I subscribe to dozens of writing advice sites and new advice articles come into my news reader at a steady pace. You can see some of my favorites at my Writing Advice Sites resource page.
Here are the best writing advice posts from this previous week. Occasionally I include an RSS feed. To subscribe to an RSS feed, add the feed URL to your RSS reader app. The most popular is Feedly, which is the one that I use. It has a website and mobile apps, and it keeps track of which articles you’ve read, synched across all your devices.
You can see all the previous writing advice of the week posts here and subscribe to the RSS feed for this writing advice series here (direct Feedly signup link).
This week, I’ve decided to divide the list into three categories.
The first, for the beginning writer, is about getting the writing process down. Finding time to write, discovering your own writing rituals, learning how to overcome your inner critics, fighting writer’s block, and how to finish what you start. Experienced writers sometimes hit these speedbumps as well, but they can kill a career for a new writer before it even starts.
Second, for the writer who’s already started getting the hang of the mechanics of getting the words down on paper, is improving the quality of the writing. Of course, you can’t improve writing if you don’t have any to improve, so the previous step is critical. But once you’re getting words down, you can start asking yourself if they’re the right words, or maybe you can find better words. And you can even start thinking about sentences, paragraphs, scenes, chapters, plots, character arcs — all that stuff that goes into writing readable work. And even experienced writers probably have areas where they can improve, or new things to learn.
Finally, for the writer who’s finished stories or books that are ready for the public, there’s the question of finding your publishing platform, producing the actual book, finding copyeditors and cover artists, marketing, and advertising. For beginning writers these are mostly theoretical questions, but for experienced writers, they are critical for success. And the answers keep changing as the industry changes, so staying on top of things is critical.
So here we go.
Productivity, mood management, and battling the demons inside
- Indicators During a Writing Session That It is Not the Best Work by John W. Howell
- When Is It Time to Give Up on an Old Project? by Sarah Elaine Smith
- 3 Myths (and Some Motivation) About NaNoWriMo by Jenny Hansen
- New Hope For The Dead: The Frankenstein Files For Authors Who Gave Up Too Soon by Ruth Harris
- How to Use Mindfulness to Be a More Effective Writer by Mindy McHorse
- If you’re stuck in your writing… by Scott Myers
- How does survivorship bias give you dumb ideas about writing? by Daphne Gray-Grant
- 3 Techniques to Help You Write a Book in a Month by Nina Amir
- Here’s the Reality Check For Writers by Doug Lewars
- The Importance of a Writing Community, and How to Find One by Karis Rogerson
- Pro Tips from a NaNo Coach: How to Meet Your NaNoWriMo Goal by Alexandra Villasante
- Write What You Know and Ask “What If?” by Nikki Barthelmess
- 7 Unconventional Ways to Find Content Ideas by Kriss Judd
- Writing and the Creative Life: “The hard is what makes it great” by Scott Myers
- Goal Setting for Writers: 6 Proven Methods to Achieve Success by Dave Chesson
- The Skills A Writer Needs That Are Not About Writing by Derek Haines
- Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Read your dialogue aloud by Scott Myers
- Why You Shouldn’t Write If You Don’t Read by Lucie Ataya
- 10 Ways to Keep Your Writing Time & Minimize Interruptions by Kris Maze
- How to Decide Which Story to Write by Scott Myers
- Afraid to Call Yourself a Writer? You May Suffer from a Creativity Wound by Anne R. Allen
The art and craft of writing
- So-Called Screenwriting Rule: Do not use ‘we see / we hear’ by Scott Myers
- Humanizing the Bad Guy (or, Some Thoughts on Violence in Fiction) by Usvaldo de Leon, Jr.
- How to Revise a Novel: A Revision List to Edit With Confidence by J. D. Edwin
- Writing Fiction That is Believable by Katie McCoach
- Want to Become a Proofreader? Here’s How to Do It by Jess Wormley
- The Art of the Cliffhanger by Sarah Penner
- When Sci-Fi Meets Historical Fiction by Pamela Taylor
- 5 Tips For Better World Building by Ryan Lanz
- Scene Writing: C.L.U.E. by Linda S. Clare
- Drama: Three Simple Ways to HOOK Audiences by Kristen Lamb
- The Passive Middle by Donald Maass
- Common Writing Pitfalls You Should Watch Out For by Lucie Ataya
- Editing For Inclusion by John Gilstrap
- On Stealing Time to Make Art in an Overcrowded Life by Jackie Morris
- A Premise Isn’t a Plot. But it’s a Good Start by Janice Hardy
- Character Types: The Helper by Joan Hall
- Two Writing Functions: Receptive and Executive by Scott Myers
- Making Your Big Issue Work through Story, Part 2 by Kathryn Craft
- Tips for Revising a Short Story (Again) by Nicole Pyles
- How to Showcase Your Character’s Unique Voice by September Fawkes
- Naming the Frame: Defining Your Character’s Worldview in a Single Word by RJ Taylor
- Saying Goodbye: How to Close Out a Book Series and Tease a New One by Karen White
- Writing and the Creative Life: Why You Should Write Three Pages of Garbage Every Morning by Scott Myers
- How to Avoid Writing a Bait-and-Switch Story by Chris Winkle
- Do’s and Don’ts of Story Beginnings by Staci Troilo
- 6 Tips for Developing an Exciting Fantasy Adventure Premise by Marshall Ryan Maresca
- Johari Window: Harnessing Character Blind Spots by Kristen Lamb
- Relationship Thesaurus Entry: Friends by Becca Puglisi
- Why Herbert’s Dune Fails as a Subversion by Oren Ashkenazi
- FightWrite: NaNoWriMo Fight Scene Guide by Carla Hoch
- How to Give Your Narration Flavor by Andrea Lundgren
- 4 Tips for Writing a Story with an Engaging Mystery by Christopher Parker
- Mythcreants Podcast: Making Your Story Dark with Oren Ashkenazi, Chris Winkle, and Wes Matlock
- Understanding Layered Conflict in Stories by Stavros Halvatzis
- Dramatic Irony: A Great Literary Device That Adds Suspense to Your Story by Joslyn Chase
The business side of writing
- The sounds of silence by Janet Reid
- What Makes a Reader Buy a Book? by Hank Phillippi Ryan
- Launch Your Book with Great Reviews: 4 Tips to Get You Started by Christine Nolfi
- Starting and Growing a YouTube Channel by Sabrina Ricci
- NFTs for Indie Authors by AskALLi Team
- How and When to Clean Up Your Newsletter’s Subscriber List by Nate Hoffelder
- Your Book Isn’t One Size Fits All, Your Marketing Plan Shouldn’t Be Either by Jessica Faust
- On the Business of Self-Publishing a Novel: Finding and Engaging Your Audience by A. J. Wells
- Screenplays are stories, not formulas by Scott Myers
- How to create a reader profile (and why you want to) by Alicia Dale
- 5 Book Marketing Services That Are Always Worth Collaborating On by Penny Sansevieri
- Livestreaming for Your Author Business by Indiana Lee
- The Amazon Ad that Changed My Author Career by Bryan Cohen
- Breathing New Life into an Out-of-Print Book by Shutta Crum
- How to Publish Large Print Books and Why You Should by Jason Hamilton
- You Survived Your Book Launch. Now What? by Jill Kemerer
- Advertising on Facebook in Q4 for Authors by Grant Shepherd
- Expand Your Audience Through Affordable Video Book Promotion! by Amanda Steel
- Atticus – New Formatting Software for Writers by Steve Hooley
- Can You Only Write in One Genre? by Michael Cristiano
New videos
If you prefer to get your writing advice in video form, check out these new video releases on YouTube.
- How Do Literary Agents View Comp Titles by BookEnds Literary Agency
- 10 Things I Wish Every Aspiring Writer Would Know by Write with Claire Fraise
- How do you write every day? by The Publication Coach
- Jeff Walker Interview: How to Re-Launch Your Book The Product Launch Formula Way by Self Publishing School
- Aeryn Rudel on Tabletop Gaming for Writers by Long Lost Friends on MetaStellar YouTube channel
- Art Brown on How to Pitch A Movie by Long Lost Friends on MetaStellar YouTube channel
- Aeryn Rudel on Blogging, Submitting and Rejectomancy by Long Lost Friends on MetaStellar YouTube channel
- MetaStellar’s Terrence Smith interviews “Screens” author Christopher Laine on MetaStellar YouTube channel
Am I missing any useful writing advice sites or video channels? Let me know in the comments or email me at [email protected].
MetaStellar editor and publisher Maria Korolov is a science fiction novelist, writing stories set in a future virtual world. And, during the day, she is an award-winning freelance technology journalist who covers artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise virtual reality. See her Amazon author page here and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, and check out her latest videos on the Maria Korolov YouTube channel. Email her at [email protected]. She is also the editor and publisher of Hypergrid Business, one of the top global sites covering virtual reality.