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Text of the page (random words):
fiction university pages home about resources events bookstore contact subscribe to narrative nuggets saturday may 02 2026 you get one page to hook a reader yes really by janice hardy many readers decide before the end of the first page if they re going to keep reading a lot of pressure is put on the opening page of a novel and for good reason it s the first impression the reader gets and if that reader isn t hooked in some way they won t move on to the second page as unfair as it seems 250 words roughly one page are often all you get to convince readers to stay with your story and read your book it might be tempting to pack the entire story into that first page but that s absolutely the wrong approach all you have to do is give readers something that promises them that your novel will be worth reading which is much easier to do than you might think continue reading 2 comments labels f first lines first pages hooks opening scenes t uw w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday april 25 2026 are you missing opportunities to make your writing stronger by janice hardy little tweaks can make a big difference in our novels it always amazes me how many decisions go into writing a strong novel there s the big stuff like the plot and characters but something as simple as your title or where you break your scenes can be the difference between a good book and great book use too many clichés the novel feels familiar and unoriginal throw in a ton of adverbs your readers don t feel the full weight of the story s emotional layer you have so many opportunities to write a strong novel and more writers should take advantage of that fact continue reading 16 comments labels adverbs cliches opening scenes tips and tricks w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest tuesday april 21 2026 how a story s genre influences the role of fear by angela ackerman part of the how they do it series jh fear is at the heart of so many stories because it s often what s keeping the protagonist from whatever it is they want in the story it has so many potential uses in writing great fiction and angela ackerman is here to share some genre specific ones for us today take it away angela no matter the genre fear is always present it anchors readers in the character s experience by closing the gap between story and reality fear taps into our instinct for self preservation and the universal struggle to manage it without letting it take over but fear doesn t look the same in every genre reader expectations shape the kinds of dangers characters face and the fears that drive their choices in some stories fear centers on emotional vulnerability and relationships in others it comes from danger secrets or the loss of control continue reading 2 comments labels angela ackerman fear how they do it email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday april 18 2026 seven tips for building a literary community that makes you happy by tess perko part of the how they do it series jh becoming part of a writing community can be a rewarding and beneficial experience for the often lonely business of writing jess perko takes to the lecture hall today to share her publishing journey and how she found her writing home take it away tess writing can be a lonely process but not if you have a writing community i wake up each morning enthusiastic about connecting with other writers and readers that s because i ve made a promise to myself to enjoy the process of publishing my book and social interaction with other people i meet along the way continue reading 0 comments labels community how they do it jess perko email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday april 11 2026 first look at a first draft how to revise your manuscript by janice hardy a first draft is a wonderful thing but it always needs more work there s something exciting and rewarding about a first draft the story that s been in our heads is finally down on paper and we can see how it developed sometimes it unfolded exactly how we pictured but more often we encountered snags here and there and discovered fun twists and plots as we wrote the draft might even be shall we say a little messy and that s okay because first drafts are often messy and filled with holes it s what you do with it from there that really matters as the adage goes writing is rewriting often a lot of rewriting sigh this is why taking an objective first look at your first draft is so important you re taking stock of what you have and looking for what s working what s not working and what could use a little more work to get it right it s much easier to do the heavier rewrites in draft form before the story becomes mentally set in stone first drafts are supposed to be messed with continue reading 26 comments labels f first drafts q revision t uw w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday april 04 2026 the hidden danger backstory poses for writers and it s not the one you think by janice hardy uncovering backstory isn t the same as plot and focusing too much on the story s past can hurt your novel s future one of the very first outlines for my urban fantasy novel blood ties focused on revealing the twist and secrets of the novel it was mostly about how readers were going to learn all the cool things i d created and less about a character struggling with a problem which was an actual problem since struggling with problems is what makes a novel a novel weak as that early outline was writing it was worth it since it helped me figure out those backstories and secrets it also made it obvious that i d outlined a novel that didn t truly have a plot sure my protagonist had goals and she acted to achieve them and did all the things a good protagonist is supposed to do but if i d written the story to that first outline it would have been terrible continue reading 6 comments labels backstory plotting revelations t uw w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday march 28 2026 alternative ways to describe character reactions by janice hardy human emotion is universal but you don t want to use the same descriptions all the time here are ways to keep your emotional descriptions fresh i frequently receive questions about finding good alternative ways to use common reaction emotion words he smiled she gulped he frowned she cringed actually that s a story right there isn t it he sounds like a stalker to me anyway these words get used a lot because they re good words and get the point we re trying to make across they convey meaning quickly and clearly smiling shows happiness frowning shows displeasure gulping shows fear but after a while characters reacting to the same emotions the same way over and over feels repetitive however trying to make every emotional description original can lead to overwriting if a character never smiles but beams smirks grins curls a lip the corners of the mouth rise and all the other various ways we write to say smile it can feel awkward like said smiled and the like are fairly invisible so while readers do notice them they don t tend to stick out unless they are too many of them continue reading 24 comments labels description emotion f reactions t w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday march 21 2026 the difference between a first page that hooks and a novel that hooks by janice hardy do you really need to hook a reader on the first page common writing advice says to hook your reader from the first page i ve stopped reading many a book when that first page didn t click with me or worse turned me off the story but i ve also kept reading past so so first pages when the cover copy was intriguing enough that i was willing to see how the first chapter panned out if it kept me reading i stayed with the book so does the first page need to hook if the novel s premise hooks which is a really loaded question continue reading 12 comments labels first pages hooks t uw w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday march 15 2026 what to do when you really don t want to write that scene by janice hardy some scenes are hard to write and others fight you every word does that mean something is wrong with it in every first draft i ve ever written i reached a point where i forced myself to finish a scene that didn t want to be written it fought me for every word and took days to write and i just wanted it done and over with when it was really bad it threw me right out of my writing groove but my outline said to do it my daily plan said to write it so i did and it was terrible it didn t matter what scene or which book it was in it always turned out the same eventually i realized this was a huge red flag that something was wrong with the scene if i didn t want to write it what made me think someone would want to read it continue reading 7 comments labels m scenes t w writing hard scenes email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest saturday march 07 2026 5 ways to develop character voices by janice hardy if you want memorable characters don t forget to give them unique voices one of my earliest experiences with how voice affected fiction was in seventh grade when my english teacher played us a record yes record i m dating myself here of harlan ellison reading his short story repent harlequin said the ticktock man not only was i blown away by the story but the way ellison crafted the narrative was mind blowing the voice was unique it wasn t until years later that i learned there was a difference between author voice and character voice but the lesson on strong voice strong story had been stamped into my brain a well crafted character steps off the page and into readers hearts and a big part of that is their voice readers can hear personality in the words a character uses from the thoughts they think to the things they choose to say or not say how they sound reflects who they are continue reading 27 comments labels character voice characters f t voice w email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest older posts home subscribe to posts atom search articles more than 3 000 articles to help you take your writing to the next level developing your novel ideas and brainstorming story development and theme character development structure and outlining plotting goals conflict tension and stakes setting world building genre word count series and trilogies writing your novel voice and style dialogue and internalization point of view pov description pacing foreshadowing flashbacks tone and mood common writing problems show vs tell backstory infodumps hooks lack of conflict lack of action lack of goals lack of tension lack of motivation lack of stakes stalled stories editing your novel first drafts revision and editing word choice trimming words critiques and feedback selling your novel query letters the synopsis the submission process marketing and promotion publishing self publishing the writing life being a writer motivation and productivity regular columns how they do it indie author series the writer s life wip diagnostics most popular posts 10 traits of a strong antagonist by janice hardy janice_hardy i love villains and anti heroes i even love natural disasters that don t care one way or the other what you should know about the three act structure by janice hardy janice_hardy story structure is a useful tool for developing and writing a novel the first time i learned about story st 10 signs of a great protagonist by janice hardy janice_hardy at the heart of every story is a person with a problem and the more compelling that person is the better th at home workshop revise your novel in 31 days by janice hardy janice_hardy welcome to the home page for the month long at home revision workshop if this is the first you re he the inner struggle guides for using internal conflict that make sense by janice hardy janice_hardy here s an easy way to develop character arcs in your novel years ago i sat in on an amazing workshop at an 5 common problems with middles by janice hardy janice_hardy the middle is where most of a novel happens which is why they re often so difficult to write f 4 mistakes that doom the first page of your manuscript by janice hardy janice_hardy your novel s first page is the last chance you get to hook your reader writing your first page might be one 5 reasons why you should finish your novel by colleen m story part of the writer s life series jh writers write but to be an author you need to first finish your book colle do you have too much dialogue by janice hardy janice_hardy i received a lot of fantastic questions on friday so i have plenty of topics to keep me busy this month broken but still good 3 ways to create character flaws by janice hardy janice_hardy choose the right flaws and weaknesses to round out your characters there s an old saying i m copyright 2009 2022 by janice hardy all rights reserved powered by blogger stock photos photospin inc all rights reserved affiliate links used for amazon and other vendors class class java mailerlite