Category: Writing AdvicePage 2 of 5
Graeme Shimmin’s thoughts on creative writing based on his twenty-plus years of experience as a novelist.
You’ve probably heard the term “vanity publishing”. But what is it exactly? Everyone seems to think it’s bad, but why is it a problem? What’s the difference between…
First, a story that illustrates what a MacGuffin is: In 1945, Alfred Hitchcock was making the spy movie Notorious, which is about renegade Nazis in South America. Hitchcock…
Amazon has had a lot of negative publicity about its ethics, and that’s led to some people looking for alternatives. In this article first I’m going to look…
I’ve been helping aspiring authors for a long time now and one issue that new writers always seem very concerned about is how to copyright their work. This…
Several years ago, I invented the Killogator logline formula. It’s been incredibly popular because, well, it works. But people who’re trying to use the formula often ask me…
When you choose a title for your novel, you’ll do more to increase (or decrease) its sales than any other decision, except perhaps choosing the cover. Unfortunately. Why…
Do you want to get your novel published? If you’re like every author I’ve ever met, then the answer to that question is… yes. If it’s yes for…
We all know it’s hard to get your book published, but did you realise that only about one in a thousand of the novels written each year are commercially published? I’ve been…
False documents are great for drawing your reader into your story. Why’s that important? Because many people have trouble suspending their disbelief in stories. This is doubly true for speculative…
Public speaking is one of the principal ways authors promote their books. But speaking to large groups terrifies many people and they do it badly. As a commercially published author,…