You’ve been thinking about it — moving to a place that inspires you in your writing. Even better if the city is full of bookstores and has an active writing community.
You’ve looked at a few tantalizing options. But some of the most literary cities on the planet aren’t necessarily the best places to live. Some are well beyond your budget. Others don’t have everything you need.
Welcome to Authority Pub’s own list of 23 of the best places for writers to live.
Do you dread taking the time to write an outline for a book? Would you rather just put pen to paper and start to write and see where it takes you?
Does it feel like a waste of time to begin with the “extra” work of writing an outline?
It’s possible to write a nonfiction book by the seat of your pants, but having an outline helps you know where you are going with your message so you are able to write in a straight line instead of taking time-wasting detours.
Without an outline, you will likely spend extra time cutting, revising, and rewriting your original work.
Outlining your book gives you a solid plan that will keep you on track so you can write your book efficiently and with confidence.
How long should a book be?
Whenever that question comes up, the answer is usually “It depends” (or something to that effect), but we can get closer to a more helpful answer by getting more specific on the type of book we want to write.
Whether you’re writing a novel or a nonfiction book, though, the average length will depend on how your book compares to others of the same genre or subject matter.
So, before you can answer the question, “How long does it take to write a book?” you need to know some crucial details — and not just about the book itself:
This article is all about helping you determine how long it will take you to write the book you want — and to help you write it.
Only then can you work on getting your words out to those who will most enjoy reading them.
What writer wouldn’t love a writing prompts book?
If you’re reading this article, you’d probably like to know more about the options available and why you should consider any of them.
For the writer who already has a stockpile of journals, pens, and snacks, a book of writing prompts is the perfect gift to say, “I’m so proud of you, my writer friend, and since I can’t buy you coffee every day, this will help light up that brain of yours and get those fingers tapping out words.”
For those days when you’d like an easily accessible book full of unique writing prompts — either printed or available on your e-reader app — the following five options are ideal.
And since they don’t depend on continuous internet access, you can use them anywhere.
Why should it matter so much whether your verbs are strong or weak?
And how do you even know if you’re using weak verbs?
If you know the answer to the question, “What is a verb?” and if you enjoy reading, it won’t take long to answer the bigger question of how to replace weak verbs with strong ones.
Because you know the purpose of the verb isn’t just to give you a pencil tracing of what’s going on.
It’s supposed to show you as much as possible with an economy of words.
This is why adverbs get so little love from writers nowadays.
They try to compensate for the inadequacies of weak verbs, but all they end up doing is making the sentence harder to read (without cringing).
Who knew there were two types of verbs, anyway, though?
Don’t all verbs basically do the same thing?
Well, yes and no.
Weak verbs can tell your reader what’s happening, but only strong verbs can catapult them right into the action.
Want to know how? Of course, you do!
What writer doesn’t want to master the art of captivating their readers with strong, evocative language?
And to help you do this, we’ve included a strong verbs list, which you can draw from to turn a basic narration into a full-color IMAX in-house movie.
But how do you tell a weak verb from a strong one?
If this post’s title brought back memories of heated arguments over the Oxford comma, no worries. This is a comma-friendly space.
Commas make whatever you write easier to read by inserting pauses and setting things apart.
They help make each sentence sound in the reader’s head the way it sounds in yours.
But one question keeps popping up: “Does the comma go before or after but?”
You wouldn’t think “but comma rules” would be a thing, but one rule doesn’t fit all the possible situations involving commas and conjunctions.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to sort it all out.
As a writer, you want your characters (especially your protagonist) to resonate with your readers.
They should be larger than life but still believable.
And over centuries of storytelling, archetypal characters have played a larger role than others.
The Swiss psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung, having studied ancestral roots and the collective unconscious, defined 12 original archetypes.
More on that in a bit.
You’ll see the value of his research as you look through the character archetypes list below.
And you’ll see how the skillful use of archetypes is essential to creating unforgettable characters.