if I don’t finish my draft — Finishing my book has been my top life goal for the last five years. Now, I know writing a masterpiece takes time, but the problem is that my book is not a masterpiece. It’s just a fantasy novel that has been rattling around in my head for far too long. …

Writing with a touch of psychology. Let’s take a look at a much-overlooked factor for the aspiring writer — motivation. Our motivations will directly and powerfully impact our success, whether we measure that as writing an article or novel, getting published, or being prolific. …

Keys to overcoming imposter syndrome — Writers can be their own harshest critics. Correction, they are their own harshest critics. I tweaked this sentence several times before realising I was proving my point. Being critical is an essential skill in writing, but it can also be a writer’s greatest threat. …

A love letter to discovery writers. — April, on this corner of the internet, is dedicated to outlining this year. While I’ve been enjoying discussing the benefits of a lot of different types of outlines, I wanted to take a step back and make sure that our less plot-heavy writers are feeling comfortable. Please know that this…

This one is for the plotters and spreadsheet lovers! — Now, a quick disclaimer… I am not a spreadsheet enthusiast. I barely know how to make one but over the last year or so I’ve been dipping my toe into budgeting and list-making with Excel. I don’t know all of the fancy tricks, but for this method, you don’t need…

An outlining method made for future-proofing your book — If you’ve done any research into selling your book you’ll know exactly what a synopsis is. A literary agent will ask for a query and a synopsis to figure out if they are interested in reading your work. A synopsis is a summary of your characters and the events within…

How to keep your novels and characters on track — I have to be honest. I am only going to recommend this method to people who have very complicated books or are trying to keep track of a series. Someone who writes faster-paced books might also find this method more helpful. If your books are set over multiple years with…

Keep track of dates, events and fix pacing issues. — Timelines are one of the most well-known outlining methods out there. A lot of famous writers choose to use them. Dan Brown, Amanda Patterson and she, who will not be named, are among them. Despite looking very complicated, timelines are relatively simple to create, making it a perfect method for…

A time tested classic way to outline your novel — Flashcards have been used in story creation for decades. It’s a tried and true plot organisation method. The nicest part? The flexibility. Flashcards can be as detailed or as information sparse as you want, though using a virtual method might afford you more writing room if you tend to like…