One thing I enjoy about style is to break it down by: - Formal vs informal - Polite vs impolite - Confident vs unconfident All of these are different ways to make your narrator unique. #WritingCommunity

Plotters: don't compare your novel outline to someone's finished masterpiece! A published book is polished. Your first draft doesn't have to be. It's enough to do your best. Aim for your first draft to be the creative draft, instead of plotting masterpiece #WritingCommunity

Naif character: a newcomer to an institution who learns about it at the same time as the reader. Harry Potter serves this function at Hogwarts. Through him we learn and come to love the storyworld. Consider using a naif yourself! #WritingCommunity

Lots of things that needed fixing today. No time for fiction. Pretty exhausting tbh. Looking forward to getting back to the WIP tomorrow! #WritingCommunity

As an writer, know your limits. I'm not really interested in hard science fiction nor can I write one. That's okay. I'll write what I know, what interests me, and what I would like to know more about. #WritingCommunity

Worldbuilding tip: RPGs have plenty of worldbuilding in them Writing a novel with the same genre as some famous RPGs? Like Baldur's Gate? You'll find plenty of plot beats and worldbuilding elements you can use for your own story in these kind of video games. #WritingCommunity

#writingtips for Grimdark: Do like Glen Cook in Black Company and create two comedic characters: Goblin and One-Eye. These lighter characters will help with the dark theme and world making the story flow more naturally. Also, make them relevant to the plot! #WritingCommunity

I love this poem by Tolkien. High fantasy without poetry takes away part of what makes your world magical. Your world becomes only prose. Elevate your theme by compressing a sentiment, or as below, a plot point, into a gorgeous symphony of words. #WritingCommunity

Really impressed by the choice of having an AI narrate the heroine’s life in the sci-fi book Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson. #WritingCommunity #BookTwitter He even manages to make the AI come off as both witty and dystopian at the same time, as it “jokes” about the humans not knowing they are mating under surveillance cameras. Other characters describe their life on the generational ship as a being in prison. The humans cannot reproduce without permission, with implants that make them sterile. And at the same time you have this coming-of-age story as the simple protagonist seeks out the various biomes of the generational ship and learns about their different cultures, all the while falling in love and having conflict with her mom. Excited to see where this story will go next. Reminds me of David Copperfield meets 1984 set on a spaceship.

Do each of the Hunger Games books have a different genre? Jessica Brody certainly thinks so. Do you buy her take? #WritingCommunity

When you find those masterful sentences, take your time to appreciate them. From Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky, here’s his most complicated but also spot-on description of our little gang of heroes and their revolt against the ruling culture. #WritingCommunity #booklovers

I’ve always thought of genres in terms of various settings. Westerns are set on the American frontier, with cowboys and revolvers. Brody argues that genres are about character development and theme instead That's quite a different way to categorize stories! #WritingCommunity

Vocab Sunday: Mussel A marine mollusk with a dark, elongated shell. Pronounced the same as "muscle," thus leading to confusions. #WritingCommunity

Sending out more queries today. Interesting to see how the different agencies have unique “personalities.” For a writer who spends a lot of time in the word document world, it’s quite refreshing to see the faces of people who love literature. #WritingCommunity #amquering

Once more the first query of my last WIP flies into the world… To call myself nervous would be an understatement. #WritingCommmunity

Thought I’d post Margot Fisher’s successful query letter pitches to help the #WritingCommunity out. Give it a read and learn! I like the touch of pointing out what specifically the comparative titles and in common with her novel.

For query letters you have to include a marketing tidbit: 1-2 sentences explaining why your book appeals to your intended audience, or, said in other words, why it’ll sell. #WritingCommunity #writingtips #writingadvice People are looking for books which are exactly the same, but different. Picture: Shay Galloway’s successful marketing tidbit for their novel query:

Writing tip for the biography part of novel queries: For those starting out, it can be daunting not to have any published accolades to refer to. I’ve got some key advice from established figures: #WritingCommunity #writingtips #writingadvice Stefan Petrucha advocates that you focus on your passions and what has been your influences. Say something brief about yourself that makes the content of your WIP look better. And on the picture below are some of the biggest errors that Jane Friedman sees in bios. A caveat: Friendman warns about editorializing, which is where you proclaim how much the agent will love your work, how it’ll be a bestseller etc.

Writing a novel synopsis today: As an outliner, this has always been far easier than the query letter. Why? #WritingCommunity Because of having a scene list and detailed outline, finding the core of a story is simpler. Of course, there are so many details I want to include but can’t because of the word limit! The picture is of an example synopsis of Twilight.

Vocab Sunday: Colic Used to describe both pains in the abdomen of horses and infants who incessantly cry although they are seemingly healthy. The worst nightmare for parents is to feel helpless with regard to their babe! #WritingCommunity #animals