How to Craft a Memorable Villain
The good guys get all the attention. You spend pages developing your hero’s back story and personality but fail to give the ol’ bad guy the same love. What’s a good story without a kick-ass villain? A shallow one. From Dracula to Hannibal Lecter and a legion of others, villains are iconic. Here’s how to end favoritism and craft a juicy villain of substance: one readers can sink their teeth...
Setting the Stage for Writing Your Next Bestseller
We’ve all done it. We’ve all sat down to work on a project for a designated amount of time with no distractions, only to have something snag our attention after ten minutes. I know that I’ve done this more times than I’d care to admit. However, there is a way to show your distractions who’s the productivity boss, and it all starts with where you choose to write. First, find a home...
6 Tips for Navigating Your Page-to-Screen Adaptation
Popcorn that drips butter. The satisfying rip of a ticket. Leather seats that recline—all the way back. For a moment, the screen is black. Then the movie starts, and your main character takes to the screen. It’s every writer’s dream. And although it’s a bigger process than we imagine, it’s educational and entertaining to play with the idea of seeing your story play out on the silver screen. So, here...
When Someone Else Has Written a Similar Book
Have you ever had a story idea – one that comes out of the blue but is seemingly genius – just to realize that after all the plotting, exhausting writing sessions, and hurried word sprints that someone’s already beat you to it? We understand how it feels, Scribblers: the initial panic, the feeling of hopelessness, the realization that your original idea wasn’t as original as you’d thought. Before you trash...
7 Tips For Finding Time to Write as a College Student
In March of my freshman year, a realization crept upon me with a dread similar to a plague of due dates: I had not written, really, in four months. I vowed to myself that when I started college, I wouldn’t lose writing. In high school, I was known as the girl who cranked out novels. I’d type a few sentences on my iPhone 4 during passing period; I’d hide in...
Best Audiobooks for Road Trips
I hate road trips. Or at least, I hated road trips until the rise of the audiobook (Audible is QUEEN.). When you’re driving for hours on end, staring at the same straight strip of asphalt, often without cell reception and sadly with only a few crappy radio stations to choose from—there’s something seriously awe-inspiring about turning on an audiobook and transporting your mind to someplace magical or mischievous or mysterious. I’ve listened to a ton of...
Best Upcoming Book-to-Screen Adaptations
Between the releases of Crazy Rich Asians, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Love, Simon, and Mary Poppins Returns in 2018, the film industry has demonstrated their increasing interest in bringing the written word to the big screen. 2019 has proven to be just as loyal. With the recent series finale of Game of Thrones, bookworms are left scrounging for another book-to-film success that can fill their hearts (and the void). Lucky for us, the remaining months of 2019...