bragger' by Julie Haiselden

To Go Free Or Not To Go Free? 

BookBub's Top 10 Marketing Articles of 2019 

The Scourge of Auto DMs (Twitter) by Lisette Brodey

Why does my book not sell by Jan Ruth

Basic Tips For Writers Using Social Media For The First Time

Dos and Don'ts for writers new to Twitter 

Great tips for taking your books to book fairs and signings  by Judith Barrow

9 Reasons your book was rejected for a BookBub Featured Deal

How to Get the Best out of Twitter - please note, whereas the principles remain the same, the occasional bit of practical info may be out of date, as these articles were written in 2016. 

How to put the joy (and the impact) back into Twitter by Helen Baggot, for the Alliance of Independent Authors 

Twitter Tips for Newbies by Emma Lombard - truly excellent and up-to-date post (March 2019) for writers using Twitter for the first time, every tiny nuance explained. 

More Twitter Tips for Newbies by Emma Lombard
 
Make Your Own Luck by Lizzie Lamb

How to change your Twitter handle by Alison Williams

My review of Twitter for Writers by Rayne Hall

5 No Good Reasons Authors Resist Marketing by Rachel Thompson

No, you don't need superfans, 'street teams', mass tweeting sessions or newsletters by Anne R Allen (nb, this is not the title of the article)

Had to include this, though it is for book bloggers rather than writers:
Advice for new book bloggers by Mrs Bloggs 

Boost Your Blog/Social Media: services provided by Suzie Speaks - I wouldn't post a link to services of this type without personal experience, but Suzie is currently running a social media site for me (not Twitter, I hasten to add), and I can most definitely recommend!  

And finally....

Before I started this Self-Publishing thing I used to....

How to Write a Romcom in One Easy Lesson!

"Fabulous book, darling, but it's got ADVERBS!"

Do you follow the writing 'rules'?

I hope not.  

When I first started writing, there were no 'Write your way to bestsellerdom' blog posts.  There were no Twitter #writetips, and significantly fewer courses set up to make money out of the hopeful wordsmith.  If you wanted to write you just sat down and did so, you didn't take time out to blog about writers' block, word counts, or the two hours you just spent mulling over whether or not it's acceptable to change from third person to first in alternate chapters.  If it turned out you didn't have any talent, the thirty rejection slips and the awkward look on your friends' faces after they'd read your sample chapters soon delivered the message.

Nowadays, not only does our culture of encouragement mean that we must never, ever suggest that a writer wannabe might not have a gift for the written word, but instructions on how to write are everywhere we look.  New writers can get bogged down by them.  I've seen reviews that make me wonder if the reviewer sat with a check list next to them whilst reading, while some blog posts give the impression that anyone can produce a bestseller via a series of modules, almost.  Punchy start? Tick.  Hook in the first chapter? Tick.  Atmospheric backdrop without too much rambling description?  Tick.  Which is why, I suppose, some debut novels read as though they've come straight from a creative writing class.  Reined in and careful.  Ooh, did you know that you can no longer add 'she said' after a piece of dialogue?  Of course, we all learned a few years ago that you must NEVER write anything like 'she shouted' or 'she snarled', but now, apparently, you can't write 'she said' either.

Er, yes, you CAN.  Sometimes.  When it's necessary.  Part of the skill of writing is being able to make the decision about whether or not something 'works'; already I'm seeing indie novels that have followed the new 'abandon he said-she said' rule so absolutely that you can't work out who's saying what to whom.
 
I read an article a while back in which a first-novel writer was getting herself into fifty shades of anxiety over the first/third person thing mentioned above.  More worrying were all the comments beneath, reminding her of what was okay and what wasn't.

The cartoons aren't necessarily relevant to the article, by the way; 
they're just here to amuse you!

Writing courses and articles offer all these rules about how to use POV in order to make a reader 'connect' with your characters.  I think most of this is horsesh*t, to be honest.  If you write well enough, your readers will connect with your characters within a few pages, whatever damn POV they're in.  If you don't write well enough, no rule book, writing course or blog article is going to make that connection happen.

I've been told that I 'couldn't' have more than two paragraphs of backstory.  Really?  Ever read a Jackie Collins book?  Whatever the literature snobs say about her genre, her pages and pages of backstory on the introduction of a new character didn't do her any harm.  Mutiple POVs in one novel used to be considered a little on the wild side, before it became the fashion it is now; an agent told me that she liked a book I'd submitted to her but couldn't sell it to a publisher unless I rewrote from one POV; I shouldn't deviate from the main story, she said.  I felt like saying, um, ever read any Jerome K Jerome, master of interesting little diversions?  The multiple POVs of GRR Martin?  Or Susan Howatch?

**Alert!** Always hang a piece of garlic above your laptop to ward off the evil adverbs!  These days, red flashing lights and an alarm bell go off on my lap top via the 'Writing Rules' Police if I so much as consider including one in a first draft.

Of course, one should always be open to learning; I read a bit of good advice the other day and thought, ah yes, I need to remind myself of that, and indeed I would if I could remember what it was.  Any decent and serious writer without ego problems knows that they can always improve; wise words from the experienced and accomplished are always worth listening to.  But one writer (see how I started a sentence with 'but' there?  Daring, huh?) said this to me in an email today: "I minimize contact with some of my old beta readers because they have such slavish devotion to the so-called rules of writing that they forget how to tell a good story".  Which, for me, said it all.

Writing is a creative, fluid, individual skill.  If you read any novels by your favourite authors, I bet you'll find adverbs, 'she whispereds', and even a bit of ~ eek, dare I mention it? ~ telling not showing.  By which I don't mean introducing a character by saying "Harry was a brusque sort of chap who often got on the wrong side of people, but also had an engagingly dry sense of humour"; that's just amateur and crap; of course the reader should be shown that he possesses such qualities, not told.  But I've been ticked off in reviews for one book for too much 'telling not showing' of events, because my character gave an account about one too many, instead of my taking the reader back to where the party/murder/argument/death actually happened; sometimes, though,  you have to just tell the reader about an event, you can't show every damn scene or the novel would be two thousand pages long.  And I wonder if those reviewers had heard of 'telling not showing' before they joined Twitter and read all the 'how to write' blog posts thereon?  I certainly hadn't.

A while back I came across a blog post by one of the 'My one self-pub novel hit the top ten of a minor genre chart a year ago, and now I'm qualified to tell everyone how to write' crew.  He actually said something like "I'm often asked, 'Bob, is it acceptable to use profanity in my writing?'".  I bet you just frowned and thought "WTF?" too, didn't you?   You write whatever the story requires, whatever feels right for you, there isn't any 'can' or 'can't'.   Have your rock star talking as if he's at a church social if Bob says so, by all means, but don't expect your readers to be astounded by your character realism.

I actually wonder if some writers have never grown out of the need to do what teacher/Daddy says so they won't get told off.

Ages ago I got a 4* for my first self-pub novel, You Wish, that said something along the lines of 'it really worked, despite breaking so many of the rules of writing'.  I could write the book better now (having just published my 11th one, it would be a bit of a worry if I couldn't), but isn't the key in that one line?  Earlier this year I read an excellent novel written in the second person.  I couldn't believe it worked, but it did, because the writer has talent and imagination, and confidence in his own style.  It's Ultra Violence by Mark Barry, if you're interested.

This post is way too long already, so I'll end by telling you what happened when I wrote a satirical blog post called How to write a romcom best seller in one easy lesson.  I had lots of comments from chick lit authors who thought it was very amusing and spot on ~ but I also received a few tweets from people thanking me for it... because they thought it was to be taken seriously....

..... and here is what writer Katrina Mountfort had to say about 'the rules', earlier this year!  HERE