A Group to Help Others Help You Help Them

Your critique group must have the foundation to support others in there writing ventures. Create a set of rules how team members will interact with each other in as safe and encouraging atmosphere. These rules or norms will form to create structure, that time will not be wasted at everyone sits around wondering what will happen next. Find a place to meet, a coffee shop, library or a fast food place you can sit in a corner without interruptions. Remember, everyone should get something positive in you new writer’s critique group.

“Critique groups can be a big leg-up for authors as far as polishing their work before either sending it out on submission or self-publishing it. If you haven’t found a critique group that works for you, consider creating one. I’ve got a few things to keep in mind when creating or looking for a critique group that might help you with getting some compatible folks in your group.” More…

Guidelines for Writing Critique Groups
“Provide constructive criticism in a supportive, compassionate manner. Writes invest a lot into their work, and it takes courage to read it in front of several peers, inviting their critique. They came to the meeting because they want to become better writers, so show them respect and give them honest help.”

“Things you should do when critiquing another writer’s works.

• Don’t critique the writer. Your job in these meetings is to give constructive feedback on the writing.
• Begin your evaluation with a few compliments. Find one or two things you liked. If something was especially good, mention it and explain why.
• Give specific critique, not vague and general comments.
• Be gentle in your comments.
• Be supportive.
• Even if the writing is terrible, find a few good points and mention them first.” More …

Remember, you group should be helpful and fun for everyone in you group. Each member will develop on their own, while interacting and making progress to their success. Also, everyone should understand the rules and guidelines, and norms that each member agrees to follow. Rules help your group succeeded towards their writing goals.

Tell everyone about your critique group. More…

Need more help to create a great story plot? More…

Don’t forget to edit your character’s story. Are you using the right words to describe them? More …

Start Writing Now – This book is for the dreamers who say one day they will write their stories and become a writer. Then they forget their dreams of writing. But they can write now – write those stories now. I mean right now.

How Not To Write A One Star Novel – Do you want to create a five star novel? Learn from other writers’ mistakes and prevent yourself from receiving any one star reviews for you hard work. Here is your free e-book.

R. M. Scott Author Site

Brainstorming to Your Novel’s Success

Brainstorming is one of my most useful writing tools. It helps me find my stories within the jumble of ideas. Disjointed ideas fly through my brain at random times, like when I’m in the shower or just about to fall asleep. When I brainstorm I ask important questions like: How should my story start? How should this scene end? What are my characters personalities? What would my antagonist say when the protagonist is down? How should I kill that character? Should there be a sex scene?

Basic Tips for Brainstorming Your Novel

“Brainstorming and pre-writing may not be for everyone, but it’s a part of the writing process that I love and swear by. In fact, playing around with an idea before I start writing is one of my favorite things to do. Nothing is wrong with my idea while I’m brainstorming; it’s shiny and new and I’m just having fun with it.” More…

A Fun Way to Brainstorm Story Ideas

“I think for most of us, ideas are pretty easy. They pop into our heads all the time, either as a general concept, or a fun character, or an interesting situation. What’s hard, is turning that idea into a workable conflict with a plot. That’s where the real work comes in.

Next time you’re stuck on what to do with your idea, or just need a way to generate an idea, turn to your favorite movies and books and “steal” what you love about them (and no, I’m not advocating plagiarism here, bear with me).” More… 

A book in itself is unlikely to make or break you, but it is a powerful extension of your business or blog. More…

Tell everyone about your stories. More…

Need more help brainstorming your story? More…

Don’t forget to edit your character’s story. Are you using the right words to describe them? More …

Start Writing Now – This book is for the dreamers who say one day they will write their stories and become a writer. Then they forget their dreams of writing. But they can write now – write those stories now. I mean right now.

How Not To Write A One Star Novel – Do you want to create a five star novel? Learn from other writers’ mistakes and prevent yourself from receiving any one star reviews for you hard work. Here is your free e-book.

R. M. Scott Author Site

 

How to Fix Holes in Your Stories

We can learn how to analyze our manuscript and fix any problem yourself. These fixes are not just for grammar and punctuation alone but fixing your entire story and story structure. Sure, a content editor will help you with that, but the editor would spend more of your money and scribble more red lines you could scribble yourself. Focus on these fixes and your story will come out much better.

“A plot hole is a gap or inconsistency in the story that creates a contradiction that can’t be reconciled by any explanation. Plot holes include illogical events and statements as well as events that contradict earlier events in the story. Plot holes are usually seen as flaws in a story and authors should avoid them to make their stories as realistic as possible. However, if you want to create suspension of disbelief (common in some genres like fantasy and horror among others) plot holes are more acceptable.” More…

Why Your Story Conflict Isn’t Working (And How to Fix It)

“Like many writers, I’ve spent countless hours creating conflict in my novels. I’ve thrown exciting obstacles in my protagonists paths, I’ve developed sinister antagonists to thwart my heroes, I’ve devised cruel ways to put my characters through mental anguish — and my beta readers still told me, “This book needs more conflict.”

Because despite what we “know” about conflict as writers, the concept isn’t so cut and dry. It’s not just about the obstacles in the path, or the bad guy with the evil plan, or the mental anguish of the hero. It’s not the plot or the character arc, even though we often talk about it like it is. It’s a tapestry woven from multiple aspects of writing that work together to create a feeling that victory will not come easily to the characters, and it leaves readers dying to know what the protagonist is going to do about it.” More…

A book in itself is unlikely to make or break you, but it is a powerful extension of your business or blog. More…

Tell everyone about your stories. More…

Need more help to fix your story? More…

Don’t forget to edit your character’s story. Are you using the right words to describe them? More …

Start Writing Now – This book is for the dreamers who say one day they will write their stories and become a writer. Then they forget their dreams of writing. But they can write now – write those stories now. I mean right now.

How Not To Write A One Star Novel – Do you want to create a five star novel? Learn from other writers’ mistakes and prevent yourself from receiving any one star reviews for you hard work. Here is your free e-book.

R. M. Scott Author Site

Learn from Other Writers in Writing Critique Groups

Want to know if you’re on the right track in your story. Wouldn’t it be great to get someone else’s opinion on your work? When you allow other writers to look over your story you will get honest opinions from other writers. They will point out things you missed and ideas to help you get back on track. How about joining a critique group?

“After hearing stories from countless writers about advice they’ve been given, critique groups seem also to fall into four basic categories: the “any excuse not to write” group (which at least gets you out of the house and among people, but has no effect on your writing one way over the other), the “just make you feel good” group (which will bolster your spirits and avoid hurting your feelings, but prevent you from doing the hard work of facing your weaknesses and improving your craft); and the “I don’t know much about story but I love to criticize” group (which is filled with people who want to stroke their own egos by giving lots of advice and suggesting all sorts of changes that are neither well founded nor consistent with your vision for your own story).” More…

What Happens in a Writer’s Critique Group

Getting feedback on your writing is a powerful tool for improving the quality of your work. At this meetup, we will discuss the following aspects of the critique process. More…

Another benefit to belonging to a critique group is that you will learn much more about writing, style, format and grammar from reading and critiquing other writer’s work. When you see some things that are not right about their work you may realize that you may making the same mistake. Gaining new friends in the writing world will help you keep on track when you write your story.

Need more help to create a great story plot? More…

Don’t forget to edit your character’s story. Are you using the right words to describe them? More …

Start Writing Now – This book is for the dreamers who say one day they will write their stories and become a writer. Then they forget their dreams of writing. But they can write now – write those stories now. I mean right now.

How Not To Write A One Star Novel – Do you want to create a five star novel? Learn from other writers’ mistakes and prevent yourself from receiving any one star reviews for you hard work. Here is your free e-book.

R. M. Scott Author Site

Getting Your Readers Hooked with Your First Pages

Immediately put your story context in your readers’ mind. Paint the picture to start your story and how that picture effects the characters, then get your readers hooked as you move the story along beyond the opening scene. Will your readers become fascinated in the beginning or walk away and put your book down? Get your readers hooked after the first few pages and move on.

Start With The Senses

“Some stories grab hold of us and just don’t let go. We laugh and cry and our palms get sweaty and we feel as if we’re living these stories. These are the ones that become our favorites. Sometimes we don’t like the endings. They may even make us angry, but we still end up loving them anyway. More…

What Makes These Stories So Lovable?

“They put us right in the thick of the story. We feel like we’re living these stories because the author has taken steps to make sure we’re fully captivated. We forget that it’s words on a page that another human being has written. We forget that hundreds of other people could be reading the story at that very moment. It’s our story. Just us and the characters and their world.
We’re all in. More…

Now, your readers are past your initial creative process of your characters. We then take your characters, dressed them up to be worth knowing and caring for. Show your characters worthiness and shove them up to your readers so they can judge if their story is worth pursuing.

A book in itself is unlikely to make or break you, but it is a powerful extension of your business or blog. More…

Tell everyone about your stories. More…

Need more help to fix your story to hook in your readers? More…

Don’t forget to edit your character’s story. Are you using the right words to describe them? More …

Start Writing Now – This book is for the dreamers who say one day they will write their stories and become a writer. Then they forget their dreams of writing. But they can write now – write those stories now. I mean right now.

How Not To Write A One Star Novel – Do you want to create a five star novel? Learn from other writers’ mistakes and prevent yourself from receiving any one star reviews for you hard work. Here is your free e-book.

R. M. Scott Author Site