There is *so* much advice out there for writers! When you’re looking for tips on writing, the massive amount available is overwhelming. Whose tips should you follow? How do you tell the junk from genuine wisdom? Try my two favorite sites, both truly helpful resources for writers.
Let me start with a disclaimer: The websites I list here are certainly not the be-all and end-all of useful resources for writers. They happen to be my two favorites culled from all the many (many!) websites I have come across. I’m always on the look out for good writing advice, not just for me, but also to share with my fellow word nerds in the Groningen Writers Guild—the local group of writers I have the honor of leading—and, of course, YOU.
So, yes. There are plenty of worthy resources out there for writers. Which ones top your personal list of favorites? Please let us know! You can use the comments (below) to share your favorite websites, social media pages and/or groups, or reference books on the craft of writing.
Helpful tip #1: Mainstream fiction
https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/
Louise Harnby is a fiction editor with 30 years’ publishing experience. She is famous among fellow professional editors for her online collection of learning resources, including books, articles, podcasts and weekly posts, since 2011, on The Editing Blog.
Her website is also a goldmine for writers. As a fiction editor, Louise specializes in working with independent crime, thriller and mystery writers. However her professional guidance is good for anyone writing in any mainstream genre.
Her resource library is packed with practical solutions for writing problems. The useful information Louise presents “explores, explains and demystifies core elements of sentence-level craft. All the guidance is topic-based. That way, you can focus more on creative development and less on hunting for answers.”
Find out about Louise’s writing courses, books and editing services at harnby.co/fiction-editing.
Books for readers
Louise is not only an editor and adviser on sentence craft for authors. When she is not working on other people’s words, she likes to write her own. She has published several short stories (a couple of which have been short-listed for important writing awards in the UK) and of course, on her website she writes effective business guidance for fellow editors. Louise writes because, she explains, “writing about words helps me hone my editing craft.”
Help yourself to her free collection of short stories. No strings – just click on a cover to read a story on online. Living Fiction is the full compilation of her stories. The pdf is free to download or you can buy it for next to nothing on Kindle. I bought the Kindle version (€0.99) and love Louise’s engaging writing. She practices what she teaches!
Follow Louise on LinkedIn▼
Helpful tip #2: Niche fiction
As you may know, Becoming Janice and Revealing Philippa, the books I have published so far (the third is in the works) feature LGBTI+ characters. Both are coming-of-age stories (not coming-out stories) written for a universal audience but because the main protagonists are lesbians, these books have special appeal for lovers of sapphic fiction.
Sapphic fiction presents lesbian or queer women (woman-aligned genderqueer/enby) who have sexual and/or romantic attraction for women (woman-aligned genderqueer/enby). The term sapphic derives from Sappho, the Greek poet who lived and loved women on the island of Lesbos (the source of the word ‘lesbian’) from about year 630 to 570 BC.
Sandra Gerth is a writer and an editor who divides her time between writing her own books and helping other writers revise and polish theirs. Under her pen name, Jae, she has published 24 novels and some two dozen short stories and novellas. Her books have won numerous awards and on many occasions have been #1 best-sellers on Amazon.
Jae created the Sapphic Quill website to provide fellow authors with genre-specific advice on how to write, publish, and market sapphic books.
Jae explains, “Sapphic fiction is a small niche that is special in a lot of ways. Advice that is valid for mainstream genres often doesn’t work for authors of sapphic books. With the Sapphic Quill, I’m hoping to give sapphic fiction authors a website where they can find all resources they will need to successfully write, publish, and market their books in one handy place. My goal is to help authors write novels readers will love, share their stories with the world, and find more readers for their books.”
Jae succeeds incredibly well with this mission. Her website not only fosters collaboration among the sapphic reader community, but it also offers sapphic authors cross-promotion opportunities, and, in short, her blog is a veritable treasure trove of useful, practical information. See for yourself! https://thesapphicquill.com/all-posts/
Books for writers
However, Jae does (even) more. Under her full name she has published a very successful series of guides for writers in any genre, not just sapphic fiction. For example, Show Don’t Tell is about probably the single most-important piece of advice ever given to writers. Many novice writers struggle to understand this principle and even experienced authors sometimes don’t grasp the finer nuances. In this book, Sandra shows you how to show and tells you when to tell. Each chapter includes concrete examples and exercises that will hone your writing skills.
All of Sandra’s guides are clear and easy to read. I cannot recommend them highly enough. Go get ‘em! https://sandragerth.com/books-for-writers/
Follow Jae Author on Facebook and join the Sapphic Quill Group for Sapphic Authors▼
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