Welcome to Scribbler’s author spotlight series — an interview with our subscription box‘s monthly author! Each month, we’ll interview the author of our featured book to help you learn a little more about them and their writing process. This month’s spotlight is on David Bell. Their novel She’s Gone, is our December read. You can find She’s Gone for sale anywhere books are sold. A new page-turning thriller from USA Today bestselling author David...

I’ve listened in and been a part of many conversations about choosing the past or present tense in storytelling, and the most common advice I hear from one writer to another is some version of, “Do what feels right.” Friend, there is better advice out there and I’m going to give you some right now. First, imagine a nurse asking a doctor, “Scissors or scalpel?” and the doctor saying, “I...

When I was 19, I started writing my first novel. I’d written fan fiction as a young teen, but my original works were rarely longer than a few pages. I was an avid reader, though, and I’d been told I was a prodigious writer. I thought that was all I needed to write. This was the first year I studied writing formally. I’d decided in high school that I wouldn’t...

Many of us are in the thick of National Novel Writing Month, commonly known as NaNoWriMo, and hope to have most or all of the rough draft of a book finished by the end of the month. Even if you’re not, you probably have a manuscript lying around in some stage of completion that you’ve been avoiding. And most writers do. Revising after that initial dump of creativity is hard,...

Welcome to Scribbler’s author spotlight series — an interview with our subscription box‘s monthly author! Each month, we’ll interview the author of our featured book to help you learn a little more about them and their writing process. This month’s spotlight is on Rebekah Crane. Their novel June, Reimagined, is our November read. You can find June, Reimagined for sale anywhere books are sold. From the writer who brought you the Irish romance The Upside...

In our final installment of how to ruin your mystery, we have bundled our greatest collection of examples from actual books we have tried to read. They showcase the utter nonsense, the ridiculous, the inane, and downright contrived ploys that authors have used to propel their story, only to have merely lost us along the way. A seemingly all-American, wholesome girl is murdered. But it turns out she led a...

U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser said that titles “…represent the hand you extend in friendship toward your reader.” He was talking about titles of poems, but his words apply to titling your book as well. Yes, people buy books because they’re interested in the concept, but just as important is their assessment of the cover. So, titling your book is a huge marketing decision. A title tells people what to think about...

Many tools tell you how to construct a mesmerizing mystery with intriguing characters, interesting storylines, and enough red herrings to keep you guessing till the end.  Since we represent the readers you write for, we would like to share with you all the ways you can ruin a potentially good story and cause us to put down your book and ban you from our reading list forever. Don’t waste time...