Writing Fiction

seven tactical tools to use in your writing: action, dialogue, interior monologue, interior emotion, description, flashback, and narrative summary.

Nobody ever got good at writing by talking about it.

Most importantly, they keep writing

Second, you want to get the darned thing published. Don’t hang your head and say, “I’ll be happy just to get it written.” Write to get published. Humility is a fine thing, but false humility can keep you from doing the one thing you really want to do.

First of all, you want to write a really good novel, right? You aren’t in this game to write a piece of schlock. You have some talent, and you have a story, and you want to write it well.

have five main tools that you can use for showing your story. In order of their importance to you, these are
Action
Dialogue
Interior emotion
Interior monologue
Description

Of all the books in print in any given year — about 1.2 million titles — only about 25,000 of them sell more than 5,000 copies during that year. Only a few hundred of those titles sell more than 100,000 copies.

top-five-earning writers in the world earn about 60 percent of all the dollars earned by writers. This isn’t easy to verify, but our experience tells us it’s plausible.

Take a short break. Regular breaks help you clear your mind and then get back to work with a renewed energy and focus. We suggest that you take a break every 60 to 90 minutes and that your breaks last no longer than about five minutes. This will help ensure that you don’t lose your precious writing momentum

try a variety of times to see when you’re most energized, focused, and inspired.