Placement

Purpose and Placement

We’ve covered the importance of dramatic tension in scenes. Now let’s talk about how to structure them in a way that maximizes their impact. Scene structure is crucial to a novel’s success. A well-ordered scene can keep readers engaged and invested in the story, while a poorly structured scene can…
May 14, 2023
High-value Man

Hustlers and Hucksters

A relative newcomer to Catholic Twitter that's impressed me of late is Pinesap. I'm serious. This kid is on the ball theologically. Give him a follow:   If you need reassurance that not all Zoomers are deviant heathens, Pinesap's content is for you. Prime example: his recent thread on Manosphere…
May 10, 202310 Comments
Drama Club

Quit the Drama Club

Social media's rise to dominance as the indispensable marketing channel has has spawned the omnipresent phenomenon of eDrama. Nor are authors immune to the lure of chasing clout online at others' expense. That's true regardless of whether you signed with fakepub or self-publish. That's why every how-to guide aimed at…
May 8, 20233 Comments
Reagan Thaatcher Clancy

Set Yourself up for Success

Most folks in newpub unconsciously stumble out of the gate by calling themselves "indie authors". I know I did. But newpub means more than writing. If you go indie, you accept all the responsibilities of an author AND a publisher. As a result of indies' author-centric focus, a lot of…
May 1, 2023
Selling Books, Negocios Rentables

How to Write Blurbs that Sell Books

I'm glad for the help, because as I've said here before, a good product description is one of the most vital elements of newpub success. Newpub is always changing. That means your knowledge of the field has to keep growing if you want to succeed. Conferring and collaborating with brilliant…
April 24, 2023
sales

Everything Is Sales

When aspiring authors come to me for career advice, the first question I ask them is why they're writing. Making a decent supplemental income is one thing. Making a living is a related, but different ballgame. Publishing a book just to scratch it off your bucket list and impress your…
April 17, 20238 Comments
negativity

Say No to Negativity

A major occupational hazard of being a dissident is the tendency to get black pilled. In terms of theology, aka real psychology, black pilling is the condition that results when someone's powers of observation have become so acute at detecting negatives - i.e. "noticing" - that they're dulled to discerning…
April 12, 20234 Comments
Fantasy Church

Deliver Us From the Evil Church of Evil

World building is the one element that sets speculative fiction apart from every other category of writing. When designing a secondary world, it’s crucial to establish a foundation of internally consistent principles to help readers suspend their disbelief. With the Easter season upon us, let's zoom in on an often-underdeveloped…
April 10, 202323 Comments
High Tension

High Tension

Of all the elements that go into a story, pacing is among the most misunderstood. Most writers think they know what makes a book feel fast-paced. A majority of them are wrong. Stringing short, clipped sentences into wall-of-text paragraphs within rapid-fire chapters doesn't always give readers a sense of speed.…
April 4, 202312 Comments
Short Story Format

Standard Format

When I first started out writing and submitting short stories, I spent a lot of time and effort learning how to format my manuscripts. Here are all of the short story formatting guidelines I use, collected in one place for your convenience. Cover Page The margins should be one inch…
March 27, 20236 Comments